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GDT: WJC: Slovakia – Latvia

Empty net is the right move but damn I'd be worried if I were a Latvian fan right now! Wild finish coming in. This IS Latvian's quarterfinal right now.
 
Swiss can still finish third.. must win in OT or regulation.

Slovakia still has a shot at first!
 
So, if Czechs beat the Germans, Canada beats Sweden, Slovaks beats the Swiss, then czechia is gonna be first in their group and Slovaks would be first in their group.

not an unlikely scenario, slovakia beating swiss being the least likely.

would be really kool to see.
 
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Nice that Slovaks play Swiss first.. regulation win is key! Get to 9 points and cheer for US
 
tmlmatus said:
So, if Czechs beat the Germans, Canada beats Sweden, Slovaks beats the Swiss, then czechia is gonna be first in their group and Slovaks would be first in their group.

not an unlikely scenario, slovakia beating swiss being the least likely.

would be really kool to see.
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2 things I don't want

A quarter with Slovakia
A quarter with US

We need to somehow beat Germany and cheer for Canada.lol
 
Latvia played well, especially in the 2nd period, but most of their shots were from odd angles and into lots of traffic or straight at Gajan. Slovakia played smart, did not go crazy offensive to open up the game and made very few mistakes.
 
I was rooting for Latvia, but they're just so terrible in the offensive zone. At least they'll smash Austria and avoid relegation
 
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Congrats Slovakia.. guaranteed quarter and a shot at first. Good luck against the Swiss tomorrow.

Latvia, you played great and good luck against Austria.. that should go very well for you.
 
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hypereconomist said:
I was rooting for Latvia, but they're just so terrible in the offensive zone. They're good defensively and have a few players that look good and are obviously skilled enough to thrive in good leagues (WHL, USHL, Swiss U20, etc.); yet they they struggle to get shots through traffic, play the perimeter a lot despite being so big, struggle to hold the line well, and can't get shots off fast enough.

Is it just a coaching thing or what?
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It's both coaching, the system employed and the very basic fact that this Latvian team is lacking top notch elite talent, e.g., 1st round picks.

But another important thing to note is that, probabilistically, the expected goals scored over these two last games was significantly higher than 0. Yet we had 60 shots on goal, 0 goals scored.

The quality, distance from goal, etc., were below average, but purely from a statistical analysis point of view, this was dictated purely by chance.

Or, to dumb it down, they were very unlucky and in most cases would have scored 3 goals or more vs. Finland/Slovakia combined.
 
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Latvia played extremely well yesterday and solid game today. they just lack top end talent that can score goals.
 
hypereconomist said:
Is it just a coaching thing or what?
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It is not just a coaching thing but it is in large part a coaching thing. This game plan is meant to grind out the wins where your top line or maybe PP scores somehow and the defense takes care of the rest. Really anyone who has watched the KHL or international hockey in Europe knows how this works. Even Sweden or Finland in this WJC are pretty good reflections of it as well.

Also, like others said, you need personnel that can score on that top line/PP otherwise you can't expect much.

This kind of coaching is also the reason why Belarus (and to a smaller degree Latvia) underachieved yearly at the 1A level and teams not even close in talent like Austria get to win that occasionally.

Having said that, this kind of game plan probably is the best way to beat teams that are objectively slightly better. It worked against the Czechs in the summer and against Switzerland a week ago.
 
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