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The Latvian junior national team finished the year 2023 with four games in the world junior championship and will start the New Year with a quarterfinal against the USA. 0:6 against Sweden, 0:10 against Canada and 0:4 against Finland would like to be forgotten, starting the year with positive memories of the extremely convincing 6:2 against Germany.
Quoting the head coach of the national team Arti Ābola: “Teams of different levels, unfortunately, we are very far from them” – this after 0:10; or: “To beat one of these teams, we would have to do a feat. We didn’t do that” – after the third barangay against Finland. The Swedes started, the Canadians continued and the Finns finished the humiliation of Latvian juniors with a dramatic goal difference – 0:20 after three games. Could we win any of these three giants? Let’s be realistic – no! Could we score any goals in those three matches? Yes. But for me, as a person who does not tend to live in the categories of desires, Apple’s first quote is closer. Well, a country as small as Latvia cannot gather a competitive team with Sweden, Canada and Finland from two seasons. Where Sweden has 20 NHL drafted players, of which 16 (!!) are already playing in Sweden’s highest league – the SHL… For now, only the four from the Latvian Superleague play for us at the adult level.
Before heading to Gothenburg, we praised the attacking potential of our U-20 squad. Yes, Dan Lochmelis, Sandis Vilmanis, Erik Mateiko or Roger Bukart seem to us to be very good forwards, but the best of them – Lochmelis and Vilmanis can only be found in the fourth and fifth rounds of the NHL draft. The Swedes have seven first-round draftees, the Canadians have nine, the Americans have ten, the Slovaks have three, and the Czechs have two. At least for now, the best hockey in Gothenburg is shown by the teams with more hockey players drafted by the NHL. In other words, the draft shows very well what their potential is at the moment.
Should Latvia therefore be written off? As Oļegs Znaroks once said, he would be happy if, in a few years, three or four of the Latvian junior national team he coached at that time would play in our national team. What do we expect from this team? But until then, show your teeth to the US juniors!
The Baltic/Latvian championship will also continue its run this week. The two most intriguing games on Saturday and Sunday, when HS “Rīga” will host “Kaunas City” on their field.
May the entire Latvian hockey family have a good 2024!
Jānis MATULIS
