GDT: May 19 • Latvia 1, Belarus 3

[Systemfel]

2014 IIHF World Championship
Preliminary Round
Group B

May 19
1:45 PM ET • 19:45 CET • 20:45 EET

Latvia
Confirmed lineup.

Left Wing​

|

Center​

|

Right Wing​

91 Ronalds Ķēniņš​

|

16 Kaspars Daugaviņš

|

24 Miķelis Rēdlihs​

| -

70 Miks Indrašis​

|

12 Herberts Vasiļjevs

|

17 Aleksandrs Ņiživijs​

| -

47 Mārtiņš Cipulis​

|

25 Andris Džeriņš​

|

87 Gints Meija​

| -

90 Koba Jass​

|

21 Armands Bērziņš​

|

3 Juris Štāls​

| -

Left Defense​

|

Right Defense​

32 Artūrs Kulda​

|

13 Guntis Galviņš​

| -

81 Georgijs Pujacs​

|

11 Kristaps Sotnieks​

| -

2 Rodrigo Laviņš

|

14 Jēkabs Rēdlihs​

| -

22 Māris Jass​

|

52 Jānis Jaks​

| -

Starter​

|

Backup​

31 Edgars Masaļskis​

|

50 Kristers Gudļevskis​

| -

Scratched​

|

Reason​

G 33 Ivars Punnenovs​

|

Healthy​

| -

F 28 Zemgus Girgensons​

|

Suspended​

| -

F 29 Roberts Lipsbergs​

|

-​

| -

Belarus
Confirmed lineup.

Left Wing​

|

Center​

|

Right Wing​

17 Alexei Kalyuzhniy

|

84 Mikhail Grabovskiy

|

74 Sergei Kostitsyn​

| -

16 Geoff Platt​

|

23 Andrei Stas​

|

46 Andrei Kostitsyn​

| -

18 Alexei Ugarov​

|

77 Alexander Kitarov​

|

61 Andrei Stepanov​

| -

27 Alexei Yefimenko​

|

88 Yevgeniy Kovyrshin​

|

73 Artyom Volkov​

| -

37 Nikita Osipov​

|

-​

|

-​

| -

Left Defense​

|

Right Defense​

89 Dmitriy Korobov​

|

92 Raman Hrabarenka​

| -

7 Vladimir Denisov

|

91 Kirill Gotovets​

| -

25 Oleg Yevenko​

|

57 Igor Usenko​

| -

11 Andrei Karev​

|

-​

| -

Starter​

|

Backup​

35 Kevin Lalande​

|

1 Vitaliy Koval​

| -

Scratched​

|

Reason​

G 31 Andrei Mezin​

|

Healthy​

| -

D 5 Nikolai Stasenko​

|

Suspended​

| -

F 28 Konstantin Koltsov​

|

Healthy​

| -

Officials​

|

Referee​

|

Antonin Jeřábek | -

Referee​

|

Keith Kaval | -

Linesman​

|

Chris Carlson | -

Linesman​

|

Masi Puolakka | -

Click to read more...

 

[ViD]

so, the winner of this one clinches a quarters spot?

 

[Purple hippo]

so, the winner of this one clinches a quarters spot?

If the winner gets all three points yes, they advance since Finland can only get 11pts and the Swiss max out at 10pts. However, if they share points things get interesting.

If Latvia wins in over-time, they advance to the Quarters and knock out the Swiss. If Belarus wins in over-time, well then it becomes a situation of what ifs. Simply, Belarus needs to finish with more points than Latvia and Finland, if Finland and Belarus are tied on 11pts (Latvia is atleast at 12pts), Finland wins, if all three are tied on 11pts, Finland and Latvia advance.

 

[BalticWarrior]

This will be tough game. Our guys have to give 110 percent if they want to win especially without girgensons.

 

[Lapa]

So, Latvia could really do us a solid here.

 

[GX]

Masaļskis in net.

With Girgensons out, the new forward lines:

Kenins - Daugavins - Redlihs
Indrasis - Vasiljevs - Nizivijs
Cipulis - Dzerins - Meija
Jass - Berzins - Stals

It's a pity Stals has to play this game on the fourth line. Indrasis-Vasiljevs-Nizivijs sounds interesting. I hope Indrasis will be the driving force that will stop the line to try to play fancy Russian hockey.

 

[R3v3r3nd]

Masaļskis in net.

With Girgensons out, the new forward lines:

Kenins - Daugavins - Redlihs
Indrasis - Vasiljevs - Nizivijs
Cipulis - Dzerins - Meija
Jass - Berzins - Stals

It's a pity Stals has to play this game on the fourth line. Indrasis-Vasiljevs-Nizivijs sounds interesting. I hope Indrasis will be the driving force that will stop the line to try to play fancy Russian hockey.

And Kulda?

 

[marciiauzii]

And Kulda?

you gotta be kidding me...

 

[DrStrangelife]

And Kulda?

According to Nolan, he's playing.

 

[King EK65]

The Girgensons suspension really put us in a ''not-cool'' situation. Gotta get the win today.

 

[DrStrangelife]

The Girgensons suspension really put us in a ''not-cool'' situation. Gotta get the win today.

Even with Girgs playing, we couldn't have said we're in a "cool" situation (to win).
It would have been a very tough game. Now it's just much more worse. We're **** deeper than "not-cool". But I still believe it is doable.

 

[RobertR]

Isn't situation still pretty solid, even if we lose today?

It seems to me, its more "do or die" game for Belarus then it is for us.

If we lose today, but win agaist Swiss, we are still in 1/4, right?

 

[Namejs]

I am skeptical about our chances.

Kulda is injured (he might play, but still) + Girgensons is disqualified. Those were 2 of our key players. The only thing left is our 1st line.

In other words, Belarus are playing with their best line-up available. We have 12 guys missing (including the one's who didn't join the national team).

It's probably not very wise to think that we're the favorites with half of our team missing.

 

[DrStrangelife]

Isn't situation still pretty solid, even if we lose today?

It seems to me, its more "do or die" game for Belarus then it is for us.

If we lose today, but win agaist Swiss, we are still in 1/4, right?

Yes, this isn't for us a "do or die". And after Fins defeat Kazakhstan, Swiss will be automatically out of 1/4. Thus if we lose tonight, we most likely will play against "not giving a ****" Swiss team, while our team will have a "do and die" attitude (hopefully) and Girgs on board.

So yes, we're not in the worst of positions. But I don't want to take any chances. I hope our team will come out and they will play as if it's a "do or die" situation for them too.

 

[Namejs]

Isn't situation still pretty solid, even if we lose today?

It seems to me, its more "do or die" game for Belarus then it is for us.

If we lose today, but win agaist Swiss, we are still in 1/4, right?

Yes, we need to get 2 points and we're in, assuming Belarus doesn't get points from Russia.

The important thing to keep in mind though is that we're not going to be the favorites in any of our remaining games. So it's 'do or die' every time.

 

[DrStrangelife]

I am skeptical about our chances.

Kulda is injured (he might play, but still) + Girgensons is disqualified. Those were 2 of our key players. The only thing left is our 1st line.

In other words, Belarus are playing with their best line-up available. We have 12 guys missing (including the one's who didn't join the national team).

It's probably not very wise to think that we're the favorites with half of our team missing.

I doubt anybody thinks that. But its also unreasonable to be very pessimistic about our chances to win. I think this could turn out to be a good game to watch, with Belarus having a slight advantage over us and overall controlling the tempo of the game. I think the game will be decided until the last seconds of the match. Probably we have to put most eggs in the Masaļskis basket.

 

[Urbanskog]

So, Latvia could really do us a solid here.

I don't know, I have the feeling that Russia will lose against Belarus on a purpose to make them advance to the playoff round.

 

[GX]

At this point I feel that we must get every point that we need - we mustn't think that this isn't a "do or die" for us. To put it simply (and extremely optimistic), in order for this WC to remain historic, QF seed will be of crucial importance as well..

 

[Namejs]

I doubt anybody thinks that. But its also unreasonable to be very pessimistic about our chances to win. I think this could turn out to be a good game to watch, with Belarus having a slight advantage over us and overall controlling the tempo of the game. I think the game will be decided until the last seconds of the match. Probably we have to put most eggs in the Masaļskis basket.

These are our chances vs. Belarus according to bookmakers:
35% 3 points
45.8% at least 2 points
57.3% at least 1 point

These are our chances vs. Switzerland according to bookmakers:
32.1% 3 points
42.3% at least 2 points
53.5% at least 1 point

Combined, that's somewhere around 80% probability of us getting at least 2 points in our remaining 2 games of the group stage.

2 points is all we need to make the play-offs. There's no reason to be pessimistic. I'm just saying that if I had to bet on someone today, it definitely would be Belarus.

 

[Namejs]

At this point I feel that we must get every point that we need - we mustn't think that this isn't a "do or die" for us. To put it simply (and extremely optimistic), in order for this WC to remain historic, QF seed will be of crucial importance as well..

Absolutely. We're not just fighting for a play-off spot, we can actually get the 2nd seed. We might even get someone like France or Denmark in the QFs.

Not to mention that there's a pretty big difference between this Czech team and Team Canada.

 

[ViD]

Sounds like Finland might not get into the quarters

 

[ThunderBuddy]

Hopefully we can get the W, wouldn't want to leave it down to the wire...

 

[ellja3]

Thus if we lose tonight, we most likely will play against "not giving a ****" Swiss team

KZK has also lost all chances, thus can be considered not giving a ****, yet look how they are fighting vs FIN. yes sure, crowd support, but still

 

[trellaine201]

online watching?

Are these games available online?

Thanks

 

[OscarsCards]

This is going to be brutal... no comments...