Latvia: Great Olympics

waitin425

Registered User
Jan 10, 2009
6,848
9,408
Canada
Hey Canadian fan here, posting where you will see it. Absolutely unbelievable performance by the Latvian team in the OWG. Officially my second favourite hockey nation from now on. Congratulations on a great tournament and here's hoping for continued success:yo:
 

DrStrangelife

Registered User
Dec 14, 2011
509
0
Rīga
Hey Canadian fan here, posting where you will see it. Absolutely unbelievable performance by the Latvian team in the OWG. Officially my second favourite hockey nation from now on. Congratulations on a great tournament and here's hoping for continued success:yo:


Cheers! :cheers:

I am happy that we could put up a decent fight against the great Canadian team.

I wish you all the best vs the USA.
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
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Riga
This tournament could be as important, as the tourney in 1997 to get us into WHC elite, i hope this inspires the new generation of hockey players,just like it did in `97.
 

ozo

Registered User
Feb 24, 2010
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425
or it can go the other way as Ukraine did in 2004 after putting up a similar fight against canada

Our hockey is in pretty poor shape, but to reach Ukraine's level of suck, we would really have to implode. We have plenty of potentially good European hockey pro's playing out their last junior seasons right now. Ukraine had none of that in 10 years ago.

But yes, we can just as easily miss OG's in 2018, as plenty of decent teams like Germany, Denmark still lurk around.
 

smitty10

Registered User
Aug 6, 2009
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Toronto
or it can go the other way as Ukraine did in 2004 after putting up a similar fight against canada

Ukraine didn't have up-and-coming players like Girgensons, Gudlevskis, Blugers, Jevpalovs and Lipsbergs. Nor did they have young established players like Daugavins, Karsums, Kulda or Bartulis. What they had was an aging core of ex-NHLers/Soviet players who were in their mid-30's and a failed junior program. Latvia has teams playing in MHL and KHL that will continue to help pump out at least KHL level talent.
 

Namejs

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Dec 24, 2011
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687
Oslo
Ukraine didn't have up-and-coming players like Girgensons, Gudlevskis, Blugers, Jevpalovs and Lipsbergs. Nor did they have young established players like Daugavins, Karsums, Kulda or Bartulis. What they had was an aging core of ex-NHLers/Soviet players who were in their mid-30's and a failed junior program. Latvia has teams playing in MHL and KHL that will continue to help pump out at least KHL level talent.
Yup.

Also, a good deal of our most talented junior players tend to move to North America or European junior leagues (mainly Sweden/Switzerland). There's at least a couple of dozen of them.

Also, the Latvian presence in North American major junior leagues has increased in the last few years. Historically, most of them tend to become pro players.

A couple of years ago it seemed like we won't have any solid goalies left after Masaļskis, but with the coming of Gudļevskis, Merzļikins, Punnenovs, there's really no area or position left, in which we couldn't maintain our current level in the medium to long term.

Defense is the weakest link in terms of the number of future prospects, but we should be fine.

There's no way we'll drop to the 3rd tier of international hockey in the next 10 years or so.
 

smitty10

Registered User
Aug 6, 2009
9,805
2,643
Toronto
Yup.

Also, a good deal of our most talented junior players tend to move to North America or European junior leagues (mainly Sweden/Switzerland). There's at least a couple of dozen of them.

Also, the Latvian presence in North American major junior leagues has increased in the last few years. Historically, most of them tend to become pro players.

A couple of years ago it seemed like we won't have any solid goalies left after Masaļskis, but with the coming of Gudļevskis, Merzļikins, Punnenovs, there's really no area or position left, in which we couldn't maintain our current level in the medium to long term.

Defense is the weakest link in terms of the number of future prospects, but we should be fine.

There's no way we'll drop to the 3rd tier of international hockey in the next 10 years or so.

Latvia is safe in the second tier.

Is Ted Nolan going to stay on as head coach?
 

Namejs

Registered User
Dec 24, 2011
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687
Oslo
Latvia is safe in the second tier.
I mean - we won't drop to Div1B (Elite division being the 1st tier, Div1A - the 2nd). :laugh:

The Ukrainians were playing in Div1B last year against such powerhouses as Estonia, Lithuania and Romania (the bottom line being that a comparison with Ukraine doesn't make any sense).

And, yeah, Nolan will continue to coach our team at least until the World Champs this year. But it doesn't look like he'll be a long-term coach, especially if he's going to stay in the NHL.

Most European teams tend to play exhibition games/tournaments a few times a year, including training camps, taking a look at the B team, etc. So if he's unavailable all the time, he's more of a part-time coach and the president of the Latvian Hockey Federation doesn't like that at all.
 

smitty10

Registered User
Aug 6, 2009
9,805
2,643
Toronto
I mean - we won't drop to Div1B (Elite division being the 1st tier, Div1A - the 2nd). :laugh:

The Ukrainians were playing in Div1B last year against such powerhouses as Estonia, Lithuania and Romania (the bottom line being that a comparison with Ukraine doesn't make any sense).

And, yeah, Nolan will continue to coach our team at least until the World Champs this year. But it doesn't look like he'll be a long-term coach, especially if he's going to stay in the NHL.

Most European teams tend to play exhibition games/tournaments a few times a year, including training camps, taking a look at the B team, etc. So if he's unavailable all the time, he's more of a part-time coach and the president of the Latvian Hockey Federation doesn't like that at all.

Sorry, what I meant was the second tier of top teams.

ie.

Tier 1 = Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland -- Challenge for a medal in WC
Tier 2 = Latvia, Germany, Belarus, France, Denmark, Norway -- Competitive, stable teams within top division of WC
Tier 3 = Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Kazakhstan, Hungary -- Up and down from WC to div 1
 

andersej

Registered User
Jul 16, 2009
575
6
Copenhagen
Latvia disqualified from the Olympics?

There's a rumour out there that says a second Latvian player has tested positive for doping during the Olympics - Pavlovs was the first one.

No word on who this second player is, but multiple doping cases could lead to Latvia being disqualified from the Olympics. This primarily would impact the IIHF world rankings which includes the Olympics. I don't know if a disqualification would rank Latvia as the lowest ranked team of the 12 Olympic participants or as the last ranked team of all teams involved in the Olympic qualification...

UPDATE: The player in question is reported to be Freibergs:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ion-from-olympics-for-doping/article17164169/
 
Last edited:

Namejs

Registered User
Dec 24, 2011
3,901
687
Oslo
There's a rumour out there that says a second Latvian player has tested positive for doping during the Olympics - Pavlovs was the first one.

No word on who this second player is, but multiple doping cases could lead to Latvia being disqualified from the Olympics. This primarily would impact the IIHF world rankings which includes the Olympics. I don't know if a disqualification would rank Latvia as the lowest ranked team of the 12 Olympic participants or as the last ranked team of all teams involved in the Olympic qualification...

UPDATE: The player in question is reported to be Freibergs:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ion-from-olympics-for-doping/article17164169/
Freibergs was tested before, during and after the Olympics and he was clean in every instance.
 

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