During the period, the French goalkeeper was disturbed by throwing 11 goals, while Ivars Punnenovs was disturbed eight times. In a short moment, Džeriņš hit the goal post, Kaspars Daugaviņš’s thrown puck was repelled by Baiss, but Roberts Bukarts did not hit the puck in front of the goal.
2: 0 after playing five minutes and 50 seconds in the last period, Indrašis reached, who broke into the goal by a throw-in in the majority of three players. The puck hit the defender Igo Galē’s stick after a not too strong throw and, hitting the goalkeeper’s foot guard, re-selected over it in the right corner of the goal.
One goal was scored in the counterattack in the 52nd minute by da Costa, who caught Punnenov in the counterattack with a shot from the middle of the zone, sending the puck to him over the guard in the right corner of the goal, disappointing for the first time in the tournament in Riga and reaching 1: 2.
There were several more dangerous moments at Punnenov’s goal, but the best chance to score for the French came after the rejection of Theodore Bluger two minutes and four seconds before the end of regular time. Substituting the goalkeeper for the sixth player of the field, but the goal was not taken – 2: 1.
It has already been reported that in the first game of the day, Hungary beat Italy 2: 1.
On the first day of the competition, Latvia defeated Italy with 6: 0, but on Friday it defeated Hungary with 9: 0, scoring eight goals in the third period. France defeated Hungary 5: 3 in a fierce battle at the start of the tournament, while Italy beat 2: 0.
Rūdolfs Balcers scored three goals and equally effective passes for the Latvian national team in Friday’s game, Ronalds Ķēniņš added 2 + 4, Rodrigo Ābol had two goals and a pass, two “goals” were scored by captain Teodors Blugers, but Roberts Bukarts played with three.
The leader of the French national team with two goals and two assists was the most dangerous Alexander Texier.
In the two test matches before the qualifying tournament, Latvia won Norway 4: 2 a week ago and lost 1: 4.
Before the tournament in Riga, the French national team won the South Korean national team 4: 2 in the test game and conceded to Denmark 2: 8.
This is the first tournament for the Latvian hockey team led by the new coach Harijs Vītoliņš. The team of coaches also includes Viktors Ignatjevs, Artis Ābols, Raimonds Vilkoits, goalkeeper coach Juris Klodāns and Kārlis Zirnis.
In parallel with the Olympic qualifying tournament in Riga, eight more national teams are distributing two tickets to the Beijing Olympics. In Group D, Slovaks, Belarusians, Austrians and Poles meet in Bratislava. In addition to Norwegians, Danes, South Koreans and Slovenes also participate in Oslo. Only group winners win the start of the Olympic Games.
The Latvian national team has participated in four consecutive Winter Olympics – in 2002 in Salt Lake City, in 2006 in Turin, in 2010 in Vancouver and in 2014 in Sochi – but no ticket to the 2018 Pyongyang Olympics was won.
Participation in the tournament in Beijing is already provided for Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, the USA, Germany, Switzerland and hostess China.
The composition of the Latvian men’s hockey team for participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games qualification tournament:
Goalkeepers: Ivars Punnenovs (Langnavas “Tigers”, Switzerland), Artūrs Šilovs (Manitoba “Moose”, AHL), Mareks Mitens (Utica “Comets”, AHL);
Defenders: Ralfs Freibergs, Oskars Cibuļskis, Kristaps Sotnieks, Kārlis Čukste (all – Riga “Dinamo”, KHL), Kristiāns Rubīns (Toronto “Marlies”, AHL), Sandis Smons (Geneva “Servette”, Switzerland), Uvis Balinskis (Litvin Verva, Czech Republic), Jānis Jaks (Sochi, KHL);
Attackers: Theodors Blugers (Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL), Zemgus Girgensons (Buffalo Sabers, NHL), Rudolf Balcers (San Jose Sharks, NHL), Lauris Dārziņš (Riga Dynamo, KHL), Miks Indrašis (Podolsk) “Vitjaz”, KHL), Andris Jerins (Linz “Black Wings”, Austria), Rodrigo Apple (“Orebro”, Sweden), Dennis Smirnov (Geneva “Servette”, Switzerland), Renar Krastenberg (“Villacher SV”, Austria) , Mārtiņš Dzierkals (without club), Kaspars Daugaviņš (“Bern”, Switzerland), Rihards Bukarts (Vladivostok “Admiral”, KHL), Roberts Bukarts (Vītkovice “Ridera”, Czech Republic), Ronalds Ķēniņš (“Lausanne”, Switzerland).
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