Canada 2 Latvia 1

Shea Weber scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 6:54 to play, and Canada survived an enormous scare from Latvia to advance to the Olympic men's hockey semifinals with a 2-1 victory Wednesday night.

Carey Price made 15 saves for the defending Olympic champion Canadians, who were stretched to the limit by Latvia goalie Kristers Gudlevskis.

The 21-year-old Tampa Bay Lightning prospect made 55 saves in a spectacular performance, nearly pulling one of the biggest upsets in hockey history largely by himself. But Weber unleashed his peerless slap shot late in a power play, and Canada finally took the lead on its 54th shot against Gudlevskis.

Canada advanced to a semifinal meeting with the United States on Friday in a rematch of the gold-medal game in Vancouver four years ago.

One night after Latvia recorded its first Olympic victory in 12 years to reach its first quarterfinals, Buffalo Sabres coach Ted Nolan's team improbably tested the champs. Lauris Darzins scored a breakaway goal in the first period for Latvia, which lost all three of its preliminary-round games before surprising Switzerland 3-1 on Tuesday to advance for the first time.

The Baltic nation of 2 million people has been in the last four Olympic fields after a 66-year absence, but hadn't won a game since 2002. With just one current NHL player, Buffalo's Zemgus Girgensons, and 41-year-old captain Sandis Ozolinsh leading the way, Latvia nearly did even better than fellow underdog Slovenia, which also reached the quarterfinals in Sochi before losing to Sweden.

Gudlevskis, who has mostly played for Syracuse in the AHL this season, mostly stymied the powerful Canadian offense with his scrambling, alert style.

Patrick Sharp scored in the first period for the Canadians, who cruised unbeaten through the preliminary round with three victories.

Canada also lost forward John Tavares to a leg injury in the second period. He will miss the remainder of the tournament, coach Mike Babcock said.

(ESPN.com)