2023-04-23 12:25:29
It has already been reported that the Latvian national team lost to Great Britain 2:3 (1:1, 0:0, 1:1, 0:1) in extra time on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, we lost in extra time. We wanted to experiment. In Slovakia it worked, here we let the puck into an empty net. This is a preparatory stage, we have to try all options – whether we can play with an empty net or not,” said the coach.
“The boys fought, there were enough moments to win the game. Currently, the quality is a bit lacking. The majority should also put more pucks in the goal. The work continues and there is something to work on,” said Vītoliņš, who emphasized the players’ enthusiasm and desire to play from the positive side.
“There were good moments, at times there was good puck retention. The good thing was that after 1:2 we were able to find the right solution and, removing the goalkeeper, scored a ‘goal’. We did not give up and played to the end. There was fighting spirit,” the coach explained.
In the second and third periods, Latvia had a big advantage, which they failed to turn into success.
“Either the last pass was imprecise, or the shot hit the goalkeeper in the stomach,” says the coach about the reasons that prevented the advantage from being realized. “The quantity was there, but it didn’t translate into quality. It’s a preparation stage, but of course you always want to win.”
He added that there will be changes in the lineup in the second game, as there were three players who did not play on Saturday – Rihards Bukarts, Mārtiņš Dzierkals and Kristaps Zīle.
“All three of them will play. Let’s see how the players will feel and who will be in what condition, because there are guys with bruises. We will discuss with the coaches and review the game again,” the coach says about Sunday’s game, who thanked the visiting Latvian fans who allowed the full hall to feel like at home.
“There are two feelings. We created a lot of good goal-scoring moments, but we lacked realization, which still needs to be worked on,” said striker Oskars Batnia. “The good thing is that at the end we were able to “draw out the game” and showed character. Of course, we would like to win such games, but we took a risk in overtime.”
Latvia scored 43 times on the home team’s goal, but Latvian goalkeeper Ivars Punnenovs was blocked 24 times.
“We didn’t hit the last passes on the stick itself, so we didn’t get a perfect shot, and there were no goals,” the hockey player commented on the moment of scoring a goal.
He noted that Great Britain plays fast and aggressive hockey, sticks to its system of play, does not allow us to express ourselves and plays actively. It is not easy to play against such a team, Chukste added, stressing that you have to know how to use your good goalscoring opportunities in games.
Renārs Krastenbergs and Miks Indrašis scored for the Latvian national team, who broke the tie 2:2 in the last minute of regular time. Punnenovs was replaced by the fourth player in extra time when the Latvians got the puck in the offensive zone.
Liam Kirk scored the winning goal for Great Britain.
About 4,000 spectators watched the match in person.
Both national teams will play another test match in Coventry on Sunday, the match starts at 19.30 Latvian time.
The head coach of the Latvian national team, Harijs Vītoliņš, has included three goalkeepers, nine defenders and 14 forwards in the 26 hockey players. Goalkeeper Gustavs Grigal, defenders Ralfs Bergmanis and Patrik Ozols, as well as forwards Rainer Ruller and Georg Golovkov did not go to Great Britain.
After the games with Great Britain, the Latvian team “Arena Rīga” will fight with the Swiss team on April 28 and 29, but the national team will conclude the preparatory phase with a game against the Danish hockey team on May 4.
Hari Vītoliņš is assisted by Lauris Dārziņš, Artūrs Irbe, Artis Ābols, Peteri Nummelins and Raimonds Vilkoits in his work with the national team.
The World Championship, which will be held jointly in the Finnish cities of Tampere and Riga, will take place from May 12 to 28.
One group match will take place in Riga, where Canada, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan and Slovenia will compete, as well as two quarter-final matches.
#Vītoliņš #experimented #puck #empty #goal