Slovaks from the KHL at the World Cup in hockey? The audience would boo them

yesterday 09:00
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A keenly watched event is approaching again in Slovakia – the ice hockey world championships. This year they will be hosted by two countries and cities – Latvian Riga and Finnish Tampere. The Slovaks will play in Riga and still have not resolved a question that can stir up passions in the capital of the Baltic country.

The Slovak Ice Hockey Association (SZĽH) did not ban representing players from the Russian KHL. It may happen that the coaches nominate them for the world championships and they will play directly in Riga in the Slovak jersey. At the same time, Latvia is a country that intensively supports Ukraine in the war with Russia and, on the contrary, stands out against the aggressor and their eastern neighbor.

On Friday, it was exactly one year since the start of the war in Ukraine. What is the mood regarding this topic in Latvia? “The top representatives of the country called on the residents to observe a minute of silence at nine o’clock in the morning for the victims of the war and thus commemorate its beginning. It’s still one of the main everyday topics,” said Latvian sports journalist Roland Elinš from the web eloquently for ŠPORT.sk Fitness center.

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As in Slovakia, Latvia is not united in its opinion about the war. However, our society is much more divided. “We are certainly not completely united. In particular, we have roughly 30 percent Russians here. Of course, not all of them are on the side of Russia and do not support the war, but many of them draw information from pro-Russian propaganda, from which a problem can arise.

So there are two groups. I’m not a sociologist, but in my opinion the pro-Russian group is not very vocal. Most of the country is on the side of Ukraine. After all, we are neighbors with Russia and we have experience with the period when they occupied us. There are still strong fears in people.”

In Latvia, they also solved the problem of hockey players who leave to play in the Russian KHL. In our country, the SZľH did not forbid them to represent, the union did not even have to deal with it. “We have a law that those who take part in official sports events in Russia or Belarus are banned for life from representing and will no longer receive any financial assistance.

No Latvian portal writes about our players in the KHL. They are thus completely ignored. It’s kind of an unwritten agreement,” Roland Elinš revealed. The Latvians have two hockey players and several coaches in the KHL.

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Their hockey players from the KHL will certainly not play at the World Championships in Riga, but Slovaks from the same league can appear there. How would the domestic audience react to them? “I can’t speak for the fans, they often follow their current emotions. I can only say my opinion.

The first question would be, will they even know about it? Your KHL players are not big stars that everyone knows. It’s not like Alexander Ovechkin, who everyone knows supports Putin.”

If SZľH nominated them and they traveled to Riga, it would be a big topic in the local media and people would very likely find out about it. “It would definitely be written about, our media would be interested in it.

If it were written who Slovakia nominated for the World Cup, not only me, but also my colleagues from other media, we would not focus on your stars or players from the NHL, but on the fact that you nominated players from the KHL. It would probably reach people that way.”

And how would the fans react to them? Would they be greeted with a beep? “It’s hard to predict, but I think so. There would be negative reactions when the Slovaks took the ice. However, we have a problem with selling tickets, and when there are few people in the arena, it is not very noisy. However, I am sure that in the match between Latvia and Slovakia, the spectators would definitely react to it.”

In Riga, most things with the organization of the championship go without problems, because two years ago they hosted both groups themselves. Now there will be only one. The wrinkles on their foreheads are only the aforementioned ticket sales.

“The solution was that the prices were too high and that’s why people weren’t buying them. They gradually make it cheaper. By mid-December, only 13% of all tickets had been sold. I don’t have the current numbers, but you can also buy tickets for Latvia matches. I don’t know what they plan to do with it.”

Tickets for Slovakia matches range from 29 to 89 euros, for Latvia matches from 49 to 135 euros.

OLYMPICS WITH RUSSIAN = BOYCOTT

The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in next year’s Summer Olympics in Paris is also a current topic these days. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would like to see them there, several countries or national committees have the opposite opinion.

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If their participation is approved, Ukraine will boycott the games. Latvia took an equally strong position.

“We have a relatively clear and common opinion on it. The Olympic Committee, together with the ministry that also covers sports, have clearly stated that they do not agree with this. They also do not agree with how the International Olympic Committee announced it, or how the communication took place regarding it, and that it is morally unacceptable for them.

They also threatened to boycott the entire games if Russian athletes took part in them. And I’m 99 percent sure they would,” Roland Elinš presented a clear opinion of Latvia.