Latvian U18 hockey team | Photo: Guntis Lazdāns/LHF
The Latvian U18 men’s ice hockey team will meet the hosts Finland today in the first game of the elite division tournament of the world championship in Finland. The match will start at 6 p.m.
In addition to Latvia and Finland, USA, Slovakia and Norway will play in subgroup A, while Sweden, Czech Republic, Canada, Kazakhstan and Switzerland will compete in the second subgroup. In the continuation of the tournament, Latvia will meet Slovakia on Friday, on April 28 they will play against the USA, and on April 29 they will play against Norway. In preparation for the World Championship, the U18 national team played the U20 tournament in Denmark in November, held a camp in Riga in December, and competed in the U18 Four Nations tournament in Denmark in February.
Meanwhile, before the championship, the national team coached by Oleg Sorokin played five test matches – on April 6 and 7, they lost 1:2 in penalty kicks at home and defeated the Polish U18 national team 5:1, but on April 11 and 12, they met away from home and failed 1 :2 and won 3:2 in the matches with the Czech U18 national team. In the last test match, the Latvian U18 national team already lost 0:4 to their Swedish peers in Finland on Monday.
The quarter-final matches of the World Championship will take place on May 2, the semi-finals on May 4, and the medal winners will be determined on May 5. Herbert Vasiļjevs, Maksims Širokovs and goalkeeping coach Reinis Repšs will assist Sorokin in his work with the Latvian U18 hockey team this season. On the other hand, Raivis Miezāns will take care of the physical training, while Artūrs Barovskis will perform the duties of the video coach.
Latvian U18 hockey team
Goalkeepers – Mikus Vecvanags (HS “Riga”), Nils Roberts Mauriņš (Sodertalje, Sweden), Dilans Birkāns (Odense, Denmark);
Defenders – Krists Retenais, Oskar Nils Briedis, Krišjānis Sārts (all – HS “Rīga”), Harijs Cjunskis (Lugano, Switzerland), Rolands Naglis (Bern, Switzerland), Darel Uljanskis (AIK, Sweden), Bruno Petrovič ( Alberta Academy, Canada);
Attackers – Antons Macijevskis, Edvīns Bērzins, Maksims Pumpiņš, Aleksandrs Zaprivoda, Dmitrijs Diļevka, (all – HS “Rīga”), Olivers Mūrnieks (“Mogo”/LSPA), Bruno Osmanis, Nils Vanags (both – “Bojorkloven”, Sweden), Markus Kristians Sieradzkis, Maksims Kharitontsevs (both “Mora”), Karlis Flugins (“Oskarshamn, Sweden”), Daniels Serkin (“Thurgau”, Switzerland), Martins Klaucans (New Jersey “Rockets”, USA).
