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WC: Team Latvia

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Namejs said:
Blueger to the rescue! It's going to be a lot better looking top 9 against Germany and Denmark. Maybe we can even snatch a point against the US.
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From 8-1 Finland to beating the top team in the group...sounds wildly optimistic.
 
kabidjan18 said:
From 8-1 Finland to beating the top team in the group...sounds wildly optimistic.
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We scored 2 out of those 8 goals, our goalie was terrible and we rested our leading players during the 2nd half of the game. I don't think 1:8 is indicative of anything.

I don't consider the US the top team at all. Both Canada and Finland have looked better so far. And we have nearly always had close games against the Americans.

The Blueger addition is huge. Our C depth is our weakest link, we're lacking playmaking Cs and he's also good at FOs. It turns an entire line into a capable offensive unit.
 
Namejs said:
We scored 2 out of those 8 goals, our goalie was terrible and we rested our leading players during the 2nd half of the game. I don't think 1:8 is indicative of anything.

I don't consider the US the top team at all. Both Canada and Finland have looked better so far. And we have nearly always had close games against the Americans.

The Blueger addition is huge. Our C depth is our weakest link, we're lacking playmaking Cs and he's also good at FOs. It turns an entire line into a capable offensive unit.
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When the other team banks a shot off of your defender, it's not an own goal. All lower-level teams rest their top players against top teams as well, it's not like there's something novel there.

Ok, perhaps they're slightly below Canada, despite beating them. That's still not very helpful. Also, this "we usually do well against them" line of reasoning didn't work particularly well the last time. Teams like the US play different teams every year, there's little or no continuity between each squad, though this year is the first time in a while there aren't 7-10 NCAA, AHL, Euro athletes. So it's hard to draw conclusions from past results. But even if we do, 3 out of the last 4 meetings have been multi-goal differentials. That may be close in the sense of, not a total route, but not in the sense that points were almost there for the taking. Of course, I didn't see those games, so feel free to object that the atmosphere was intense.

I don't doubt that he's a huge addition. I see that game being a 3 goal differential at least.
 
Karsums will miss the remainder of the tournament with a fractured cheekbone. f*** me. He will undergo surgery in Riga.

I guess we'll have to move Rihards Bukarts up a line. Bukarts - Dzerins - Bukarts?

Maybe call up Dzierkals too? We have 2 spots left.
 
kabidjan18 said:
When the other team banks a shot off of your defender, it's not an own goal. All lower-level teams rest their top players against top teams as well, it's not like there's something novel there.

Ok, perhaps they're slightly below Canada, despite beating them. That's still not very helpful. Also, this "we usually do well against them" line of reasoning didn't work particularly well the last time. Teams like the US play different teams every year, there's little or no continuity between each squad, though this year is the first time in a while there aren't 7-10 NCAA, AHL, Euro athletes. So it's hard to draw conclusions from past results. But even if we do, 3 out of the last 4 meetings have been multi-goal differentials. That may be close in the sense of, not a total route, but not in the sense that points were almost there for the taking. Of course, I didn't see those games, so feel free to object that the atmosphere was intense.

I don't doubt that he's a huge addition. I see that game being a 3 goal differential at least.
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OK.
 
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Namejs said:
OK.
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Congrats. Your prediction came true.

I will remind you that knowledge is veridical belief plus warrant. If warrant is arbitrary in nature, belief may be veridical but is also arbitrary...
 
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BalticWarrior said:
Our offensive lines should be unchanged for tomorrow, Cibuļskis needs to be benched. Play Rubīns instead.
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He's already playing a lot of minutes, you'd have to play Zile instead. He's by no means better than Cibulskis. He fell down on his ass while with the puck in the defensive zone at least a couple of times. He doesn't have the size and reach of Rubins to compensate for his inexperience, the kid played in MHL this season for God's sake. We just have 0 defensive depth and the only reason why he's eating so many minutes is that we literally don't have anyone else.

But there's no reason not to drop him to the 3rd pairing.
 
Defense should be a non-issue for Latvia if Arturs Kulda and Oskars Bartulis would step up.
 
We have defensemen, they're just not in Denmark right now.

Kulda, Bartulis, Jaks, Cukste, Bindulis, Kr. Redlihs would all be an upgrade over someone on this roster.
 
Eye of Ra said:
latvia had better defence 15 years ago with skrastins, ozolins, Tribuncovs, lavins,
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Nope, that's just not true. We had more NHL players back then, but we didn't have nearly as much depth as we do now. We might've had Skrastins, but our 3rd pairing consisted of some domestic league scrubs or a guy from the Danish league or DEL2 or even Oberliga.

And 15 years ago refusing to play for your NT was very rare. Now we're missing half the players. They don't want to risk with any injuries since they have juicy contracts. In 2002, the World Champs were a platform to get signed and to get that juicy contract in the first place. Things have changed.

Oh, and we have quite a few young, talented defensemen growing up. There's about 6 U-21 guys with NHL/AHL/KHL/SHL potential. Actually, half of them are already playing there.
 
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Namejs said:
Nope, that's just not true. We had more NHL players back then, but we didn't have nearly as much depth as we do now. We might've had Skrastins, but our 3rd pairing consisted of some domestic league scrubs or a guy from the Danish league or DEL2 or even Oberliga.

And 15 years ago refusing to play for your NT was very rare. Now we're missing half the players. They don't want to risk with any injuries since they have juicy contracts. In 2002, the World Champs were a platform to get signed and to get that juicy contract in the first place. Things have changed.

Oh, and we have quite a few young, talented defensemen growing up. There's about 6 U-21 guys with NHL/AHL/KHL/SHL potential. Actually, half of them are already playing there.
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Didn't you have then up and coming defensemen Krisjanis Redlihs and Arvids Rekis 15 years ago?
 
Rekis was 23 or 24 already. Their generation used to play in the 3rd tier of U20 WJC.

Just look up our U20 rosters back then. They were absolute shit. No depth whatsoever. There were always a couple of kids who couldn't skate very well and fell down on the ice randomly on a regular basis.

And now compare it to the 2015 or 16 lineup. I just looked up the 2016 lineup.

We've got 3 KHL guys, another 3 were drafted and are playing in AHL/ECHL, 5 are playing in NCAA, 1 in NLA, 1 in SHL, a couple in Austria, another guy in NLB. Almost everyone has turned pro. Only a single kid isn't playing hockey seriously anymore. That would be absolutely unprecedented 15 years ago.

The depth is incomparabe.
 
Alright, but on the subject of seniors. Can we say then that the 2006 Olympic D-core is the best in Latvian history? Ozolins, Skrastins, Lavins, Tribuncovs, Rekis, Redlihs, and Pujacs. That's both quality and depth.
 
Eye of Ra said:
still skrastins and ozolins was way better than any latvian defender today
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So we had 1 great and 1 pretty good defenseman 15 years ago. Is that your point? Everyone was aware of that already, thanks.

And I wouldn't say Skrastins was way better than, say, Bartulis. Skrastins was made of steel and he was extremely reliable as a stay at home defenseman, but he wasn't an elite tier NHL guy. They're pretty close.
 
kabidjan18 said:
Alright, but on the subject of seniors. Can we say then that the 2006 Olympic D-core is the best in Latvian history? Ozolins, Skrastins, Lavins, Tribuncovs, Rekis, Redlihs, and Pujacs. That's both quality and depth.
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Maybe, maybe not. Apart from his signature hip check, I was never a fan of Lavins. Or Pujacs. They were pretty mediocre. Prone to making mistakes, not a lot of help offensively.

But, yes, it was extremely rare to see Skrastins and Ozolins playing together. So it should be one of the best D cores.
 
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