It has already been reported that the Latvian men’s hockey team beat Slovenia with a score of 4:2 (2:1, 2:1, 0:0) in the first game of the qualification tournament for the Milan and Cortina 2026 Olympic Games on Thursday.
“A well-deserved and hard-earned victory. It’s always hard to start and as we saw, the Slovenians weren’t afraid to play. In the third period, the guys learned how to hold the lead properly. There was good team work and we did a pretty good job on defense. There wasn’t a player to turn around and all the shots were blocked ,” said Vītoliņš.
As the head coach of the Latvian national team emphasized, the character of the players will play a big role in such a tournament.
“This is the moment when everyone misses hockey. Character will decide everything in this tournament, because everyone’s physical preparation is good. Everyone has fresh heads and the guys understood the nuances that need to be worked on,” Vītoliņš admitted.
Before the tournament, Eriks Vitols was announced as the third goalkeeper, because until the last moment there was hope that Artūrs Šilovs could help. On Thursday, the goal was guarded by Kristers Gudlevsky, who managed 20 of 22 shots.
“It caused anxiety, but Kristers did a very good job. We have good goalkeepers, and we should be proud that we have such a ‘goalkeeping school,'” said Vītoliņš about Shilov not playing.
The qualification tournament in Riga started on Thursday with the victory of the French hockey players over Ukraine with 7:2.
The Latvian national team will fight Ukraine on August 30 and France on September 1 for a ticket to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Only the winner of the qualification will win the ticket to the 2026 Olympic Games.
2024-08-31 22:00:29