The Head Coach”Admiral “and the top scorer in the history of the national team Latvia Leonid Tambiev explained to how the Latvians were able to win bronze medals at the 2023 World Cup, despite Dynamo Riga no longer playing in the KHL.
Hockey players of the Latvian national team beat the American team in overtime in the game for third place in the world championship. The team won a medal at the world championships for the first time in history. Dynamo has not played in the KHL since 2022. There was not a single national championship hockey player in the current Latvian national team roster.
– I have two feelings. After all, the Latvian national team does not have its own strong championship, speaking at the amateur level. It is clear that none of these teams play in Latvia. All scattered in Europe and North America. At the same time, the national team achieved such success by winning the bronze medal of the World Championship.
The guys from their European clubs have become psychologically stronger, speaking in leadership positions. I’ve barely watched them, but I know three NHL hockey players haven’t played: Teddy Bluger now plays for Vegas, which reached the Stanley Cup semifinals, Buffalo’s Zemgus Girgensons is not not come, just like there was no Elvis Merzlikin from Columbus “. In other words, it was a team without NHL players.
But the team proved to be united. The players got together for a month and a half, sat down in training camp, practiced a lot, held friendly matches. And we approached the world championship at home in good physical shape. It’s very important,” Tambiev told .
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
