WJC: 2025 Team Latvia Roster Talk
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Yup, meaning the Latvian U18 WJC team should be actually competitive and not in a flukey way.Congrats Latvia ! Even more impressive is this result is achieved with 6 U18 players !
Of course. Obviously, the main story throughout the day in all sports media, but also headlines in all major news media.
This is how the main page of the largest news medium delfi.lv looks like right now.
'Ted is proud'.
WJC is pretty big in Latvia, but not quite close to World Champs or Olympics. Most obviously read the news in the morning, but they are broadcasting all the games live with thousands of fans staying up until 5 am.
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- Jun 22, 2018
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Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
I think the fact that Latvia has a bunch of very legit prospects for 2025, 2026, and 2027 on this team and they might be a team that can pull off more than a fluke win as those players get older has been undercovered. This isn’t Kazakhstan or Germany level talent this year on the team. There might be 2-3 future NHL’ers.
Naudins looked solid. His first point at the WJC. I would play him against Germany. There was no way of telling he just turned 16.
The entire team looked solid.
It's hard to single out anyone for not being up to par. If anything, Uljanskis has given the puck away a few too many times. That early US goal was on him. He needs to clean up his game at his own end.
The entire team looked solid.
It's hard to single out anyone for not being up to par. If anything, Uljanskis has given the puck away a few too many times. That early US goal was on him. He needs to clean up his game at his own end.
Mateiko - Murnieks - Osmanis
Dilevka - Livsics - Sieradzkis
Mots - Ozollapa - Dommers
Serkins - Klaucans - Berzkalns
Naudins
Bulans - Cjunskis
Uljanskis - Kurbaka
Briedis - Sarts
Retenais
Bolded players are available next year. Bolded and italics are available for the U18 WJC.
Naudins is enjoying more minutes as the tournament goes along and he belong at this level, having just turned 16. He could slot into that Mateiko role with his size easily.
Both Klaucans and Berzkalns are Cs, so one will slot into that 2C role. And there you go, 3 returning lines, if you count the 14th forward Macijevskis.
With prospects like Reidzans and Malisevs coming up and some omissions like Flugins or Haritoncevs, we are definitely looking better offensively next year.
In terms of D, I had underestimated Bulans before. He is going to be a career pro, likely in Euro top leagues. Even though he isn't drafted, he is clearly more all-around player than Uljanskis at this point and time. With some D prospects coming up, like Grundmanis, there's some potential for someone to step up in 2025, but I don't see an improvement in D corps. It's going to be about the same, but Uljanskis will have to prove himself and take on more responsibilities.
In terms of goalies, Vecvanags should be our go to guy, but this season has been a weird one for him. He just moved to the Q and we shall see if he can hold a .900 SVS% there.
So, overall, we're going to be deeper and more skilled offensively next year.
And with almost 2 entire forward lines available for the U18 Worlds, we might do some damage there, if we don't have any glaring holes at D or in the goalie dept.
Dilevka - Livsics - Sieradzkis
Mots - Ozollapa - Dommers
Serkins - Klaucans - Berzkalns
Naudins
Bulans - Cjunskis
Uljanskis - Kurbaka
Briedis - Sarts
Retenais
Bolded players are available next year. Bolded and italics are available for the U18 WJC.
Naudins is enjoying more minutes as the tournament goes along and he belong at this level, having just turned 16. He could slot into that Mateiko role with his size easily.
Both Klaucans and Berzkalns are Cs, so one will slot into that 2C role. And there you go, 3 returning lines, if you count the 14th forward Macijevskis.
With prospects like Reidzans and Malisevs coming up and some omissions like Flugins or Haritoncevs, we are definitely looking better offensively next year.
In terms of D, I had underestimated Bulans before. He is going to be a career pro, likely in Euro top leagues. Even though he isn't drafted, he is clearly more all-around player than Uljanskis at this point and time. With some D prospects coming up, like Grundmanis, there's some potential for someone to step up in 2025, but I don't see an improvement in D corps. It's going to be about the same, but Uljanskis will have to prove himself and take on more responsibilities.
In terms of goalies, Vecvanags should be our go to guy, but this season has been a weird one for him. He just moved to the Q and we shall see if he can hold a .900 SVS% there.
So, overall, we're going to be deeper and more skilled offensively next year.
And with almost 2 entire forward lines available for the U18 Worlds, we might do some damage there, if we don't have any glaring holes at D or in the goalie dept.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Latvia could be a medal contender at a tournament the next 3-4 years, whether a U18 Worlds or WJC, especially without Russia.
There have been no updates on his status.
I think it is very unlikely, but it depends on the specific type of injury he suffered.
My educated guess is that it's probably an eyelid laceration due to an eyepatch worn over the eye in interviews and Osmanis himself stating they will evaluate his status before the QFs.
If it was something more serious like a corneal abrasion or cut, he would be ruled out immediately.
However, if the laceration wasn't large enough or if it was more of a bruise or minor cut, they wouldn't use a patch to immobilize or protect the eyelid in the first place.
Even if the swelling is down, there's no point in risking infection or re-injury
Osmanis om otäcka ögonskadan: Fick panik
OTTAWA. Klubbspetsen for upp och träffade Bruno Osmanis öga. Plötsligt blev allting svart: – Jag fick stor panik, det kändes som jag inte hade något öga kvar, s
Yup, Osmanis out. And it looks like the eye itself was slightly injured, but his vision is OK and he'll be fine. A check-up in 10 days to have a better look at the eye.
Scary stuff.
Impressive! With a bit of luck you could win a medal next year.
Obviously, fantastic result for our guys. People mentioned "luck" a lot, but for all the lucky bounces / saves in our favour we had a few noticeably unlucky episodes - no penalty on the first Sweden goal, loss of Osmanis in a freak accident that, fortunately, appears to have no consequences apart from him missing the last two games.
The positives are obvious.
Feldbergs. Its not like no one knew or expected him to have a good tournament. He was the obvious starter, one of several players who play major junior hockey. And while people have been bashing his club stats in his thread, he still had a great record of 11-4 this season, and his just below 0.9 svs% is not as bad for a high scoring junior hockey league. Still, I doubt anyone saw him as such a difference maker. Props to Masalskis for his work. Not sure how big of an impact goalie coaches have in these short tournament, but hell, Irbe has received plenty of praise during our bronze run. Edgars should have a shout out as well.
Mateiko. Before the tournament, I said he is an obvious downgrade from our main scorer of previous years, Vilmanis. I had my reasons. Mateiko seemed like a more limited player who I thought might score a couple rebounds by being a physical presence in front of the net, but wont drive plays or take initiative. Vilmanis was legitimately fighting for an NHL spot while Mateiko, recovering from injuries, did not improve his junior stats from the year before. Man, was I wrong. Yeah, he scored dirty rebounds. But also, Ovechkin style one timer, wrist shot from medium distance, one on one overtime goal after draging the puck across the whole field, a shootout goal. Just a really strong game overall and scoring in virtually any way possible.
Murnieks. Not a lot to add to all the praise that he already received. Centering the first line, scoring at a 0.8 PPG pace, scoring a backhanded EN goal across the whole field. He could have easily had a few more points, but also did a lot of important things - blocking goalies view, winning battles. Also, best +/- on the team with +4. Also, 55% face offs won. All while being the third youngest player of the whole championship.
Osmanis. With 4 points in just 3 games in his draft year, definitely raised his draft stocks after all these instabilities he had on the club level with him scoring at a fantastic pace in Allsvenskan while playing such limited minutes and underperforming when he gets sent to the junior team. Nifty hands, great chemistry with Mateiko, unfortunate early end to this tournament. Hope his eye is OK and he returns ASAP. Missing a lot of games in draft years can really have an impact on ones career.
Bulans. I thought, he had big shoes to fill after last years Fenenko performance, and was not sure he is as good 1D. His club stats stagnated over the last few seasons. But no - he was solid, he played a ton of minutes, scored one of the most important goals of the tournament, did everything and was everywhere.
Honourable mentions.
Livsics. A few big moments for the guy - fantastic play on the tying goal in Canada game, the only goal vs the US. Really, the only secondary scoring option we had.
Cjunskis. Was solid. You can see why he plays major junior hockey. Unfortunately, you also see why he has 2 points over the season.
Kurbaka. Did a lot of little things. Mother****er looks 30, and played 30. You can see the lack of high end talent, but he was reliable and did what was asked of him.
Naudins. As the youngest player on the team playing in school and 13th forward, definitely surpassed expectations. Great size, solid in limited minutes and even racked up a point.
A little on the worse side:
Uljanskis. As one of only two drafted players, definitely more is expected of him. If we compare the three consequent top defenders (Fenenko in 24, Bulans in 25 and Uljanskis next year), I have no idea how he is the only one drafted. Now, he obviously needs to step up big time as the 1D on next years team.
Berzkalns (and secondary scoring, in general). Sure, he is just 16 years old. And we already have a generational 16 year old in Murnieks. Still, he plays in USHL. And not only does he play - he scores occasionally. Not a lot to be happy about when your bottom three lines score one goal combined.
I havent seen all the games and some of the ones I've seen, I watched with one eye. So, I might have misjudged or forgot someone. But overall that's the impression I had from the players.
The positives are obvious.
Feldbergs. Its not like no one knew or expected him to have a good tournament. He was the obvious starter, one of several players who play major junior hockey. And while people have been bashing his club stats in his thread, he still had a great record of 11-4 this season, and his just below 0.9 svs% is not as bad for a high scoring junior hockey league. Still, I doubt anyone saw him as such a difference maker. Props to Masalskis for his work. Not sure how big of an impact goalie coaches have in these short tournament, but hell, Irbe has received plenty of praise during our bronze run. Edgars should have a shout out as well.
Mateiko. Before the tournament, I said he is an obvious downgrade from our main scorer of previous years, Vilmanis. I had my reasons. Mateiko seemed like a more limited player who I thought might score a couple rebounds by being a physical presence in front of the net, but wont drive plays or take initiative. Vilmanis was legitimately fighting for an NHL spot while Mateiko, recovering from injuries, did not improve his junior stats from the year before. Man, was I wrong. Yeah, he scored dirty rebounds. But also, Ovechkin style one timer, wrist shot from medium distance, one on one overtime goal after draging the puck across the whole field, a shootout goal. Just a really strong game overall and scoring in virtually any way possible.
Murnieks. Not a lot to add to all the praise that he already received. Centering the first line, scoring at a 0.8 PPG pace, scoring a backhanded EN goal across the whole field. He could have easily had a few more points, but also did a lot of important things - blocking goalies view, winning battles. Also, best +/- on the team with +4. Also, 55% face offs won. All while being the third youngest player of the whole championship.
Osmanis. With 4 points in just 3 games in his draft year, definitely raised his draft stocks after all these instabilities he had on the club level with him scoring at a fantastic pace in Allsvenskan while playing such limited minutes and underperforming when he gets sent to the junior team. Nifty hands, great chemistry with Mateiko, unfortunate early end to this tournament. Hope his eye is OK and he returns ASAP. Missing a lot of games in draft years can really have an impact on ones career.
Bulans. I thought, he had big shoes to fill after last years Fenenko performance, and was not sure he is as good 1D. His club stats stagnated over the last few seasons. But no - he was solid, he played a ton of minutes, scored one of the most important goals of the tournament, did everything and was everywhere.
Honourable mentions.
Livsics. A few big moments for the guy - fantastic play on the tying goal in Canada game, the only goal vs the US. Really, the only secondary scoring option we had.
Cjunskis. Was solid. You can see why he plays major junior hockey. Unfortunately, you also see why he has 2 points over the season.
Kurbaka. Did a lot of little things. Mother****er looks 30, and played 30. You can see the lack of high end talent, but he was reliable and did what was asked of him.
Naudins. As the youngest player on the team playing in school and 13th forward, definitely surpassed expectations. Great size, solid in limited minutes and even racked up a point.
A little on the worse side:
Uljanskis. As one of only two drafted players, definitely more is expected of him. If we compare the three consequent top defenders (Fenenko in 24, Bulans in 25 and Uljanskis next year), I have no idea how he is the only one drafted. Now, he obviously needs to step up big time as the 1D on next years team.
Berzkalns (and secondary scoring, in general). Sure, he is just 16 years old. And we already have a generational 16 year old in Murnieks. Still, he plays in USHL. And not only does he play - he scores occasionally. Not a lot to be happy about when your bottom three lines score one goal combined.
I havent seen all the games and some of the ones I've seen, I watched with one eye. So, I might have misjudged or forgot someone. But overall that's the impression I had from the players.
You summed it up nicely.
I've already sung songs of praise on Mateiko, Murnieks, Osmanis and Feldbergs. These kids have put themselves on a very good path and it is up to them to do the rest now.
Osmanis is definitely a top 3 round pick, I would personally take him in mid-2nd.
Feldbergs is also likely going to get drafted.
Now, about the rest of the team.
Serkins was a mixed bag. You can see he has mittens and hockey IQ, and his skating is pretty good, but he looked like a kid out there. He's a tough little guy and has a heart of a lion, but he has to completely transform his body to make it at the pro level. He probably needs to add 10 kg of quality body mass. Definitely a long term project. He might be worth a 7th round flyer, but he's probably not getting drafted due to his size.
Dilevka was a surprise. Without him Livsics would not have done anything, he was one of the very few who could hold onto the puck in the offensive zone and make smart, gutsy plays without losing the puck or taking unnecessary risks. He can definitely carve out a pro career if he keeps progressing.
Berzkalns was one of the 08s who clearly felt a little scared at first. He looks 12. But whenever he actually played with the puck, you could see the talent oozing. He made some really skilled moves, beating Canadian defencemen. He played with a purpose, he was patient and made the right plays. A definite draft prospect, but unlike Murnieks, Berzkalns still has to mature a little bit.
Naudins also clearly stood out and he actually looked somewhat similar to Mateiko, except Naudins was more of a puck possession guy, he loved battling along the boards and was very confident in making physical plays. He excelled at using his 6'6+ wingspan to his advantage. At times he seemed almost too overconfident at winning puck battles, likely because he's used to dominate at the level he's currently playing at. This was a good experience for him and he's definitely getting drafted come 2027 if he keeps improving even at a moderate pace.
Bulans was a positive as well. His poise and skating are excellent and he's clearly a better player than Uljanskis. He did not fumble the puck, he has speed, he can play a two-way game. No dumb turnovers either. A potential national team addition in the future.
I'm not going to call a triple underager a letdown, because he wasn't, but Klaucans had a couple of brain farts and he did not always play the right way off the puck/defensively. He reminded me a little bit of Indrasis. Klaucans has to add upper body strength and become more of a two-way player if he wants to play C at the NHL level. He clearly has elite hands, but he's still a work in progress. I for one want to take another look at him at the U18 Worlds. But definitely a kid with raw NHL draft potential.
Uljanskis was the only player I swore at. Some dumb f***ing plays and turnovers that led to goals against. At the same time he's a rarity in Latvian hockey, a two-way d capable of moving the puck deep in the offensive zone and dekeing out opponents. So another mixed bag. Sometimes he just jolted in a very direct North-South way and I think awareness or game vision is what's lacking a little bit to make it at the NHL level. He still has some pretty darn good tools, it's just a question of whether they outweigh defensive liabilities at the pro level. In his defense, he has progressed every season so far, so I'm withholding judgment until next year's WJC.
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