Latvia, the next big country?

[GX]

No I wasn't. I know its the biggest in Lithuania. I have been to both countries.

https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/assets/4706904/Popularsports.PNG

Sport in Latvia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Well, you know how maps and statements without any references work. Both ice hockey and basketball lay claim to being the national sport, each cherry-picking different statistics that 'prove' it.

Still, with Porzingis/Bertans, 3x3 gold in Olympics, and basketball NT making their FIBA World Cup debut this summer, basketball has been on the rise in popularity for a few years.

After a tough 2022 for ice hockey (inevitable end of Dinamo, challenges of some players to choose 'the right side' publicly, etc.), this bronze medal will certainly help ice hockey to regain ground. Basketball still can't beat TV or live audience sizes, when both national teams are compared.

On an unrelated note: Indeed, population isn't the main hurdle for more young kids to take up hockey. We need more rinks in mid-sized towns. Even though rink count has grown from 16 to 21 during last 5 years, for many kids ice hockey is still unattainable just because they don't have a rink anywhere near them.

For 20 years the eastern part of Latvia had only one rink in Daugavpils - as a result, no one from the region of around 300 000 people has ever made it on the national team. Now they got two more rinks in two more towns, so that should bring some results in around 10 years.

 

[Kalv]

Would love them to keep improving - we need more teams that can compete with the normal suspects.

It's happening a lot actually and I'm super happy for that. Switzerland and Germany can now be considered the top tier as well, which was previously the "exclusive top7". Denmark has seen some incredible NHL talent the past decade as well. I'd like to think that Latvia is improving as well. And I know other countries too. Norway roster in the Worlds had some really young players and they played really good. It's great for the game and benefits everyone. More buzz there is the better it will grow.

 

[Namejs]

No I wasn't. I know its the biggest in Lithuania. I have been to both countries.

https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/assets/4706904/Popularsports.PNG

Sport in Latvia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Basketball has more active players in Latvia because it is much more accessible.

In terms of audience, ice hockey is the most popular *spectator sport*.

If every willing kid was able to practice, there would be at least twice the kids playing the game.

As mentioned before, smaller towns simply do not have any ice rinks.

 

[Nexon]

No I wasn't. I know its the biggest in Lithuania. I have been to both countries.

https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/assets/4706904/Popularsports.PNG

Sport in Latvia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In every other source, ice hockey is listed as clear number one.

 

[usahockey22flyers]

It's happening a lot actually and I'm super happy for that. Switzerland and Germany can now be considered the top tier as well, which was previously the "exclusive top7". Denmark has seen some incredible NHL talent the past decade as well. I'd like to think that Latvia is improving as well. And I know other countries too. Norway roster in the Worlds had some really young players and they played really good. It's great for the game and benefits everyone. More buzz there is the better it will grow.

If we ever get another “world cup of hockey” and we have another team europe…. That will be the biggest joke ever. Let these countries come play

 

[Eye of Ra]

You're thinking of Lithuania. Two different countries.

Not if we ask soundandfury

 

[Tuoppi]

Basketball has more active players in Latvia because it is much more accessible.

In terms of audience, ice hockey is the most popular *spectator sport*.

If every willing kid was able to practice, there would be at least twice the kids playing the game.

As mentioned before, smaller towns simply do not have any ice rinks.

Football has the most registrated players in Finland and maybe floorball is also ahead of ice hockey.

 

[ViD]

I think the population is too small... but maybe Latvia can become to hockey what Uruguay is to soccer? Basically a country that constantly overperforms in relation to their population?

And Latvians, if you see Gudlevski on the street please tell him that the town of Örnsköldsvik loves him!

Latvia actually once made it to the soccer European tournament when the qualification was much harder than nowadays. I personally think that was as big of an achievement as this bronze medal

 

[WarriorofTime]

Well, Slovakia has a golden generation incoming. They are between 7-9 with Switzerland and Germany. It’s probably 7. SWI 8. GER 9. SLK, but that order can change anytime in the next 5 years. At 10-11 you have locks in Latvia and Belarus. Denmark was close to it, probably in, but they never replaced their aging squad. After that it’s probably Austria, Norway, France, Italy, GB, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Slovenia and Japan. All far from the top 10.

[X] DOUBT

 

[Eye of Ra]

[X] DOUBT

slaf, nemec, knazko, mesar. chromiak, demek are all future NHL stars

 

[ViD]

Can any of the Latvians shed some light on fans bullying Elvis online to a point where he deleted his Twitter? Something about him not playing for the National team because of his NHL contract and then commenting on the play of the team?

 

[Gubbhornet]

Latvia actually once made it to the soccer European tournament when the qualification was much harder than nowadays. I personally think that was as big of an achievement as this bronze medal

Yes, that is a quite crazy achievement. But we have Iceland in soccer so it's more fun if you guys stick to hockey!

 

[VanJack]

I don't think a lot of people realize how small some these countries really are. The total population of Latvia is just 1.8 million; and even the population of Finland is only about 5 million. The total population of neighboring Sweden is just over 10 million.

As for some of the countries in this tournament, the population of Switzerland is 8.7 million; Denmark, 5.6 million and Norway is about 5.5 million. The population of Slovakia is just over 5 million; and the Czech Republic just over 10 million.

What's amazing to me is the number of high-quality players these programs produce, compared to other powerhouses like Canada, the USA and Russia with their vast hockey apparatus and rinks everywhere.

The fact is, millions of kids are playing hockey in these large countries, so they should have a far more competitive advantage than they actually have. So hats off to the programs in Sweden, Finland, Slovakia , the Czech Republic and even Latvia. They're batting far above their weight in developing young hockey players.

 

[Tuoppi]

I think the population is too small... but maybe Latvia can become to hockey what Uruguay is to soccer? Basically a country that constantly overperforms in relation to their population?

And Latvians, if you see Gudlevski on the street please tell him that the town of Örnsköldsvik loves him!

Croatia has the size about the same as Uruguay and has more recent success.

 

[Kalv]

Can any of the Latvians shed some light on fans bullying Elvis online to a point where he deleted his Twitter? Something about him not playing for the National team because of his NHL contract and then commenting on the play of the team?

Huh? It's the first time I hear this, could you shed some light where is this information coming from?

I saw fans rather supporting him and waiting for him to play next year rather than bullying. This is a huge surprise for me, I really don't know much else.

 

[ViD]

Huh? It's the first time I hear this, could you shed some light where is this information coming from?

I saw fans rather supporting him and waiting for him to play next year rather than bullying. This is a huge surprise for me, I really don't know much else.

If you read through this thread there’s some details

 

[Kalv]

If you read through this thread there’s some details

Wow, I'm surprised, thank you for showing this. I'm not gonna get too invested in this though – I don't know the full situation, but I know that fans (myself included) would open Elvis with open arms in future tournaments, especially knowing he has had some great tournaments for us before, plus he had a really bad season in Columbus so it's ok for him to focus getting his head straight and rest/prepare for the next season (I think Jarmo even said Elvis cannot go, no?...). Anyway, I have seen a lot of support for Elvis here, but I guess there are always some hotheads that ruin everything, I wonder if that might have been the case...

 

[Vikz]

If you read through this thread there’s some details

Thats really stupid. This is all about his phrase that "National team does not bring the bread home" during the post-season conference. I've seen people commenting on this ranging from "Latvia is a dirt-poor country, cant even pay our players" to "How dares this traitor ask for money to play in WC". It just shows that most of people have really little comprehension of how contracts work in the hockey world, and Elvis should not argue with idiots.
As if him coming and sitting behind Silovs would do him any good. Actually, the thing most NHL and Latvian observers are liking about Silovs is how calm he is. Despite his young age, he does not appear to be bothered by anything - bad goals, bad games, off-ice issues.
Now Elvis is a different type of person - he feeds from his emotions. And that OK, it gets him really far when these emotions are positive. Its not like you can change a character of a grown man, so this is a quality he will live with for the rest of his life. What he needs to learn is stop making such a big deal of bad things. They will happen, on or off ice, and until he learns not to be bothered by negative things, it will be really easy for other fans or players to mentally break him during the most important games. You dont want to see a goalie give in 6 goals in the Stanley cup finals because a fan shouted that his tatoos are ugly.

 

[Dofs]

That is legitimately funny. Must be people that don't really follow hockey apart from in May. In other places that I use to visit people were actually happy he wasn't playing due to the fact that he didn't have a successful tournament last year and he continued to struggle throughout the season afterwards.

 

[member 305909]

Football has the most registrated players in Finland and maybe floorball is also ahead of ice hockey.

Finnish football-fans are often so-called manwhores meaning that they cheer for some foreign team such as Liverpool, Barcelona etc. They even talk about their favourite foreign teams like "we won our last match, we are doing well" etc.

The Finnish domestic league is ridiculed by most people. It just is of so poor standard.

 

[Vikz]

Still, with Porzingis/Bertans, 3x3 gold in Olympics, and basketball NT making their FIBA World Cup debut this summer, basketball has been on the rise in popularity for a few years.

BTW, I saw news (cant remember the source though) that the game vs Sweden was the most watched sports event since 2014. When we played Canada in the Olympics. And the USA game will probably surpass it. So, sorry basketball guys. You can edit wikipedia all you want, but no amount of Porzingises will take the trophy of national sport from hockey.

 

[Namejs]

Finnish football-fans are often so-called manwhores meaning that they cheer for some foreign team such as Liverpool, Barcelona etc. They even talk about their favourite foreign teams like "we won our last match, we are doing well" etc.

The Finnish domestic league is ridiculed by most people. It just is of so poor standard.

Let's focus on actual sports here, not some bow-legged midget dance competitions.

No one cares about soccer in the Baltics and Finland.

 

[Tuoppi]

Finnish football-fans are often so-called manwhores meaning that they cheer for some foreign team such as Liverpool, Barcelona etc. They even talk about their favourite foreign teams like "we won our last match, we are doing well" etc.

The Finnish domestic league is ridiculed by most people. It just is of so poor standard.

Nick out!

I hesitate to say "we" even when we talk about Finnish national teams or teams from my home town. Its the players that have won.

 

[Tuoppi]

Let's focus on actual sports here, not some bow-legged midget dance competitions.

No one cares about soccer in the Baltics and Finland.

I do and many more.

 

[THE JAM]

estonia on the other hand...not good at either hockey or basketball...not sure what they are doing.

Say what? Northern Estonia is a top dog and Southern Estonia just made us very proud as well.

We perhaps will have to start a "Special (Hockey) Operation" to incorporate these two neighbours properly into Central Estonia

Already in 2007 -that famous speech in Munich - it was said that it's intolerable that some northern and southern regions are better at hockey than Central Estonia and that will have consequences!!!