IIHF World ChampionshipDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
With Gudlevskis in net after half the game we were down only by a single goal, but the last 30 minutes showed why you don't put 17-year old in the net in U20 tournament. Pure skill can only go so far, although I still think Merzlikins be superior to Gudlevskis in few years time, right now Gudlevskis is way more experienced and he is our best bet of solid goalkeeping for this tournament. Hopefully, our remaining under-agers won't crumble under the pressure in such a spectacular fashion.
With Gudlevskis in net after half the game we were down only by a single goal, but the last 30 minutes showed why you don't put 17-year old in the net in U20 tournament. Pure skill can only go so far, although I still think Merzlikins be superior to Gudlevskis in few years time, right now Gudlevskis is way more experienced and he is our best bet of solid goalkeeping for this tournament. Hopefully, our remaining under-agers won't crumble under the pressure in such a spectacular fashion.
The result is nothing, it would be 1-3, 0-3, 1-4, 0-4 probably with Gudļevskis in the net and it would be objective.However, the shot difference (according to LHF: 26:53) and disaster in face-offs I don't like... Vs Czech Republic I accept 28:44 in shots or sth like that, over 50 is too much... what will we do vs Russia and Sweden??? And these shots come from lost face-offs that we lost too many during the game, one thing leads to another...
Now as I've heard the players had a really hard practice before (not to say Czechs didn't have one) and the fact that North Americans arrived only later, maybe that's why they weren't much noticable in the game, but I really am not that bothered about the result (that was obviously inflated by Merzikins allowing 3 goals in a few minutes time) but more about the fact that we were massacred on ice- I expect that from Sweden and Russia but not to perform that bad against Czech Republic...
Can't say I'm pleased with the result, but I'm not worried either. The guys are still getting used to the time-zone, small rinks, playing together. The friendly with Denmark will be more significant.
Glad that Gudlevskis seems to have found his game in the last month.
Latvia - Denmark today, I really hope our first lineup with Girgensons can start earning some points in this tournament, it will be very hard to win games without them scoring and hence we might face terrible loses like against Czech's more often. Also this game is necessary to lift up our player confidence. Hopefully we can win them and win them good.
Go Go!!!
Last edited by DrStrangelife: 12-22-2011 at 09:34 AM.
Latvia - Denmark today, I really hope our first lineup with Girgensons can start earning some points in this tournament, it will be very hard to win games without them scoring and hence we might face terrible loses like against Czech's more often. Also this game is necessarily to lift up our player confidence. Hopefully we can win them and win them good.
Czech Republic played really well against beastly Russian side and we convincingly beat the Danes, our biggest rival in this tournament. Time to get excited about our chances of survival
Latvia's final roster. Vladislavs Dudins and Kristaps Legzdiņš didn't make the cut.
goalie Kristers Gudļevskis 1992. HK Rīga
goalie Rihards Cimermanis 1993. HK Juniors
goalie Elviss Merzļikins 1994. HC Lugano (Switzerland)
defence Pauls Zvirbulis 1993. HK Rīga
defence Kristers Freibergs 1992. HK Rīga
defence Artūrs Salija 1992. HK Rīga
defence Krišs Lipsbergs 1993. HK Rīga
defence Edgars Siksna 1993. Liepājas Metalurgs
defence Kristaps Nīmanis 1993. Red Ducks (Finland)
defence Ņikita Koļesņikovs 1992. Blainville-Boisbriand (Canada)
defence Krists Kalniņš 1992. AIK Härnösand (Sweden)
forward Roberts Lipsbergs 1994. HK Rīga
forward Dāvis Straupe 1992. HK Rīga
forward Ņikita Jevpalovs 1994. HK Rīga
forward Artūrs Kuzmenkovs 1993. HK Rīga
forward Māris Diļevka 1992. Liepājas Metalurgs
forward Juris Ziemiņš 1993. HK Juniors
forward Vitālijs Hvorostiņins 1992. Vaasas Sport (Finland)
forward Toms Andersons 1993. HC Bern (Switzerland)
forward Teodors Bļugers 1994. Shattuck St. Mary’s (USA)
forward Zemgus Girgensons 1994. Dubuque Fighting Saints (USA)
forward Edgars Kļaviņš 1993. HK AIK (Sweden)
forward Kristiāns Pelšs 1992. Edmonton Oil Kings (Canada)
Czech Republic played really well against beastly Russian side and we convincingly beat the Danes, our biggest rival in this tournament. Time to get excited about our chances of survival
I'd be quite surprised if our team would be send down from the top division. I truly don't see us being the worst team in this WJC. I'm actually looking positively at Latvia's chance of finishing in unacceptably high spot. Of course it's to early to say that, especially when we look back at our past WJC experiences but then again I don't see why we couldn't be the team making an unexpected surprise in this WJC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by v-man
Latvia's final roster.
Now I'm interested how our roster will be arranged, who'll play on the 1st and on the 2nd line.
And I want people to mention him together with Irbe & Ozolinsh
There's no question that Balderis is a Latvian and to be more precise the best ice-hockey player we've ever had but is he associated with Latvian hockey organization? The article talks about Latvia as Latvia and not as Latvia as part of the USSR. Sadly Balderis never played under Latvian flag therefore there could be a small controversy if Balderis should be put with our other great players who acctually had played for Latvia. Balderis was the best Latvian player who played only for Soviet Union. Hence I could see why Balderis wasn't added with Ozolins & Irbe. Because his name was mentioned later in the article I don't feel that disappointed about the article(Imagine if he wouldn't have mentioned at all). But because USSR was forced over Latvia, I'll agree with you and there's no question that Balderis should be the first name mentioned when we talk about Latvian hockey.
Sadly Balderis never played under Latvian flag therefore there could be a small controversy if Balderis should be put with our other great players who acctually had played for Latvia. Balderis was the best Latvian player who played only for Soviet Union.
Technically you're wrong. He has a few appearances for our NT in early 90's.
Technically you're wrong. He has a few appearances for our NT in early 90's.
True he did play 2 Games in 1992, the same year became coach of our NT. These both games were more a dot to his professional career, the finishing touch, but true it's my fault and my lack of knowledge. It's just another reason why he should have been mentioned in the article.
Irbe and Ozolinsh are also products of Soviet Hockey.
That wasn't the point. Irbe & Ozolinsh established themselves as NHL guys and as Team Latvia players. Balderis was already too old when USSR broke down.
Will Kolesnikovs be your #1 D? Power play time? He's used to playing on the N-A ice so he's got that going for him.
He could end up having the most points on our D, but I think our #1 D will be Siksna who's successfully playing with men already this season. A year older Freibergs also have a full pro season under his belt, though this season doesn't look very promising. But, yeah, Kolesnikovs is a decent bet too.
Can't say I'm pleased with the result, but I'm not worried either. The guys are still getting used to the time-zone, small rinks, playing together. The friendly with Denmark will be more significant.
Glad that Gudlevskis seems to have found his game in the last month.
It`s not like Czech Republick is in NA nor that Czechs plays more together than we do.
FastHockey will show our games vs SUI & SVK (no charges). I'm really glad about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalvinators
It`s not like Czech Republick is in NA nor that Czechs plays more together than we do.
Czechs had twice as many guys who were used to small ice and weren't changing their bioclock significantly. But that's a closed case now, it was just a friendly where we tested our 3rd keeper.
Go!!!
