With gold in Sweden, the appetite for victory has not been quenched. Hockey player Dzierkals longs to continue in the world championship / Article

Last year, in his fourth world championship, Dzierkals helped the Latvian national team win the historic bronze medal, scoring two goals and three assists in 10 tournament games. After the championship in the summer, he received an offer to play in Sweden and became the first Latvian who managed to triumph in the league, which is one of the strongest in the world. In the final series, Schellefteo AIK defeated “Rogle” represented by Rodrigo Ābola with 4:1.

Reinis Ošinek: I congratulate you! Swedish champion, the first Latvian to succeed. The season in the club is over, but it will continue in the world championship. How do your feet feel?

Mārtiņš Dzierkals: I’m a little tired after the long season, but I’ll definitely recover and be ready for the world championship.

What has the helmet and medal experienced during the week?

A lot of positive emotions. As I already mentioned, we won the Swedish league – a very big entry in my CV. The only Latvian who has won it. Very nice.

Did you take your helmet with you to the national team training at the “Daugavas” ice hall?

No, I hadn’t taken it.

Afraid of teammates’ comments? Hockey players love to grind their teeth. If you came out to training on the ice with one, you would already hear…

It is an honor to receive one. You have to be able to earn it, so there is nothing to be ashamed of. It is an honor.

Beautiful reading: Mārtiņš Dzierkals – Swedish champion. It would certainly be redundant to ask which is the most important medal in your career, but where would you rank this medal? At club level, this could be the most important?

There is not much to win, so every medal will be super important. I have had three awards myself: bronze last year, I won a league medal in junior hockey in Canada, and this one is definitely as important as all the others. Any championship is very important.

The three crowns that we see on the medal – they have always scared us until last year. It has always been a tough game against this hockey powerhouse. What did you get to know when you were in Sweden, getting to know hockey cuisine from a completely different side?

A very, very interesting year passed. I will definitely be able to take a lot of positive things and become a better hockey player. I played there in a completely different role, but the most positive thing is that we ended the year very well. That was the main task, job done.

You played in Finland, you were also in the Czech Republic. Can you compare what was so different about Sweden? The first things that come to mind?

The very first thing that came to my mind, and what I did when I spoke to Rodrigo [Ābolu], I mentioned – it is a very hard working league. All four shifts are very strong.

If you look at other leagues, usually the fourth inning is maybe not as good, someone slows down a bit more and doesn’t run back, but that was the first thing that caught my eye – everyone works very hard and always runs back.

This hockey is very systematic, especially for our team it was very, very important.

As a hockey player, do you like it, or do you still want more freedom?

Our team was very good. That system was very important, so as long as everything works, who doesn’t like to win. We won a lot, we stuck to the system, it worked and here is the result.

It is the fourth time in the history of the AIK club that the cup has been won, but the first time in the presence of its own spectators. What did you experience there? Both in the arena and after the game in the city. Was there also a solemn ceremony, did you have to travel around the city by bus?

Very, very pleasant. The whole city lives in hockey. The last few years have been particularly successful for them. As you mentioned, they had never won a cup at home. It was a big event for them. Also before the game, everyone was really expecting us to win, so it was definitely an added pressure for us as players. As I already mentioned, the whole city was involved – a special stage was set up in the main square. We were welcomed in the same way as in Riga, but there were not so many people. I’m also probably a bit spoiled after last year. It all seemed to me like a normal thing, already for the second time.

Nice thing to get used to…

Yes, very nice thing. Hopefully there will be more in the future.

For those celebrations. Where do you celebrate more crazily – in the Latvian national team or in Sweden?

The players themselves? Those Swedes are a bit crazy, I think. They’ve earned it, they like to celebrate. When we were in Riga last year, we were already very tired, we were being pushed in all directions. We didn’t have too many personal celebrations, two or three days were set aside.

You have gone down in Swedish history not only as the first Latvian, but also as a forward and record holder who has played the most in the minority. If we look at defenders, you are currently in second place. What does it mean for you as a forward to play defense?

I had the minority record of no shutouts during the season. For 55 minutes while I was on the ice, we didn’t let anyone into the minority. It’s a big achievement and it’s very nice, but our team was in the minority in first place in the whole league.

It’s definitely not a one-man job, it’s a team effort. As I mentioned, the system is very important to our team.

We stuck to it and it was very difficult for all teams to play against us. Pleasant, unambiguous. There are things to be proud of and to remember in the future that there was such a record.

Is that Latvian fighting spirit for you – to show that you are ready to fall on the puck’s way? How many bruises, how many did you feel what the defenders are going through?

I will agree that for Latvians, this is our hockey mentality – we go and give everything, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves. I think that we have a lot of such examples in the Latvian national team. All of last year’s championship as well. Of course, I try to take it with me. I just do everything so that the team does not lose a goal. That’s my job.

About statistics. How difficult is it internally to accept the role that you are not scoring goals or providing assists, but more like a shield for the team in defense?

Exactly. It was harder to accept at first, but I saw that we have very, very good players in attack. The majority was exactly the same for us – first place in the entire league. I was able to watch and learn how they play.

In our team, it is very important to say from the beginning what my role will be. I also accepted it.

I think it is important for all good teams that everyone knows what they are ready to give to the team.

Now, when you joined the Latvian hockey team immediately with an 8-0 victory in the test match, did it feel a little like a computer game? 8:0 against Norway…

No, I haven’t played computer games in a long time, but it was definitely nice to score eight goals at home, in front of all the spectators. In the previous game they did not manage to score a goal, but now it was about both at the same time.

And play in the majority? Create a play, score and pass. How pleasant did it make you feel? In addition, in the national team shirt.

Very pleasant – that’s right. There was a bit more time on the field, because the last game was in the Swedish final against “Rogle”, and

here, playing against the Norwegians, there was a feeling that you could hold the puck a little more and have more time to raise your head.

I won’t lie that I enjoyed that hockey. It’s nice to throw in, give back, and the fact that the team won in front of all the fans. Very positive emotions.

Would it be impossible to keep the puck in the Swedish Championship? Would you fly over there already?

Especially in the final, in my opinion, there was very, very high-class hockey. One of the highest I’ve ever played. Against the Norwegians, that level dropped a bit.

How much confidence did playing in Sweden give you? It’s just this nuance that you mention that you immediately feel that there is a big difference.

Yes, definitely – great confidence. As I mentioned, hey, where’s my golden helmet, I’m the Swedish champion. It gives a lot of confidence. With the same zeal only forward.

There is a dark side to professional sports – at one point you have to be an enemy to your teammate in the national team. We are talking about Rodrigo Abolas. How much did you manage to tease each other in the final series? Or on the contrary – you took it as a completely normal sport and went to dinner together?

We got to talk to him during the regular games. But when it started play-off [izslēgšanas spēles], it’s the right time and Rodrigo was no longer a friend. Each of us fought for our own interests and our team. Everything was professional and very serious. We didn’t talk much.

Well, after the game you definitely could. Did you speak in Riga now?

Yes, of course, we talked about the games and the whole situation as it was. Everything is fine, everything is fine.

Your arrival in Sweden. At the beginning of August, the news appeared, but you already knew sooner. How much faster? Was it right after the championship?

It happened after the championship. Everything happened very quickly. Contacted and, I think, signed the contract within three days. The negotiations ended, everything happened very quickly.

A brief outline – Latvia against Sweden. In the quarter-finals, the score is 1:1 in the second period, and Mārtiņš Dzierkals gets sent off until the end of the game, the team has to play in the minority for five minutes. Latvia had one shot during the period, they had 13. Where were you, where were you? Watch, bite your nails, I don’t know…? To be rejected in such an important game and watch your people struggle.

Yes, of course I’m worried about my team, not to concede a goal. I would say that everything should happen as it should. I also spoke to the Swedes who are my teammates who played in that game. It was such a mentally tough moment for them that they didn’t throw in the big majority. I can tell that everything has to happen as it should. It’s good that it happened. We won and got a medal. Funny fact, but

that teammate I got rejected for five minutes played on the same team with me this year.

You wouldn’t want anyone to endure something like that in the locker room?

No, definitely not. It was a bit of a tense moment, but I trusted my teammates.

DĀD exchange: Daugavins–Ābols–Dzierkals. How do you feel in such a sequence? Could we see one at the World Cup?

I don’t know that, you can refer to [izlases trenera] Harry [Vītoliņa].

Okay, but how do you feel in this sequence?

I feel very well. I don’t care who to play with. We will definitely find the best ways, no matter what partner it is, just to get the best results for the Latvian national team.

Are you hungry for hockey? We have to fight again right away, maybe even more crazy than for the club.

Exactly. One job done, the next one to come. Of course I’m ready.

How would you describe the first games, knowing what year the calendar falls on? Poland, France two days in a row. Then there is rest, and then Kazakhstan and Germany again. How hard is it to prepare for these battles when Canada, Sweden or USA are not coming in the first game?

We are all professionals. We don’t care who comes in front of us – Canada, Poland or any other country.