GDT: Quarter Finals: Sweden vs. Latvia; Jan. 2, 2025; 12:00 EST

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I just asked Alexa who the oldest player ever drafted and she said Baldass Helmut HAHAHAHA LOL WTF?!?

Helmut was absolutely filthy

 

[theslatcher]

Edstrom POTG??? What?

 

[lakai17]

Credit to the Latvian goalie

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

I just asked Alexa who the oldest player ever drafted and she said Baldass Helmut HAHAHAHA LOL WTF?!?

Helmuts Balderis - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Helmuts Balderis, 1952-06-30 Riga, LAT Latvia. Most recently in the Latvia with Essamika Ogre. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

He was 37 when drafted, played 1 season and bounced back to Latvia.

 

[Edgelord]

Helmut was absolutely filthy

I had to look it up, its Helmuts Balderis drafted at age 36 by the North Stars in 1989

 

[Dingo]

I don’t get why they didn’t shoot. Kept trying to find the perfect lane.

Complete domination by Sweden tbh.

I agree. I could guarantee that Thelin was Salo'ing in his skates that whole period. They just needed something on net.

 

[MoDoJoel]

Edstrom POTG??? What?

Honestly Feldberg should've been the only option

 

[Namejs]

Latvia just has no offensive weapons outside of Meteiko. Half the guys on the ice could barely skate by the end of it. Only reason it was a game is Feldbergs.

Murnieks has a much higher ceiling than Mateiko.

 

[Gazewithin]

Edstrom POTG??? What?

The best player at letting his wingers do everything...

 

[Edgelord]

Helmuts Balderis - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Helmuts Balderis, 1952-06-30 Riga, LAT Latvia. Most recently in the Latvia with Essamika Ogre. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

He was 37 when drafted, played 1 season and bounced back to Latvia.

kinda cool that he is from Latvia so it loosely ties into the thread

 

[Seiza]

Thought Sweden was awful and yet they completely dominated the game. Sloppy passing, bad puck control and weak shooting. And on top of that a shaky goalie.

 

[ottawarenegader613]

Congratulations to both teams. Sweden holding on to advance to the semifinals, and Latvia for not giving up and showing some fight throughout the tournament.

Side note. Can't believe TSN cut off the player of the game awards from the LAT-SWE game to go to the Swiss-USA game. Was looking forward to see if Feldbergs would get an award for his brilliant play in the tournament. He is a beast in the Latvian net.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Congratulations to both teams. Sweden holding on to advance to the semifinals, and Latvia for not giving up and showing some fight throughout the tournament.

Side note. Can't believe TSN cut off the player of the game awards from the LAT-SWE game to go to the Swiss-USA game. Was looking forward to see if Feldbergs would get an award for his brilliant play in the tournament. He is a beast in the Latvian net.

NHL Network cut the game off with 3 minutes left to go to the USA game. Absurd.

 

[bDtKarlsson]

2 weak goals from our goalie and a huge effort from Latvias goalie made this close. Huge control of the game from Sweden in the 1st and 3rd periods, only allowing 4 shots on goal. The 2nd period was pretty bad from our pov though

 

[Pavels Dog]

I maintain what I’ve said all tournament; I’m worried about Sweden’s goaltending in the medal round.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I had to look it up, its Helmuts Balderis drafted at age 36 by the North Stars in 1989

Go watch some of his highlights, he was the Latvian Makarov. Put up some huge numbers in the 70s and 80s. So dynamic.

 

[EK47]

Thought Sweden was awful and yet they completely dominated the game. Sloppy passing, bad puck control and weak shooting. And on top of that a shaky goalie.

Shaky is generous, he almost did the same thing against Switzerland despite being five goals up. He’s just bad.

 

[Namejs]

I'm very proud of our team.

Mateiko, Osmanis and Murnieks will be playing for the men's national team very soon and I hope all of them become NHL regulars. Ditto for Feldbergs.

This was our best showing to date and it makes me all giddy thinking about what lies ahead.

14 of these kids will return next year and we have a bunch of younger prospects coming up too.

Next stop: U18 WJC.

 

[mphmiles]

Huge props to Latvia for this tournament. They played a unique style designed to frustrate and disrupt the favorites and executed to near perfection.

 

[ozo]

Mateiko, Osmanis and Murnieks will be playing for the men's national team very soon and I hope all of them become NHL regulars. Ditto for Feldbergs.

Usually NHL and playing for national team are mutually exclusive things :/

 

[Lenny Levino]

I don't see any way he doesn't at this point. This is one of the most impressive individual performances I've ever seen at the WJC.

I think he's already been signed by a Swiss club.

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Delete

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Very proud of our boys.

 

[Dofs]

Obvious heroes of this game and tournament are already mentioned, but I would also like to highlight Kurbaka for this game which was definitely his best one in the tournament - very calm, wasn't giving away the puck all the time like others tended to do, has consistently closed the offensive zone.

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Very proud of our boys.

13 shots on goal?