Latvia kicked off this year’s IIHF World Hockey Championships in Stockholm (eight countries play there and another eight in Helsinki) with a 2:5 loss to perennial powerhouse Russia. Miks Indrasis opened up the scoring after which the Russian tallied four straight goals before NHLer Ottawa Senators forward Kaspars Daugavins notched the second goal for Latvia. Those interested can check the write-up in sportacentrs.com/hokejs or iihf.com.

Latvia plays Germany on May 6 and Italy on May 8 before taking on the Czech Republic on May 10, Norway on May 12, Denmark on May 14 and host country Sweden on May 15. The top four teams from each group move to the quarterfinals. That means the games against the weaker countries Germany, Denmark, Norway and Italy are key. The last team in each group gets relegated.

Kaspars Daugavins and Oskars Bartulis are the only two with recent NHL experience and Bartulis spent all of this past season with the Philadelphia Flyers AHL farm team the Adirondack Phantom. Thirteen of the 25 players on the roster are from the KHL Dinamo Riga squad. One other is from a KHL team. The rest are drawn from various European teams including four who play locally in Latvia with HK Riga in the MHL (the KHL’s junior league) or Liepajas Metalurgs in the Belarus League.

The story this year is the how the squad which has limited talent compared to the big guns will respond to Canadian coach Ted Nolan who has a wealth of coaching experience in North America including the NHL, AHL and Canada’s Major Junior hockey. Nolan was quick to impart his style of play - a more physical game where forwards need to pick up their defensive assignment and the results of exhibition games against Denmark, the Czech Republic, Russia and France looked promising including a win against Russia.

As usual, a few thousand boisterous Latvian hockey fans have arrived in Stockholm to cheer on their team.

The IIHF updates their power rankings every few days. A tongue in cheek commentary on each of the teams that is worth a chuckle. Check it out at http://www.iihf.com/competition/272/homeiihf/power-ranking.html  Latvia is ranked 12th and realistically will finish between 9th and 12th although Nolan and the Latvian Hockey Federation (LHF) have set a quarter-final top 8 finish as the goal, something that Latvia has accomplished on more than one occasion. Here’s hoping!

Paldies for the update, Viesturs Zarins!!

The U.S. cable channels here are of course, NOT showing the Latvians play, just the U.S.A. team…  oh well!  Hoping that Latvia gets into the quarter-finals and WILL get to see them here!  Glad to hear of these updates on “our” team!

GOOOOOOOO LATVIJA!!!!!!!  :lol:

IIHF is making the games available through Youtube. Try http://www.youtube.com/icehockey then scroll down and click on the Stockholm link and you should be able to see Latvia’s games live - http://www.youtube.com/user/2ndvenue2 !

In today’s game against Germany, Latvia jumped to a 2-0 first period lead with goals by Miks Indrasis and Mikelis Redlihs only to see Germany even the score by the end of second period. A third period power play goal by Aleksejs Sirokovs was enough however to seal a 3-2 win by Latvia.

Latvia’s game in the last two periods was less than inspirational. Disciplined play broke down and there were a number of glaring give-aways and ineffective power plays. Nevertheless, the win gives Latvia an all important three points separating them from the lesser lights and gives them a confidence boost as they head in to Tuesday’s game against Italy.

After two games, Indrasis, Sprukts and Daugavins are one, two and three in points. Twenty-one year old Indrasis has three points in two games with two goals and an assist. Captain Janis Sprukts tallied two assists today giving him a total of three while Kaspars Daugavins added an assist to yeasterday’s goal against the Russians.

I appreciate these posts!

Latvia rolled to an easy 5:0 win over Italy today building up 1:0, 3:0 and 5:0 leads over three periods. Oscars Bartulis, Miks Indrasis, Ronalds Kenins, Gints Meija and Krisjanis Redlihs scored for Latvia. Kenins, Bartulis and Indrasis each picked up two points (a goal and an assist). Indrasis continues to set the pace and with 5 points is the top Latvian point-getter in the tournament and tied for third overall with Sprukts close on his heels with 4 points. Edgars Masalskis played his third game in goal posting the shut-out.

With the win, Latvia moves into third place in their division with six points. The Czech Republic is one point behind them and the two teams square off on Thursday. Germany, Italy, Norway and Denmark trail. Following the game on Thursday, Latvia still needs to play division leader Sweden as well as Norway and Denmark. While Norway and Denmark are ranked below Latvia, so far they have proven that they are no push-overs. Latvia can’t take them lightly and needs to play tight disciplined hockey against all opponents. But with a few breaks going their way, a top eight quarter-final finish might be in sight.

I too say THANKS!!  for posting updates!!

GOOOOOO LATVIJA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Latvia held its own for most of the Thursday’s game against the Czechs. The score was 0:0 after the first period and 1:1 after the second with Armands Berzins picking up Latvia’s goal. The game looked like it might be heading for overtime but the Czech’s tallied in the 50th minute to pull ahead and added an insurance goal on a power play less than two minutes later.

That puts Latvia in the 4th and final quarter final qualification position with 6 points after four games. Norway is breathing down Latvia’s neck only two points behind (three points are awarded for a regular time win, two for an overtime win and one for an overtime loss). The games on Saturday against Norway and on Monday against Denmark will be key if Latvia is to make the quarter finals. It would be a major upset if Latvia won its final game on Tuesday against Sweden.

So far the Swedes and Russians have not lost in the eight country division playing in Stockholm while Finland is the only undefeated team in the eight country division playing in Helsinki. Canada has picked up one defeat while the USA has a loss and an overtime win. But at the halfway point the tournament is far from over.

Sarauj!

Major disappointment today as Latvia was defeated 0:3 by Norway including an own goal by veteran Lavins. A win by Latvia would have put it in the driver’s seat for the fourth and final quarter final position in their group. Instead, Norway sits one point ahead of Latvia in fourth place. The Norwegians face the easy part of their schedule with games against Germany and Denmark while Latvia plays Denmark and Sweden. Although Latvia could still make it, Norway now becomes the favourite to make it into the quarter finals.

Nothing was clicking for Latvia today. A few close chances but otherwise an undisciplined game for the guys in maroon and white. Murmurings by some disgruntled LV fans have been picked up on web questioning the wisdom of giving the team a day off yesterday with their families. But credit to Norway which has been flexing its muscles at this year’s championship beating the Czech Republic and Italy while playing decently in losses to Russia and Sweden before playing Latvia.

Latvian forward Kaspars Daugavins was quoted on iihf.com saying that the team now needs to get a good meal, a good sleep and be ready to play the next two games coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

In today’s game Latvia lost 0:2 against Denmark. That makes two games in a row that Latvia has been shut-out by the lesser Scandinavians. First by Norway who are having a surprisingly good tournament and have now made the quarter-finals and then by Denmark. Let’s hope it’s not three in a row after Tuesday’s final game for Latvia against Sweden.

In his post-game comments, Ted Nolan, Canadian coach of the Latvian team said that the team did not go out and fight for the win. Yes, they had chances with Gints Meija failing to drill one in an open net instead bouncing the puck off the cross-bar but the power play was not clicking and that was enough for the Danes to capitalize.

As a result, Latvia does not make it through to the quarter finals but at the same time wins against Italy and Germany ensured that it will not be relegated, that honour likely going to Italy and Kazakhstan. Instead Latvia will probably finish between 11th and 13th in the 16 country tournament. The remaining preliminary round games will determine final positioning.

While 11th to 13th is familiar territory for Latvia in recent years and allows it to maintain an unprecedented run in the top tier of senior men’s hockey since 1997, failing to reach the quarterfinals is still a disappointment for Latvian hockey fans after such a promising start only to fall short against the Norwegians and now the Danes.

Latvia finished this year’s IIHF World Hockey Championships with a 0:4 loss being shut out for the third consecutive game. This time however it was against Sweden, one of hockey’s powerhouses. With that Latvia, Germany and Switzerland all finished with six points but based on goal differential Latvia appears to have finished 11th and ahead of Germany but behind the Swiss. The final IIHF ranking will be published after the tournament and is based on results from several consecutive years. Even though Latvia suffered disappointing losses to Norway and Denmark, they improved several positions from their 13th place finish last year.

The star of the game today for Latvia was defenceman Janis Andersons, who after sitting on the bench for much of the tournment was given an opportunity to play regular shifts and made the most of the opportunity. Maris Jucers replaced injured Edgars Masalskis in goal while Ervins Mustukovs was the back-up. Jucers couldn’t be blamed as three of Sweden’s goals came on powerplays. Coupled with Latvia’s scoring drought, that was it.

Latvia now heads home while Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Norway continue in their quest for gold in the quarterfinals. The eight countries along with Switzerland have now qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Three openings remain and each of Latvia, Denmark and Germany will host the final Olympic qualification tournaments with other aspiring countries in February 2013 to determine who makes the cut.

In an interview shown on sportacentrs.com, Ted Nolan, Canadian coach of the Latvian team, commented there is promise that with a core of veterans and upcoming youngsters, Latvia can take it to the next level. He felt that a longer term plan must be put into place to see that happen. As for himself, he said he enjoyed working with the Latvian Hockey Federation, with the national team, being in Latvia and Riga, and he would be willing to continue as head coach but that will be up to the Federation to decide.

Latvia finished in 10th place at this year’s World Championships courtesy of the tie breaking formula when applied to Latvia, Germany and Switzerland who all finished with 6 points so that means a three place improvement over last year :)

Viesturs, again I have to say THANK YOU!!!  for posting the updates on the hockey games!  Prozit!!

Oh well, maybe they’ll still get into the 2014 Olympics!  GOOOO LATVIJA!!!

and now I guess I’ll root for Sweden!!  Ja, Ja!!  (born there!)  :)

I must admit—as I watch the Russia-Finland semifinal game on the DVR—Russia is in top shape to snatch the championship. NHL’s Evgeny Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin are showing an exceptional game.

Viesturs!

Just read your article on the “main” page here!  Again, PALDIES! for doing a thread here on the updates of our team!  Really enjoyed it.

Would like to know, if you know, WHEN next year will they be playing in Stockholm.  My sister lives near Lund, and that would be a GREAT vacation to see the Latvian team play!!  Is is usually around this time - beginning in May??

Thanks again!

May 3 to May 19, 2013 in Sweden and Finland.

PS The 2014 World Championship will be held in Latvia’s favorite dictatorship - Belarus.

PPS The commentators have said that Latvia’s group will be playing in Finland next year.
Group STO: Czech Republic, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Belarus, Slovenia.
Group HEL: Russia, Finland, Slovakia, USA, Germany, Latvia, France, Austria.