Larkin, a British-born, Italian-raised defenseman with Boston roots, made it clear that he was only praising the Finns, not knocking anyone else, when he said he had never seen a team play like that.

“I’m so proud of our group for the first two games,” he said of a 5-2 loss to Sweden that was closer than that, and a 3-2 loss to tournament surprise Slovakia. “We were so completely in on those games, giving everything we had, that maybe we gave too much and weren’t ready for tonight.”

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The 35-year-old’s turn as Olympic captain for Italy — which opted against taking NHL players of Italian heritage — is the latest stop in the winding road of a 14-year pro career that has taken him through the AHL (Springfield), ECHL (Evansville), KHL (Zagreb, Croatia), and Germany, where he has played for 10 years, most recently with Schwenninger.

He is the son of a father (Mark) from South Dartmouth and a Milanese mother (Elena), born in London when both were working in finance. The family moved when he was a toddler to Varese, about an hour’s drive north of Milan. The Varese Mastini — the Mastiffs — are a second-division pro team.

“The swimming pool was attached to the rink. My brother saw a hockey practice after a swim lesson,” Larkin said. “I followed him in, and that was it.”

The 2004-05 NHL lockout, which brought pros to the Italian league, ignited his interest. He set his goals of playing college hockey, which he did for four seasons at Colgate.

“I dreamed of playing for my hometown club,” he said. “And then dared to dream bigger when I got to the States.”

Dans Locmelis, a UMass product and Bruins prospect, twice tied what became a Latvian upset of Germany on Saturday.SUN FEI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Locmelis keys Latvian upset

Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis put his stamp all over Latvia’s upset of Germany, with two goals in a 4-3 win. “I want to be part of something big,” Locmelis told reporters at Rho Arena across town. “Hopefully we can surprise everyone.” Locmelis, Boston’s fourth-round pick (No. 119) in 2022, tied the game twice, 1-1 in the first and 2-2 in the second. That helped Latvia stun the Germans — who feature stars Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stützle, and Moritz Seider — and win its first game at the Olympics since 2014 . . . Switzerland and Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala had tournament-ending surgery on Saturday after an injury in a loss to Canada the night before. The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation called it a lower leg injury and said he was done for the Games, though neither they nor the Kings would confirm what the injury was or that LA’s second-leading scorer (40 points) would miss the rest of the NHL season. Fiala was stretchered off the ice after landing awkwardly on his leg during a collision with Canada’s Tom Wilson. “It’s really tough,” said Finland’s Joel Armia, Fiala’s Kings teammate. “As soon as I saw it, I was so sad. Yeah, it’s not great.”. . . After a two-game absence, Marie-Philip Poulin returned in Canada’s 5-1 quarterfinal win over Germany. Dealing with what she called a tweaked right knee, Poulin played just 12:41, but scored for the 18th time at the Olympics, tying fellow Canadian Hayley Wickenheiser for most all-time at the Games.

Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on BlueSky at mattyports.bsky.social.