Riga, May 27, LETA. The Latvian national hockey team in the fourth game of Group B of the 2021 World Championship on Thursday acknowledged the superiority of the US national team.
Latvia conceded to the United States with 2: 4 (2: 2, 0: 2, 0: 0).
Miks Indrašis and Renārs Krastenbergs scored for Latvia.
At the time of the results, which Kivleniek had left without a stick, Matt Tenison discovered after the passes of Connor Garland and Trevor Moore, throwing a puck from the blue line on the ice between Kivleniek’s bodyguards. Only 66 seconds had elapsed.
At the turn of the fourth and fifth minutes, the United States remained in threes for seven seconds. Mūrs first hit Renārs Krastenberg in the face with a stick, showing blood, but the judge considered that the injury was not serious and two minutes of punishment would suffice. Eriks Robinson fell right on the ice in the center of the field against Jānis Jaks with a resting-worthy technique.
Kaspars Daugaviņš ‘shot did not reach the goal, but after 55 seconds played in the big majority, when there were five minutes played on the board, Andris Džeriņš and Daugaviņš prevented the US goalkeeper Kel Petersen from seeing the shot in front of the goal, and Indrašis hit the goal in the upper left corner – 1: 1.
Two minutes later, Uvis Balinskis earned a two-minute rejection behind his goal for a dangerous game with a high-stuck stick, but the Americans failed to use that majority.
The Americans dominated the fight, but the goal fell a little illogically. In the 15th minute, Brian Boils scored a long shot after passes by Justin Abdelkider and Kevin Labank – 2: 1 in favor of the USA. The puck hit the stick of the Latvian hockey player and, changing direction, shoved into the goal.
It took Latvia only a minute and 59 seconds to equalize the result. Ralph Freibergs disarmed the opponent in the corner of the American zone, Oskars Batņa went to the goal with a puck from the right corner of the field, and after his shot the puck bounced on the left side of the goal near Krastenberg, who sent it from a very narrow angle – 2: 2.
At the end of the first minute of the second third, after several American long shots, the puck could reach the Latvian goal when Kivlenieks was lying on the ice, but the pass from the goal ended with a dangerous but unrealized goal episode.
In the middle of the second minute, Indraša’s pass to Daugaviņš, who was face to face with the opponent’s goalkeeper, was intercepted.
In the 27th minute, Ryan Donato earned a two-minute penalty for holding behind the Latvian goal, but the majority ended with a skillful movement in the Latvian zone performed by Abdelkader, which was stopped by Jaks with a trip on the road.
In most of the dangerous throws, the stick broke for Garland from the left throw-in, but Colin Blackwell threw over the goal from the front of the goal.
However, the further offensive in the US national team ended in the 32nd minute with 3: 2 in favor of the Americans. Freibergs made a mistake in the pass behind his goal for a long time change of Latvia, the puck was intercepted, and after the passes of Jason Robertson and Garland, Mūrs sent from the front in front of the goal – 3: 2.
Less than two minutes in front of the goal, the defenders of the Latvian national team missed Metijs Benjers, who beat Kivlenieks, the puck flying from the stick of Kristiāns Rubīns – 4: 2.
At the end of the 36th minute, Benjers illegally stopped Rodrigo Ābols’ movement with the puck on the goal, with Latvia gaining a majority, during which there were no dangerous moments at the American goal.
In the fourth minute of the third period, the counterattack gave way to Latvia, Ronald Ķēniņš went to the right on the right side, but his shot was caught by Petersen from the awkward side.
In general, there were few dangerous goals at the goal of both teams in the first half of the period, although the Americans attacked more dangerously.
In the 52nd minute, with activity behind Pedersen’s goal, Krastenberg provoked the violation of the rules, breaking the rules with a stick with Kris Waidman.
Roberts Bukarts threw the ball directly over the goalkeeper from a close distance, but at the end of the majority, after a good pass from Daugaviņš, the cross from the left throw circle did not hit the goal.
In the 55th minute, Džeriņš earned two penalty minutes for breaking his helmet in the middle of the field, and for the first time in the period, the US team disturbed Kivleniek with a good shot.
At the end of the majority, the Americans cut the carousel around Kivleniek’s guarded goal, but did without the fifth lost goal, Arturs Kuldam hit the puck away from the goal line.
Dārziņš still had a couple of dangerous shots, at the end of the 58th minute Kivlenieks gave the place to the sixth player of the field, and, Balinskis awkwardly playing on the opponent’s blue line, Robertsons threw an empty goal without hitting them and the referee recorded the throw in the US zone.
During this period, the USA scored only three times in Latvia’s goal, with Latvia responding with eight broadcasts, but in the whole game, the USA was superior in this indicator with 26:19.
Krastenbergs was recognized as the best in Latvia, but in the US state unit – Boils.
With nine points in four games, the leaders of Group B are Germany and the USA, seven points are for Latvia, Kazakhstan and Finland, which have played three matches. Canada and Norway have earned three points in four games, but Italy is the only team that has not yet managed to score points in the championship.
The Latvian national team started the championship on Friday with a sensational victory over Canada (0: 2), a day later in the “bulls” 2: 3 lost to Kazakhstan, but in the third game 3: 0 won Italy.
Mārtiņš Karsums scored two goals in the game against Italy, but the assistant captain Lauris Dārziņš also has two accurate shots. Both attackers are the best snipers in the Latvian national team so far. Ronalds Ķēniņš and Ralfs Freibergs have scored two assists.
Kivlenieks stood in the first two matches of the Latvian national team, repelling 97.1% of the throws, dealing with 67 out of 69 throws, and still takes the third place among the safest goalkeepers.
Punnenov also stood “dry” in the match against Italy, repelling 12 shots, but the individual goalkeeper statistics only include goalkeepers who have scored in at least two games.
With the efforts of both goalkeepers, Latvia with 96.34% before Thursday had the best score in three games in repulsed throws. The second is the USA with a 96.05% rebound and three goals conceded.
Meanwhile, most Latvia had large reserves to improve performance. Latvian hockey players had scored one goal in nine attempts or realized an 11.11% chance by taking the penultimate place.
The US state had scored one point less than Latvia after three games. The tournament started with a 1: 2 loss against Finland, but later two successes were celebrated – 5: 1 against Canada and 3: 0 against Kazakhstan.
Trevors Moore had scored three goals in three games and played once, but Jason’s account was 2 + 2.
The US national goalkeeper Kels Petersen had conceded two puck in 47 shots and took fifth place in the championship with 95.74% rebound.
Finland and Italy will meet in the second game of Group B at 20.15.
Switzerland and Slovakia started the game in group A at 16.15, but about four hours later the Swedish and Czech teams will also climb on the ice. The first game is planned to be broadcast on the channel “360 TV hockey”, but the second – “360 TV”.
With nine points in four games, the leader of this group is the team of the Russian Olympic Committee (OKR), Slovakia has the same number of points in three games, Switzerland has scored six points, Denmark has five, but Belarus and Great Britain have scored four. Sweden has three points in three games, but the Czech Republic has earned two.
On Friday, the Latvian national team will meet with Norway, on May 30 there will be a fight with Finland, and on June 1 – with Germany.
The Latvian national hockey team is conducting its 24th World Championship in the highest division.
Compared to other years, the Latvian national team had its first free practice training on March 17. At the beginning of April, 37 hockey players had their first official training before the upcoming world championship, but on April 9 and 14, the candidates convincingly won the Latvian U-18 hockey team 6: 1 and 5: 1, which later went to the USA to play in the elite division. About a week later (April 20 and 21), a team of 26 men played two test matches in Slovakia. In the first of them, Slovakia managed to win the bulls 2: 1, but in the second overtime they lost 0: 1.
In the last test matches in mid-May, Latvia acknowledged the superiority of the Swiss national team with 0: 3 and 1: 2. After the second test match with Switzerland, Bob Hartley named the line-up for the World Cup, which included three goalkeepers, nine defenders and 16 strikers. These 28 hockey players were also entered for the championship a week ago.
The most experienced in the Latvian national team is Miķelis Rēdlihs, for whom this is the 13th World Championship in his career. Kristaps Sotnieks has less than one tournament, but for the tenth time Latvia is represented in the elite by Kaspars Daugaviņš, Lauris Dārziņš, Andris Džeriņš and Gints Meija. Daugaviņš, Dārziņš and Rēdlihs were in the application for the 2006 Riga Championship.
There is only one debutant in the team – 22-year-old striker Renārs Krastenbergs, who proved himself well in the last test match of the national team.
Due to the growth of the family, the goalkeeper Elvis Merzļikins did not help the team, the striker Rūdolfs Balcers is waiting for a new contract, who, like Zemgus Girgensons, who has not played this season, is healing the injury. The Stanley Cup is continued by the striker Teodors Bļugers, who has no place in the Latvian national team application. Gunta Galviņa, a long-time national team defender, must be left in this championship, while another player of this position, Krišjānis Rēdlihs, has finished his career in the national team.
Both teams have played five games in the World Championships in the last 12 years. The only 6: 5 victory in this period was won in 2014, when Herbert Vasilyev scored the victory goal about two minutes before the end of the regular time.
In 2018, when the two teams played their last match so far, the US national team won 3: 2 in overtime.
The World Cup usually starts in the first week of May, but this year it is postponed to the end of the month so as not to overlap with the national championship playoffs and the regular NHL tournament.
The 2021 World Championship in Riga will take place until June 6.
In subgroup B, where Latvia, Canada, Finland, USA, Germany, Norway, Italy and Kazakhstan, matches take place in “Arena Riga”, but in the subgroup A national team of the Russian Olympic Committee (OKR) team, Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark, Belarus and Great Britain spend their duels on the ice rink on the Olympic Sports Centre’s football field.
In 2022 it is planned to host the tournament for Finland (Helsinki and Tampere), in 2023 – for Russia (St. Petersburg), in 2024 for the Czech Republic (Prague and Ostrava), and in 2025 – for Sweden and Denmark.
The 2021 World Championship in Riga will take place until June 6.
Riga has hosted the World Championships for the only time so far in 2006.
In the LETA section dedicated to the hockey championship (“http://www.leta.lv/hockey”) The latest information is available not only on the progress and success of the Latvian national hockey team, but also on the results of other teams and the current events of the championship. The events on the ice rinks in Riga will also be covered by LETA reporters Dainis Āzens, Harijs Ortveins and Kristaps Plaums.
Composition of the Latvian men’s hockey team at the 2021 World Championship:
Goalkeepers: Ivars Punnenovs (Langnavas “Tigers”, Switzerland), Jānis Kalniņš (Helsinki “Jokerit”, KHL), Matīss Edmunds Kivlenieks (Cleveland “Monsters”, AHL / Columbus “Blue Jackets”, NHL).
Defenders: Jānis Jaks (Bakersfield “Condors”, AHL), Kristiāns Rubīns (Toronto “Marlies”, AHL), Kristaps Sotnieks, Gunārs Skvorcovs, Kristaps Zīle (all – Riga “Dinamo”, KHL), Oskars Cibulskis (both Balvis – Litervinov “Verva”, Czech Republic), Artūrs Kulda (Nuremberg “Ice Tigers”, Germany), Ralph Freibergs (Trinec “Ocelārži”, Czech Republic).
Forwarders: Andris Džeriņš, Lauris Dārziņš, Roberts Bukarts, Rihards Bukarts, Mārtiņš Dzierkals, Gints Meija (all – Riga “Dinamo”, KHL), Rodrigo Ābols (“Orebro”, Sweden), Ronalds Ķēniņš (“Lausanne”, Switzerland), Kaspars Daugaviņš (Vitjaz, Moscow Region, KHL), Mārtiņš Karsums (Pinguine in Krefeld, Germany), Rihards Marenis (Kiruna IF, Sweden), Māris Bičevskis (Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic), Oskars Batņa (Angletas) Hormadi “, France), Renar Krastenberg (Villach, Austria), Michael Redlich (Olimp / Venta 2002), Mick Indras (Moscow region” Vitjaz “, KHL).
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