Harija Vitolins’ team played a total of 10 games, including the decisive one for 3rd place, beating their opponents from the USA in overtime with a score of 4:3. Bravo!
Ten match tournament
In ten matches, the Latvian national team won seven victories. What’s noteworthy is that we lost to the Canadians twice, both in the group (0:6 and 2:4, respectively), and in the semifinals, and once again to the Slovaks, again in the group (1:2). Of the seven victories won, three were with the same score 4:3 in overtime (with the Czech Republic, Switzerland and the USA in the bronze medal game). In addition, there were also victories over opponents from Norway – 2:1, Slovenia – 3:2, Kazakhstan – 7:0 and the quarterfinals with Sweden – 3:1.
In total, the players of the Latvian national team scored 30 goals. But the most important one is definitely the one scored by Kaspars Daugavins in the game with Switzerland. After all, it was this goal that helped our team avoid defeat in regular time in the final game of the group stage, guaranteeing access to the playoffs. Well, then the team of Harija Vitolins’ hands were already untied.
Records big and small
Of course, in addition to the captain of our team, who celebrated his 36th birthday during the tournament, it is worth special mentioning goalkeeper Artur Shilov, whom the World Cup directorate recognized as the most valuable player (Shilov is the fifth goalkeeper in history to become MVP since 1995, when this prize was awarded : Previously, this was achieved by the Finns Pekka Rinne in 2014 and Juho Olkinuor in 2022, the Swede Viktor Fast in 2011 and the German Dennis Endras in 2010). In addition, the 22-year-old goalkeeper was recognized as the best goalkeeper of these competitions. Richard Bouckaerts unexpectedly shot from the forwards, scoring 11 points using the “goal plus pass” system. This is a new record for players of the Latvian national team at a separate world championship, as well as seven victories won (previously, the Latvian national team had never had more than four at one world championship).
If we take statistical indicators, then in two components at once the Latvian national team stood out favorably against the rest. First of all, this game is outnumbered. Out of 32 cases, the Latvian team missed goals only twice. The overall efficiency of playing in the minority is 93.75 percent. Secondly, the average attendance at matches. Games with the participation of the Latvian national team attracted an average of 8,930 people. Except that the Finnish team can boast of higher figures here (11,724).
Arthur Shilov.
Word – Vitolinshu
The head coach of the Latvian national team, Harijs Vitolins, called the 2023 World Cup bronze the most important medal in his career.
– You are the head coach, you are responsible for everything, the sense of responsibility is great. People express their opinions, and it will never be equally positive for everyone. The guys rushed under the puck and flew into the boards. They went to the locker room, but then returned. Band-aids, injections… We have achieved a lot, we have united the country. We see that we are able to assemble a full arena in two days. This is why we play.
The bar is set high, but we will start the next matches from scratch. We should have no illusions that we will start beating everyone with a difference of 5-6 goals. There will be victories by one goal, there will be defeats, there will be painful defeats. This is hockey. But we saw that we can fight, that we have character that gives a lot in short-term tournaments. It is the cohesion of the team, the same ideas about the goal, and not skill.
In my time, when reaching the quarterfinals, the goal was considered achieved. Now I felt that this was not so. What we have achieved is not a great miracle. Dreams Come True. Gradually the understanding of what we have achieved comes. This is a real medal.
Incident with an advertising patch
After the end of the World Cup, information appeared about the Latvian national team, which came from unexpected places. In Finland this week, a criminal case was opened against… the Latvian national team because of a bookmaker’s advertising. It is noted that on the sweaters of the Latvian team, under the logo of the bookmaker’s office, sports bar was written. Olybet has a restaurant of the same name in Tallinn.
According to local publication Iltalehti, the logo of the Estonian bookmaker Olybet was placed on the sweaters of the Latvian team during the tournament. The fact is that according to Finnish laws, only Veikkaus can advertise gambling on the territory of mainland Finland. It is prohibited to advertise foreign gambling games. “The national team had advertising that was not domestic. Someone felt that the police should investigate a possible crime. The police register a case and begin a preliminary investigation,” said Police Commissioner Arto Partanen.
Canadians are out of competition again
The World Cup itself ended with the victory of the main favorites of the championship – the Canadian team. The founders of hockey defeated the Germans in the decisive match – 5:2, becoming 28-time world champions. However, Germany’s “silver” is also a unique achievement. Thus, the Canadian team set a new tournament record, beating the teams of the USSR and Russia, which have a total of 27 gold medals at the world championships. Forward of the Canadian national team and the NHL club Minnesota Jacob Middleton spoke out about the fact that the Canadian national team at the 2023 World Cup was called weak: “The Finnish media wrote that this is one of our worst teams at the world championships! And yet the gold medals hang around our necks.”
As for the main losers, the teams of Slovenia and Hungary are leaving the top division, whose places will be taken by the teams of Great Britain and Poland in a year.
After the end of the world championship, the International Hockey Federation published a ranking in which the Latvian team moved to 10th place, ahead of the Danes. By the way, Russia retained third place in the IIHF rankings, despite not participating in the last World Championship. The rating takes into account the results of teams at the World Championships and Olympics over the past four years. Thus, the top 10 after the games in Riga and Tampere is as follows: Canada – 4150 points, Finland – 4080, Russia – 4050, USA – 3940, Germany – 3835, Sweden – 3800, Switzerland – 3775, Czech Republic – 3735, Slovakia – 3690 and Latvia – 3610.
Prague and Ostrava await in 2024
Meanwhile, the composition of the groups, preliminary so far, for the next World Hockey Championship, which will be hosted by the Czech Republic (Prague and Ostrava), has become known. This is still unofficially reported by the IIHF (International Hockey Federation). It is noted that minor changes may be made to the composition for organizational reasons. Final lineups and game schedules will be announced in the coming months.
Group A (Ostrava) included Canada, Germany, Sweden, Slovakia, Latvia, France, Kazakhstan and Poland. Group B (Prague) included Finland, USA, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Austria and Great Britain.
The national teams of Russia and Belarus were suspended from all tournaments under the auspices of the International Ice Hockey Federation in the spring of 2022. Teams will not participate in the World Championships in the 2023/24 season. IIHF President Luc Tardif responded to the question of when the next decision on the two teams will be made: “It will be at a council meeting during the third week of March 2024, when we will make a decision on the 2024/25 season, which will include start of Olympic qualification. We hope to make a decision as soon as possible so that competitors know exactly what is at stake in terms of promotion and relegation.”
Final distribution of places at the 2023 Ice Hockey World Cup
1. Canada
2. Germany
3. Latvia
4. USA
5. Switzerland
6. Sweden
7. Finland
8. Czech Republic
9. Slovakia
10. Denmark
11. Kazakhstan
12. France
13. Norway
14. Austria
15. Hungary
16. Slovenia
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2024-03-25 18:16:34