Norway is guaranteed its best result ever at a Men's World Championship tournament since 1951, when they finished fourth after they beat Latvia 2-0 in the quarterfinals.
Before modern times, Norway's highest finish took place decades ago under different tournament formats (placing 4th overall in 1951), but they had never qualified for the semi-finals since the introduction of the official playoff knockout system.
Scoring chances were few and far between in a frantic first period where both teams struggled to settle into any kind of rhythm as the spectators saw many turnovers and blocked shots as both sides seemed more occupied with defending rather than taking any chances to edge ahead.
Things began similarly in the second period, but the Scandinavians still managed to edge ahead at 7:10 when a shot from Michael Brandsegg-Nygard was stopped by Kristers Gudlevskis, but the puck fell kindly for Tinus Luc Koblar, who whipped it in for a Norwegian 1-0 lead.
Latvia had a superb opportunity to turn the tide in their favour when Norway captain Andreas Martinsen took two penalties in quick succession, but they failed to take advantage as the Norwegians defended heroically in front of Henrik Haukeland's goal to preserve their one-goal lead.
With time running out, Noah Steen scored in the empty net with 15.4 seconds remaining to seal the sensational win for Norway.