Bermuda went down to Canada and USA in their first two games at the street hockey world championships in Switzerland.

The Island team were demolished 6-0 by Canada in their opening encounter on Sunday but bounced back admirably to lose only 2-1 to USA on Monday.

Team member Tom Murray said that, despite the two losses, the Bermuda side, consisting mostly of Canadian residents, had actually played "really good hockey so far" and were looking to build on this confidence in their match against Latvia last night. They would have been bolstered by the fact that Latvia lost 22-0 to the hosts.

"The Canada game was actually closer than the score indicates. Two of their goals were heartbreakingly weak. But that's behind us now and we're proud of each other," said Murray in an e-mail to The Royal Gazette.

A review of that match on the tournament website concurred with his assessment.

"The boys from Bermuda put up a strong test for the tournament favourites Team Canada. Although going down to defeat by six goals, the boys put pressure on the Canadian squad throughout the game. The fact that the game started at 8.30 a.m., which is five hours ahead of Bermuda local time, did not help in getting the boys running on full cylinders," it read.

The defeat to the USA was particularly agonising as a shot rebounded off Bermuda player John Cowan and fell kindly for an American opponent to strike the winning goal.

"Perhaps nerves got the better of us. Their goalie was outstanding and we had several chances to score, especially in the latter part of the game, but luck was not on our side. The team were really disappointed and the guys got down on themselves after the game," said Murray, adding that Bermuda must win their three remaining games to advance in the competition.