Latvia’s ice hockey team is in action again Tuesday, this time against Slovenia in a match from which many fans will expect a win.
So far, the Slovenians have only scored one goal in the tournament and are yet to record a win, while the Latvians have one win and one loss to their account.
The team had a day off on Monday, and training was voluntary – those who wanted to get some exercise skated, but in the meantime, the medical staff assessed the injury situation among the players.
The biggest question is about influential forward Oskars Batņa, who suffered an injury in the match against Canada.
But there is also good news: the team will be assisted by star forward Rodrigo Ābols for the last three matches of the group stages at the world championship: on Saturday against Finland, Sunday against Slovakia and next Tuesday against Austria, after his season in north America ended on Monday night.
“We will use him on the ice for about 20 minutes [per game] – it’s no secret,” said one of the Latvian coaches, Lauris Dārziņš. It is clear that the hockey player, who made his NHL debut this season, will be a very important addition to the team.
“We can’t dwell on memories in a short tournament,” emphasized Dārziņš. “In general, that game [the heavy loss against Canada] is behind us and we are preparing to move on.”
The championship will continue with two matches in a row – on Tuesday it is Slovenia, and on Wednesday there will be a huge match against host nation Sweden.
Tuesday’s game starts at 17:20 Latvian time (14:20 GMT) with build-up provided in LTV’s hockey studio from 16:30 (13:30 GMT).
You will be able to watch all the action live on LTV7 and here on LSM.
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