GDT: Pre-Competition • Dec. 22 • Latvia vs. Denmark • 5-1

[Systemfel]

2012 WJC PRE-COMPETITION
DECEMBER 22, 2011 • CENTENNTIAL REGONAL ARENA, BROOKS, ALBERTA

Latvia Roster
9 Kristiāns Pelšs
11 Roberts Lipsbergs
12 Artūrs Kuzmenkovs
14 Vitālijs Hvorostiņins
15 Juris Ziemiņš
16 Māris Diļevka
17 Dāvis Straupe
19 Edgars Kļaviņš
21 Teodors Bļugers
22 Zemgus Girgensons
23 Toms Andersons
31 Ņikita Jevpalovs
29 Kristaps Legzdiņš

2 Kristaps Nīmanis
3 Ņikita Koļesņikovs
4 Edgars Siksna
6 Artūrs Salija
7 Pauls Zvirbulis
10 Kristers Freibergs
18 Krišs Lipsbergs
26 Krists Kalniņš
27 Vladislavs Dudins

1 Rihards Cimermanis
25 Kristers Gudļevskis
30 Elviss Merzļikins

Denmark Roster
15 Nicolai Meyer — 28 Anders Schultz — 17 Nicklas Jensen
8 Thomas Spelling — 12 Patrick Bjorkstrand — 12 Oliver Bjorkstrand
26 Nicki Kisum — 14 Jonas Sass — Mathias Bau Hansen
22 Joachim Linnet — 18 Thomas Søndergaard — 19 Mads Eller
25 Rasmus Bjerrum

3 Jannick Christensen — 21 Mark Müller Larsen
5 Tobias Hansen — 6 Martin Rahbek
4 Patrick Madsen — 9 Emil L. Kristensen
27 Anders Thode

1 Dennis Jensen
30 Sebastian Feuk
31 Christian Larsen

NOT TELEVISED — NO STREAMS​

Click to read more...

 

[Jevo]

Gonna be a very important measuring stick for both teams. It can end up making us know a lot more about who's gonna end up being relegated, hopefully it will be Latvia.

 

[Bank]

Agreed. Important test. We'll look for Nicklas Jensen to stand out(As Latvia looks for Pless and Girgensons i expect?). Also the Bjorkstrand-Spelling-line will have to do something other the turning over the puck.

How's Latvias goaltending? Could be important who catched the long end of the stick in that department...

 

[v-man]

How's Latvias goaltending? Could be important who catched the long end of the stick in that department...

Depends. Gudlevskis (who was among the best goalies in the top Russian junior league last season) was outstanding in half a game against the Czechs the other day, only allowing one PP goal on 25+ shots. Then they put in Merzlikins, who stunk it up for 6 goals allowed in the remaining 28 mins. He's only 17 though, so chances of him getting to see any time in the actual tournament are pretty low.

Not sure of how telling this game will be though. In the past, Latvia's beaten Russia in these pre-tournament games, only to lose 0-16 a few days later to a similar Canadian team. They also narrowly beat Germany three years ago in Brockville, and then blew them out 7-1 in the actual tournament. On paper Latvia looks to be the slightly better team, but if there's one thing their teams at all levels have proven, it's that they're never predictable: their better teams will often play like crap and the mediocre ones will surprise you.

 

[Latgale_fan]

How's Latvias goaltending? Could be important who catched the long end of the stick in that department...

Gudļevskis can be pretty great at times (like at the start of the season, stopping Red Army in Omsk in HK Riga 2:0 victory over MHL champs, recently has had some great games in MHL but is uneven. Though, seems like he was great vs Czech Republic in his 32 minutes in the net when we only lost 0:1 up to that point...

Merzļikins (1994) is good but disappointed in the first pre-tournament game so I don't think he'll be considered as even nr.2 goalie. Don't know what Miļūns will do today, maybe will use Cimmermanis or split the time between the two like in the first game? I don't have much confidence in Cimmermanis though he faces many shots in every game in MHL B, so maybe he's better than his stats show...

If Gudļevskis can play his best game during the tournament, we'll be alright in this department, if not then I don't know... I wouldn't say we have solid goaltending.

 

[Latgale_fan]

They also narrowly beat Germany three years ago in Brockville, and then blew them out 7-1 in the actual tournament.

though, that was pure luck, that 7-1... teams were of equal strength, Latvia even a bit weaker... German goalie had a very bad day.

But in 2006 in pre-tournament game we also beat Slovakia. Usually we did well in these pre-tournament games, better than in the WJC so I don't know what to expect this year

 

[Latgale_fan]

Wonder if there'll be radio broadcast??

 

[v-man]

though, that was pure luck, that 7-1... teams were of equal strength, Latvia even a bit weaker... German goalie had a very bad day.

No, I saw the exhibition game against the Germans in person and the blowout on TV, Latvia was definitely not the weaker team. Even in the tighter exhibition game the Latvians simply could not finish on their chances. The only thing the Germans had on them was size, everywhere else the Latvians were superior.

Wonder if there'll be radio broadcast??

Nothing's been announced, but then again there was no word about the Czech game beforehand either. Brooks has two stations, and their local hockey games are heard here, so I assume if it's streamed anywhere, it will be there.

 

[Latgale_fan]

No, I saw the exhibition game against the Germans in person and the blowout on TV, Latvia was definitely not the weaker team. Even in the tighter exhibition game the Latvians simply could not finish on their chances. The only thing the Germans had on them was size, everywhere else the Latvians were superior.

I was somehow convinced that we were weaker (probably because it's Germany and the game was not televised in Latvia and some ''fans'' who always complain about everything said that it was just pure luck and we didn't deserve to win because of our hockey program's poor state or any other reason)....

Anyway, I hope that we'll have some radio broadcast

 

[DrStrangelife]

To have an actual chance against Sweden we need many goals from Latvian team and obviously a win. I hope Gudlevskis will be the whole game in the goal I don't want to see Denmark suddenly scoring just like Czech's did during our last game. Should be quite balanced game, hopefully Latvia will take the upper hand in this one and is going to prove that we're a better team.

 

[Latgale_fan]

is going to prove that we're a better team.

are we a better team?

 

[DrStrangelife]

are we a better team?

Well it probably would be wrong to judge who's a better team after only one game's outcome, therefor I don't know if we're going to prove anything even if we win this one. But I definitively won't say that Denmark is better. Denmark or Latvia can be the one team which will be relegated after this WJC and I really hope that Latvia won't be the one to leave the highest division.

 

[Latgale_fan]

By the way, LHF posted lines for the previous game in sportacentrs.com. Rather weird, I must say, maybe they were really trying to confuse Slovak ''spies''

- KļaviņÅ¡, Straupe, PelÅ¡s
- Bļugers, Girgensons, Andersons
- Hvorostiņins, Diļevka, Kuzmenkovs
- Jevpalovs, Lipsbergs, ZiemiņÅ¡.

I can't see KļaviņÅ¡, Straupe, PelÅ¡s as the first line... Anyway, it all just feels too weird Let's see what lines we get tonight

 

[DrStrangelife]

- KļaviņÅ¡, Straupe, PelÅ¡s

It's arguable if Pelss is the best choice for 1st line, but I still can see him play there, while Klavins and Straupe are very odd choices. I hope these lineups will be fixed. I could see our 1st line as Bļugers- Girgensons - PelÅ¡s.

 

[andersej]

Any links to live stats?

 

[DrPabloRamirez]

Any links to live stats?

https://twitter.com/#!/AshleighBee

 

[v-man]

https://twitter.com/#!/AshleighBee

Thanks for the link.

Looks like Straupe has two goals so far for Latvia and Andersons with a powerplay marker to make it 3-0 in the third.

 

[v-man]

Pelšs makes it 4-0 Latvia

EDIT: Good 5-1 win for LV. Hopefully they carry it over to the actual tournament. I think it's pretty safe to say that they'll need Gudlevskis to keep playing as well as he has been if they want an easier time staying up in the top 10. Pelšs seemed to step up today, so I guess Zemgus is the only big offensive threat that still needs to get the feel of things.

 

[Latgale_fan]

Pelšs makes it 4-0 Latvia

EDIT: Good 5-1 win for LV. Hopefully they carry it over to the actual tournament. I think it's pretty safe to say that they'll need Gudlevskis to keep playing as well as he has been if they want an easier time staying up in the top 10. Pelšs seemed to step up today, so I guess Zemgus is the only big offensive threat that still needs to get the feel of things.

Anyway, I think Girgensons got some assists on either Andersons goal (if he still plays on that line that was in the first game) or with Pelšs two goals if Miļūns has put the best together. Surprised a bit about Straupe- doesn't show much in HK Riga but two goals today... Andersons and Pelšs are not that big surprises, of course.
But it feels like Straupe and Andersons played together, I wonder who's the second winger on that line??

 

[Password]

Wow, 5-1. Are Denmark this bad, or are Latvia a pretty good team? I was expecting a tight game.

 

[Latgale_fan]

Wow, 5-1. Are Denmark this bad, or are Latvia a pretty good team? I was expecting a tight game.

if this score really shows what was going on on the ice then probably the first version is more valid, though maybe we just were lucky , haven't seen game can't comment much

 

[Jevo]

Wow, 5-1. Are Denmark this bad, or are Latvia a pretty good team? I was expecting a tight game.

From what I have read about the game. 5-1 is not a real show of how the match was, Latvia was the better team and was much more physical than the danes and controlled the play. But Denmark had quite a few prime scoring chances which they just couldn't bury. The shot statistic ended 29-29, so it was not an uneven game, but it seems that Denmark need to step up their physical game and they need to play more direct in the neutral zone, many times they moved the puck lateral as opposed to forward in the neutral zone. If they can fix those issues before the next match, Denmark will have a better chance of winning. Personally, I think Latvias biggest advantage is their goaltender, Denmarks goaltending is very questionable while Latvias seem to be better and more consistent.

 

[DrStrangelife]

http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.ph.../game_id/181580/season_id/181242/ss_id/56000/ Here you can see all goals and assists. Pelss got 3P after this one and Zemgus does have 1A. Also quite surprised by Straupe. If Straupe was still on 1st line maybe he deserves to stay there. Great Game by Latvia that's exactly what we needed before facing Sweden.

 

[Helpoing]

With such a good game Straupe has made the roster even though he's size is... not there

Can't wait for the first game.

 

[cska78]

Uzvara! lol