The United States took its second victory in the IIHF Men's World Championship, beating Latvia on Sunday in Helsinki, Finland.
A couple of players with Minnesota ties contributed points. Tim Stapleton from Minnesota Duluth scored in the second period and also assisted on a goal, and Erik Johnson of Bloomington and the Gophers had an assist.
Bobby Butler also had a goal and an assist for the United States, and Ben Bishop made 19 saves.
On Tuesday, the U.S. will play Russia, which improved to 2-0 Sunday with the help of Ilya Kovalchuk's hat trick. Switzerland stunned Canada in a penalty shootout to win 3-2 and improved to 2-0.
