Balcers and Merzlikins will join the national team in the second half of the week – Hockey 2022

On Saturday, the portal “Sportacentrs.com” reported that Merzlikins will arrive in Latvia on Monday, but Balcers will continue this week.

As Roberts Pļāvējs, Secretary General of the Latvian Hockey Federation (LHF), explained to LETA, Merzļikins will not join the national team training immediately, but hockey players will be given a day off on Wednesday, so the goalkeeper is expected to join on Thursday at the earliest.

Next Sunday and Monday, the Latvian national hockey team will play its last two test matches before the upcoming World Championship this month, facing the national team of Kazakhstan.

On Saturday and Sunday, Latvians met Switzerland in Weinfelden and suffered two losses with 2: 5 and 1: 3. In the first match, the striker Miks Indrašis was injured and will undergo medical examinations to determine the severity of the injury.

Last week, Latvian hockey players played test matches with France, losing 1: 2 first and winning 3: 2 a day later.

The Latvian national team at the World Championships in Group B in Tampere crossed sticks with Finland, the United States, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain and Austria. Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Italy and France will play in Group A. Helsinki.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) suspended all Russian and Belarusian teams and clubs from competitions organized by the IIHF.

Russia and Belarus will be replaced by France and Austria, which ranked the highest selection of countries not expected to play in the top division.

The 2022 World Cup in Finland is scheduled for May 13-29.