Latvia future is bright

[Namejs]

If you look up the Latvian national basketball team, which is doing pretty good on its own by the way, almost all of their players are from small towns. Dobele, Koknese, Cesis, Kraslava, Rujiena, Talsi, etc.

If you look up the national ice hockey team, almost everyone's from Riga.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Yeah. Lithuania has been very successful for its size in basketball or Uruguay in football which somewhat refutes the "population in Minnesota" argument and I was tempted to write it but the particularities of those sports are very different.

So Latvia is limited by its size but it's not the number of population so much as the viability of bringing hockey to truly everyone. While kids can develop basketball skills somewhat naturally on the beaten-up yard of the Soviet apartment block or football on the dirt square, in hockey you can't just bring a skating coach to every kindergarten. And the tragic thing with hockey is if your kid doesn't really skate before he's 10, the possibility of top-level playing is gone for him.

 

[Namejs]

Yeah. Lithuania has been very successful for its size in basketball or Uruguay in football which somewhat refutes the "population in Minnesota" argument and I was tempted to write it but the particularities of those sports are very different.

So Latvia is limited by its size but it's not the number of population so much as the viability of bringing hockey to truly everyone. While kids can develop basketball skills somewhat naturally on the beaten-up yard of the Soviet apartment block or football on the dirt square, in hockey you can't just bring a skating coach to every kindergarten. And the tragic thing with hockey is if your kid doesn't really skate before he's 10, the possibility of top-level playing is gone for him.

Well, you most definitely can bring hockey to more kids, but it's just not profitable regionally. There's about a 100 kids being born each year in these small towns. So you have 50 boys, about 90% of them partake in sports and only about a half of them or less can afford ice hockey. That's about 22-23 left. Out of those, about a half of them would go to basketball, some to football, some to other sports.

This would only work with heavy municipal subsidies and the junior teams would not be competitive in any way. It would be a rag tag bunch of kids of different ages and abilities. It would be great, but it's just not realistic.

There's more room for growth in the cities and in the capital region, though.

Any sort of substantial growth in depth/prospects can be linked to new rinks being opened up. The last boom of ice rinks was back in 2006, when 4 new rinks opened up in Riga, another 2 were opened in 2017. There have been talks of building more ice rinks in the Riga metro area after the bronze run last year.

And there's a reason the 2007 and 2008 prospects are the deepest pool ever. 4 new rinks were built after hosting the World Champs in Riga in 2006 and a lot of kids picked up playing hockey.

So, once again, hockey is slowly growing its % share of the 'market', if you will, but at the same time it's happening against a backdrop of a general population decrease, which is actually much less pronounced in the Riga region and more of a problem in the countryside.

So the outlook is positive.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Latvia has improved, but wont ever reach the level of Canada, Russia, USA, Finns, Czechs, Germany, Swiss and Slovaks. Gap is too big. Latvia is same level as Sweden, Belarus, Denmark and Norway.

 

[trust no one]

Latvia has improved, but wont ever reach the level of Canada, Russia, USA, Finns, Czechs, Germany, Swiss and Slovaks. Gap is too big. Latvia is same level as Sweden, Belarus, Denmark and Norway.

I am not long on this boards, but following hockey for more than 25 years, is this joke, sarcasm or something else I do not understand ? Sweden in same tire as Belarus, Latvia, Norway ?

 

[Eye of Ra]

I am not long on this boards, but following hockey for more than 25 years, is this joke, sarcasm or something else I do not understand ? Sweden in same tire as Belarus, Latvia, Norway ?

Much have changed the last years. What tier would u put Sweden in?

 

[Namejs]

Latvia has improved, but wont ever reach the level of Canada, Russia, USA, Finns, Czechs, Germany, Swiss and Slovaks. Gap is too big. Latvia is same level as Sweden, Belarus, Denmark and Norway.

I agree completely, except you mixed up Sweden with Slovakia

 

[Eye of Ra]

I agree completely, except you mixed up Sweden with Slovakia

You are still hating on Slovakia?

 

[cg98]

I am not long on this boards, but following hockey for more than 25 years, is this joke, sarcasm or something else I do not understand ? Sweden in same tire as Belarus, Latvia, Norway ?

Hes literally just a Swedish troll whose been writing of his discontent of the Sweden NT for years in his endless supply of diaries. His diary entries used to be fun and quite entertaining and ridiculous to read actually! Now its just the same material over and over, no substance anymore sadly

 

[Namejs]

You are still hating on Slovakia?

No, they just belong in a competely different tier than the countries you listed and it's not even arguable.

 

[kudla]

No, they just belong in a competely different tier than the countries you listed and it's not even arguable.

I'd die to hear what are the arguments for Slovakia belonging in a competely different tier than Germany or Switzerland.

 

[Namejs]

I'd die to hear what are the arguments for Slovakia belonging in a competely different tier than Germany or Switzerland.

It's pretty straightforward.

 

[Eye of Ra]

It's pretty straightforward.

Thats WC ranking

but does the germans have better best on best team than slovaks, swiss, czechs and swedes i wonder

 

[Namejs]

Thats WC ranking

but does the germans have better best on best team than slovaks i wonder

So.. the only thing that quantifies the success of each national team over the last several years taking into account their results in each official competition? Yes?

I'm sure that the big 8 will mostly finish in the top 8 in the Olympics, correct.

We will test that in the Olympics, if Slovakia qualifies.

 

[Eye of Ra]

We will test that in the Olympics, if Slovakia qualifies.

Slovakia is too good to be in the qualifier. They should have direct spot.

 

[Namejs]

Slovakia is too good to be in the qualifier. They should have direct spot.

Well, reality seems to disagree with you.