The 31-year-old goalkeeper Kristers Gudlevskis has returned home from Germany, where he spent a great season in the ranks of Bremerhaven “Fischtown Penguins”. In 45 regular season games, Gudlevsky helped his team win 31 games. During the season, the goalkeeper saved 91.4% of the opponents’ shots and allowed only 2.1 pucks per game on average. This performance allowed the guard of the Latvian fortress to win the award for the best goalkeeper of the regular season in the DEL league.
Gudļevskis helped lead his team to the golden series in the playoff tournament, however, in the final, the team represented by the Latvian goalkeeper had to lose to the Berlin “Eisbären” unit.
Gudļevskis has participated in five world championships in the ranks of the Latvian national team. Last year, when the Latvian national team phenomenally won bronze medals, Gudļevskis did not score in any of the games. In the first game of the tournament, Ivars Punnenovs went on the field, and after an unsuccessful introduction to the game, he was replaced by Artūrs Šilovs, whose excellent game prevented Hari Vītoliņš and Artūrs Irbes from removing the Vancouver “Canucks” goalkeeper from the Latvian fortress. From the second game of the tournament until the bronze medal match, Kristers Guldlevskis performed the functions of the second goalkeeper on the bench of the team.
On Friday and Saturday, the Latvian hockey team will cross sticks with the Norwegian team. After these matches, Harijs Vītoliņš will decide on the final squad for the World Championship, which will take place from May 10 to 26 in Prague and Ostrava.
Latvian national team candidates
| Position | Player | Year | Club | Statistics | PS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Kristers Gudlevsky | 1992 | Bremerhaven (Germany) | 45; 91.4% | 5 |
| Elvis Merzlikin | 1994 | Blue Jackets (NHL) | 41; 89.7% | 5 | |
| Eric Vitols | 2001 | KeuPa (Finland-2) | 33; 90.4% | ||
| Defender | Oskars Cibulskis | 1988 | Blue Fox (Denmark) | 38; 2+11 | 9 |
| Ralf Freiberg | 1991 | Mountfield (Czech Republic) | 52; 1+8 | 7 | |
| Jānis Yaks | 1995 | Litvinov (Czech Republic) | 44; 4+25 | 6 | |
| Kristaps Zile | 1997 | Litvinov (Czech Republic) | 50; 4+7 | 5 | |
| Robert Mamcic | 1995 | Nove Zamky (Slovakia) | 45; 7+19 | 2 | |
| Karl Chukste | 1997 | Brynas (Sweden-2) | 49; 0+13 | 2 | |
| Arvil Bergmanis | 1999 | Alaska Fairbanks (NCAA) | 31; 2+17 | 2 | |
| Sandis Smons | 1999 | La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland-2) | 8; 1+0 | 1 | |
| Marcus Komulus | 1998 | Trois-Rivieres (ECHL) | 48; 2+5 | ||
| Robert Kalkis | 1998 | Marseille (France) | 43; 1+10 | ||
| Attacker | Andris Džeriņš | 1988 | Blue Fox (Denmark) | 31; 5+14 | 12 |
| Kaspars Daugavins | 1988 | Michalovce (Slovakia) | 47; 11+43 | 11 | |
| Robert Buckart | 1990 | Vitkovice (Czech Republic) | 51; 14+7 | 10 | |
| Mick Indrasis | 1990 | Brynas (Sweden-2) | 52; 26+32 | 10 | |
| Richard Buckart | 1995 | Vitkovice (Czech Republic) | 18; 7+4 | 6 | |
| Oskar Batnia | 1995 | Jukurit (Finland) | 59; 20+18 | 4 | |
| Rihards Marenis | 1993 | Nybro (Sweden-2) | 45; 13+20 | 3 | |
| Renard Krastenberg | 1998 | 99ers (Austria) | 30; 13+9 | 3 | |
| Dan Lochmelis | 2004 | UMass (NCAA) | 30; 7+7 | 1 | |
| Harald Egle | 1996 | Liptovsky Mikulas (Slovakia) | 49; 11+28 | ||
| Filip Buncis | 1997 | Vastervik (Sweden-2) | 52; 9+8 | ||
| Eduard Tralmak | 1997 | Rytiri Kladno (Czech Republic) | 52; 21+11 | ||
| Oskar Lapinski | 2002 | Tigers (Switzerland) | 52; 3+1 | ||
| Felix Gavar | 2002 | St. Lawrence (NCAA) | 39; 13+12 | ||
| Raivis Anson | 2002 | Penguins (AHL) | 34; 2+5 | ||
| Martins Lavins | 2003 | New Hampshire (NCAA) | 35; 5+9 |
Latvian national team test match calendar
| The date | The game | The result |
|---|---|---|
| April 4 | Latvia – Austria | 3:2 PM |
| April 5 | Latvia – Austria | 3:2 PM |
| April 10 | Latvia – Finland | 2:3 p.m |
| April 11 | Latvia – Finland | 2:3 |
| April 26 | Switzerland – Latvia | 5:1 |
| April 27 | Switzerland – Latvia | 4:0 |
| May 3 | Latvia – Norway | |
| May 4 | Latvia – Norway |
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