Latvia gave its fans what they wanted: another trip to the Olympic Games by finishing atop of the standings in Group E of the 2024 Men’s Final Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification. The Latvians beat France in Sunday's decisive game in Riga, 5-2. 

Latvia – France 5-2 (2-1, 3-0, 0-1)

France hasn’t played in the Olympics since 2002 when current head coach Yarrick Treille and assistant coach Cristobal Huet were on the team. In fact, it’s been so long that backup goalie Antoine Keller wasn’t even born when Tim Bozon’s father Philippe was one of the French stars in Salt Lake City. 
 
Latvia, on the other hand, had only missed one Olympic tournament – in 2018 – this side of the century.  
 
In this winner-take-all showdown, Charles Bertrand gave France hope by opening the scoring after just 21 seconds of play. However, just five minutes later, Latvia's Eduards Tralmaks took advantage of a bouncing puck that surprised the French defence and sent him off on a breakaway. He didn’t miss. 
 
Roberts Bukarts gave Latvia its first lead when he fired a wrister from the right faceoff dot on the power play at 7.52.  Janis Jaks and Dans Locmelis picked up the assists. 
 
The hosts clinched their Olympic berth in the second period which they outscored the French 3-0. 
 
First Rodrigo Abols went coast to coast, skating around the French defence and beating goalie Quentin Papillon with a wrister in close at 3:48. Papillon had to fish the puck out of his net again 90 seconds later, as Martins Dzierkals carried the puck into the French zone and then finished off his solo effort with a quick wrist shot from the slot. 
 
Kristians Rubins added a back-breaker with 0:23 left in the middle frame. He battled his way to the French net, and just as he was pulled down, he managed to slam the puck through Papillon’s five-hole, extending the Latvian lead to four goals.
 
At 16.53 of the third period, veteran sniper Stephane Da Costa scored for France, pulling off an impressive dangle in the corner before beating goalie Kristers Gudlevskis with a backhander. But it was too little, too late, and the last two minutes were a big Latvian Olympic party in front of the Riga faithful.
 
Latvia's almost-perfect-streak is still alive. Unfortunately for the French, so is theirs.

Slovenia – Ukraine 6-2 (2-0, 1-2, 3-0)

The Olympic dreams were over for these two teams, but you couldn’t have told it by watching the game as both sides seemed determined to finish third in Group E. In the end, Slovenia proved to be too strong. Slovenia’s Ziga Jeglic and Jan Drocg collected three points apiece en route to victory, and Jan Urbas also scored twice. 
 
The teams’ fighting spirit manifested itself early on with penalties on both sides, but only Slovenia managed to capitalize on its power-play opportunity. 
 
Jeglic and Blaz Gregorc set up Urbas, who fired home a wrister from the top of the right circle at 5:19. It was such a snipe that it took a video review to make sure the puck had entered the net. But a goal it was, and Slovenia took a 1-0 lead.
 
At 12.21 Rok Macuh won a faceoff, and a second later Jan Drozg fired a wrist shot that beat Ukrainian netminder Bogdan Dyachenko on the glove side to double Slovenia’s lead. 
 
Drozg scored his second of the game halfway through the second period when he slammed Gregorc’s rebound in from the doorstep for 3-0. 
 
With five minutes remaining in the period, Ukraine got their chance to get back into it on a two-man advantage. Yevgeni Fadyeyev and Viktor Zakhrov set up Viatli Lialka for a one-timer from the right faceoff circle and he didn’t miss his chance. 
 
Slovenia promptly took another penalty, giving Ukraine another two-man power play. The basic play was the same, but this time it was Lialka who passed and Pylyp Pangelov-Yuldashev who fired a slap shot that beat Zan Us in the Slovenian net. Suddenly, Ukraine trailed by only one goal. 
 
But the Slovenians burst the Ukraine bubble early in the third. Urbas scored his second of the game with a nice redirection out of mid-air just twelve seconds into the period. Jeglic picked up his second point at 10.33 when Aleksandar Magovac found him wide open in front of the Ukrainian net, and Jeglic had an easy job to make it 5-2. 
 
Anze Kuralt scored Slovenia’s sixth goal exactly 90 seconds later off a nice backhand pass by Jeglic from behind the Ukraine net. 
 
With the 6-2 win, Slovenia wrapped up third place in Group E.