To mark the 50th birthday of the late Latvian rock musician Ēriks Ķiģelis, his son Fēlikss Ķiģelis and other musicians have released a new album of his songs, Rudens vēju muzikants 2, Platforma Records of Rīga has announced.

Ķiģelis, one of the founders of the Liepāja guitar rock group Līvi, died 20 years ago in an automobile accident. He was born May 11, 1955.

The album includes well-known Ķiģelis songs such as “Saulgriežu rīts,” “Laika dziesmiņa” and “Kurzeme,” as well as songs such as “Atbilde” and “Vēlējums” that have never been released in albums.

Besides Fēlikss Ķiģelis, performing on the album are Aivars Brīze of Līvi, Juris Kaukulis of Dzelzs Vilks, Artis Dvarions of R.A.P., Ivo Fomins and the Liepāja group The Briefings.

The album is a followup to the 1999 album Rudens vēju muzikants, which also saw Fēlikss Ķiģelis honoring the memory of his father. That album was released on the MICREC label.

Latvia’s ice hockey team has been sent packing after a punishing 9-1 loss to Sweden in their final qualifying round game in the 2005 World Championship in Austria.

Latvia will have to be satisfied with a ninth place finish in the championship, one spot lower than in 2004. Ironically, it was Sweden that knocked Latvia out of contention last year, too.

The game didn’t go well for Latvia from almost the first drop of the puck, according to a game summary posted on IHWC.net. Just 28 seconds into the first period, Sweden’s Niklas Kronwall got the puck past Latvian goalkeeper Artūrs Irbe. Sweden added two more goals before the end of the period.

Down 0-3, Latvia switched goalies coming into the second period, putting Edgars Masaļskis in the net. But it didn’t help. Sixty-five seconds later, Sweden’s Thomas Rodin got his team’s fourth goal while Latvia was down a man. In fact, Latvian players spent a total of 10 minutes in the penalty box during the period. Sweden’s fifth goal also came on a power play.

Only 24 seconds after the start of the final period, Sweden scored again and continued to add insult to injury with three more goals. Latvia’s only point came 10:04 into the period thanks to Māris Ziediņš, assisted by Miķelis Rēdlihs.

In all, Sweden had 31 shots on goal. Latvia had 20.

Latvia ended up in fifth place out of the six teams in the Group F qualifying round. Ukraine came in last. Only the first four teams advance to the quarterfinals.

A total of 2,349 spectators watched the game in Innsbruck.

The Finns tried. So did the Latvians. But in the end, neither ice hockey team was able to score a goal in their May 9 match-up during the 2005 World Championship qualifying round in Innsbruck, Austria.

The Finns had more chances for a goal, tallying 29 shots on goal to Latvia’s 15, but veteran goaltender Artūrs Irbe didn’t let a single one get by him, according to a game summary posted on IHWC.net. Niklas Backstrom did the same for Finland.

Only 2,235 spectators attended the scoreless game, according to IHWC.net.

Latvia next faces Sweden in a May 10 game that it has to win to advance to the quarterfinals. The top four teams in each of two six-team groups move to the quarterfinals.