Fans Were Irate Over Missed Call At World Junior Championship

The quarterfinals of the World Junior Championship in Ottawa are underway and it didn't take long for a bit of controversy to pop up.

The first game of the day (not including the relegation game between Kazakhstan and Germany, which Germany won) pitted Sweden and Latvia.

Sweden is, of course, always competitive on the international stage, but Latvia is a real up-and-comer. Last week, Latvia had its biggest World Juniors win ever against Canada in a shootout.

So, that has made the Latvians a bit of a darling in this tournament, and rightfully so, it's great to see more countries able to skate with the perennial top dogs.

But early in the first period, Latvia found itself down one on a highly controversial play.

Zeb Forsjäll put Sweden on the board with a great shot, but it was a play in the neutral zone that caught most of the attention afterward.

Swedish forward David Granberg collided with Latvia's Daniels Serkins in the neutral zone, effectively removing Serkins from the play and giving Forsjäll plenty of time to get a shot off.

Serkins was shaken up on the play and Latvia wanted answers as to why Granberg wasn't whistled for interference.

A lot of people watching — including fans who started chanting, "Ref, you suck!" —wanted answers to that too.

That goal was a tough one without a doubt, but I could have seen this call going either way. I think what happened is the officials thought it was just a collision between two players as play transitioned up ice.

However, had they called interference on that play, I wouldn't have had any problem.

Sweden was whistled for interference later in the second period. It was a good call, but it also felt like some kind of karmic make-up call.

While they didn't convert on the ensuing power play, Latvia did strike about two minutes later to tighten the game to 3-2 heading into the second intermission.