UFA, Russia - Mike Kunzle had two goals while Tanner Richard added three assists to lead Switzerland past Latvia 7-2 on Thursday at the world junior hockey tournament.

The contest was the tournament opener for Switzerland in Group A while Latvia fell to 0-2 in the conference standings.

The Swiss overcame an early 1-0 deficit to improve to 4-0 all-time against Latvia.

Christoph Bertschy, Lukas Balmelli, Sven Andrighetto, Sandro Zangger and Alessio Bertaggia had the other goals for Switzerland.

Swiss goalie Luca Boltshauser stopped 21 shots.

Nikolajs Jelisejevs and Arturs Sevcenko replied for Latvia.

Elvis Merzlikins started in goal for Latvia and stopped 25-of-30 shots before being relieved by Ivars Punnenovs to start the third. Punnenovs registered five saves.

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