WC: Latvia Roster Talk 2022

[AKQJ]

Latvia now complete after registering Veinbergs. It means Lapinskis tournament is over before it ever started, last cut.

 

[Namejs]

So you think Latvia is the favorites against Sweden? You have better goalies, forwards and coaches than Sweden. I would say its 60-40 to Latvia.

It's about 80/20 in favor of Sweden and it likely further tipping to 85/15 with the additions coming over from NHL.

 

[Eye of Ra]

It's about 80/20 in favor of Sweden and it likely further tipping to 85/15 with the additions coming over from NHL.

I dont think we ever had so many bad forwards. Its bascially half good SHLers most of them, grinders. Latvia forwards is mostly good KHLers.

Elvis is better than Ullmark, Vitolins is better than Garpenlöv.

Our d is better offensivly than Latvias d but Latvias D is better in their own zone.

Its absolutely not 80/85 to Sweden. You are being to humble. 60-40 to Latvia is more realistic.

Do you think 9 points for Latvia is enough to make playoffs? Wins over Sweden/UK/Austria. Hell even against the Czechs Latvia could steal a point, czechs have not looked good so far.

 

[Namejs]

Oh, and Ullmark and Elvis are almost carbon copies of each other in terms of their showing over the last 3 years in the NHL. Same calibre goalies.

 

[EK47]

I dont think we ever had so many bad forwards. Its bascially half good SHLers most of them, grinders. Latvia forwards is mostly good KHLers.

Elvis is better than Ullmark, Vitolins is better than Garpenlöv.

Our d is better offensivly than Latvias d but Latvias D is better in their own zone.

Its absolutely not 80/85 to Sweden. You are being to humble. 60-40 to Latvia is more realistic.

Do you think 9 points for Latvia is enough to make playoffs? Wins over Sweden/UK/Austria. Hell even against the Czechs Latvia could steal a point, czechs have not looked good so far.

Oh my god. Here we go again.

@Namejs good to have you back! IMO Elvis is slightly better than Ullmark.
Its gonna be fun to watch Sweden Latvia and once again get frustrated over the Latvian trap game.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Oh, and Ullmark and Elvis are almost carbon copies of each other in terms of their showing over the last 3 years in the NHL. Same calibre goalies.

Yes both of them are good. But Ullmark just landing and had a bad playoffs.

 

[Namejs]

I dont think we ever had so many bad forwards. Its bascially half good SHLers most of them, grinders. Latvia forwards is mostly good KHLers.

Elvis is better than Ullmark, Vitolins is better than Garpenlöv.

Our d is better offensivly than Latvias d but Latvias D is better in their own zone.

Its absolutely not 80/85 to Sweden. You are being to humble. 60-40 to Latvia is more realistic.

Do you think 9 points for Latvia is enough to make playoffs? Wins over Sweden/UK/Austria. Hell even against the Czechs Latvia could steal a point, czechs have not looked good so far.

We stand a chance against Sweden, but they're definitely the favorites. And I'm most definitely not humble regarding our chances. It's just the way it is.

Seth Jones ripped us a new one in the opening game. Skilled puck moving defencemen are a massive bonus and they can single-handedly rip the whole defense up.

I am much more optimistic regarding the today's game.

 

[AB13]

So you are saying Garpenlöv is better coach than Vitolins who had lots of success in KHL?

Elvis is better than Ullmark.

Latvias forwards is good KHL level forwards. Sweden forwards is mostly half-good SHLers.

Sweden have way better forwards, in general. And no, what I do agree with is that Garpenlöv is worse than Vitolins. Latvia do not have a forward group of solid KHLers. They have one KHL forward in total and he was below a 0.5 PPG. Abols and Balcers are the only Latvia forwards who would make Sweden, especially with the NHL reinforcements that have come. The Latvian forward group is not great. Mostly consists of mediocre Liiga, Czech, NL, Allsvenskan and SHL players.

Actually, they have two KHL forwards, one that is good. But his production is similar to that of Wallmark.

 

[Vikz]

Come on, guys. @Eye of Ra, why do you hate your team so much? I mean, its one thing to be sceptical, but some of these claims are nonsence.

Latvia's first line is really good, might rival some of the top countries lines with an elite, by SHL standarts, C in Abols, middle-tier but offensively minded NHL winger in Balcers and Kenins, who somehow complements them really well. Then, there is a steep drop in quality with fairly average euro players and even guys from second tier leagues.
Defence is Jaks, then everyone else. Rubins is an improvement over everyone else, but he is no game changer.
Merzlikins is on the same tier as Ullmark, might be slightly better. But every goalie has a bad day, and you never know which day it will be.
Vitolins never had any great success as a HC, I actually consider his assistant Abols to be a better coach.

If hockey was played 6 on 6, we would have better chances. We need better production from out lower lines to be able make a push for the playoffs. Too bad for Blueger not comming, he would have made our second line much more dangerous. Still, any middle-tier SHLer is miles ahead of guys from Austria. I would agree with 80/20 or 85/15 in Swedens favour.

Conclusion: Need 3 points against Czechs and hope for something against Swedes. And also win the guys we must win. Going to be a rough one.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Team is good they said, D1A level defense is a huge exaggeration they said... Reality check knocking on the door.

 

[LKI]

Decent team not much different form previous championships... trash coaching. I don't remember a good game with Vitoliņš as our head coach.

 

[Fatass]

Team is good they said, D1A level defense is a huge exaggeration they said... Reality check knocking on the door.

Seems the team plays better in front of Silovs.

 

[kabidjan18]

Game is far far from over...

Kulda has to do better fronting the shot though, that play was a bit silly. He wasn't beat or out of position and sort of just drifted out of position...

 

[GX]

Sure There's no way this bunch is scoring 3 more goals in 30 minutes.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Decent team not much different form previous championships... trash coaching.

I'm so over this copium take... At this level the margins are thin and the team is different in a meaningful way.

 

[LKI]

I'm so over this copium take... At this level the margins are thin and the team is different in a meaningful way.

How about offense ? is it D1A aswell ar nah? Looking great doesn't it ? The defense is what letting us down.

 

[SoundAndFury]

How about offense ? is it D1A aswell ar nah? Looking great doesn't it ?

I think ozo was right when he said "we could have been relegated without Balcers". Seems like a fair assessment to me looking at this great offense. That Cukste-Bukart bros-Dzierkals PP unit, peak talent right there.

 

[LKI]

I think ozo was right when he said "we could have been relegated without Balcers". Seems like a fair assessment to me looking at this great offense. That Cukste-Bukart bros-Dzierkals PP unit, peak talent right there.

Stop with the cap, my guy.

 

[kabidjan18]

I'm just saying like, can't this be saved for after the game? It's literally a 1 goal game, anything can happen for either side.

 

[LKI]

I'm just saying like, can't this be saved for after the game? It's literally a 1 goal game, anything can happen for either side.

We're not discussing the game but the team.

 

[Fatass]

TV guys saying Elvis left the building. Did he just run out on his team?

 

[LKI]

TV guys saying Elvis left the building. Did he just run out on his team?

Injured.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I'm just saying like, can't this be saved for after the game? It's literally a 1 goal game, anything can happen for either side.

What LKI said. The game is kinda meaningless in the bigger picture, this isn't a GDT either. Latvia got outshot by Norway and Austria as well despite getting the wins, this is not about the result today.

 

[kabidjan18]

We're not discussing the game but the team.

What LKI said. The game is kinda meaningless in the bigger picture, this isn't a GDT either. Latvia got outshot by Norway and Austria as well despite getting the wins, this is not about the result today.

I understand that but the result is unquestionably material to the analysis...

If Latvia runs this one up with 3 goals in the period then it's like, no one will remember that they took some bad penalties in the start. If not, then maybe it is a bit embarrassing.

 

[Fatass]

Injured.

Why did he start if he’s injured? He got pulled after a very weak goal, and then left. Very strange. Didn’t appear to be injured.