Ice hockey in Latvia

Ice hockey in Latvia
Country	Latvia
Governing body	Latvian Ice Hockey Federation
National team(s)	Men's national team Women's national team
Club competitions
Latvian Hockey Higher League
International competitions
IIHF World Championships Winter Olympics

Ice hockey in Latvia is the most popular sport in the country.^[1][2] The first hockey match on Latvian soil took place on February 15, 1909, with two teams facing Union and Strēlnieka Dārzs.^[3] However, it took another 20 years to supplant the popular sport of Bandy.

History

In 1929, Rīgas Strādnieku Sports un Sargs, a sports club of the

at that time and later in political exile in Sweden.

The thirties and forties until the outbreak of World War II

The Latvian Winter Sports Association began supporting ice hockey in 1930, and as early as 1931 Latvia was admitted to the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace (LIHG), the predecessor of the IIHF.^[4]

With the international recognition of the association, various hockey clubs have emerged in the larger cities, including Universitas Sports, Wanderer, Union, Armijas Sporta Klubs (ASK) from Riga and Olimpiade from Liepāja. The Social Democrats' Club continued to exist before being shut down by regime Kārlis Ulmanis. The said clubs did not play in a closed league with a fixed schedule, but fought in smaller tournaments for titles. In the early years of the Latvian ice hockey ASK Riga dominated the games of the championship and became several Latvian champions.^[5]

The beginnings of the national team

The first official game of the

). In the overall standings, Latvia took eighth place out of nine participating countries.

A year later, the national team debuted at the

friendly matches

.

In 1939, the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation contracted Canadian hockey player and sports teacher Larry Marsh to train the national team for a month. The Latvian hockey team had played a total of 26 games, including six wins, 16 defeats and four draws with a goal difference of 37:93, until 1940, the year of Soviet occupation and loss of independence.^[6]

The time of the occupation

The outbreak of World War II and occupation by Soviet Union did indeed change Latvian hockey, but did not end it: the Soviets dissolved the existing teams and created new ones, such as Dinamo Riga. Two years later, when the Germans were re-established, the old teams were re-established, and other teams with typical Latvian names such as "Ledus Lāči, Daugavieši, Skrejošais Holandietis" and "Ledus Simfonija" were created. From 1944 to 1945 no ice hockey was played. In 1946 Latvia was excluded from the LIHG because of its affiliation with the Soviet Union, and only resumed in 1992 after Latvia established the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation in 1991.

The Postwar era

Before the Second World War in the Soviet Union not hockey, but Bandy was played. After the war, the sporting leadership decided instead to introduce ice hockey, since this was recognized as

. It can therefore be said that one of the origins of the Russian hockey tradition lies in Latvia.

Only two years after the end of the Second World War and the incorporation of Latvia into the Soviet Union, Dinamo Riga began playing under the new name "Daugava Riga" with pre-war players in the first Soviet league. In 1948,

In addition to Daugava, there were other teams such as Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca (the Latvian [RVR] club RVR), "Spartaks", "VEF" and Latvijas Bērzs, which are based on youth and/or senior level in regional championships. The only top club in Latvia, Daugava, remained in the highest league of the Soviet Union until the 1958/59 season.

Other players from before the war emigrated to

Another member of the Latvian team was Ēriks Koņeckis, who several times as a player and coach German champion and later held the post of national coach.

With the descent of Daugava into the second division began for the Latvian hockey a time of mediocrity, which lasted until the end of the sixties. In 1968, Daugava was renamed again

, no further events from this period are worth mentioning.

The Tikhonov era

The development of Latvian hockey got a boost in 1968 with the arrival of the Soviet coach

, who began his legendary coaching career there. He was known for his penchant for discipline and revolutionized training methods using a VCR for game analysis. He also attached great importance to the physical fitness of his players. Due to the low playful potential of the Dinamo players, he set with the establishment of four rows of attack a strategy that used no Soviet team until then. Since this measure has increased the players' breaks between their working hours, the team was able to make up for technical disadvantages by speeding up and improving their condition against more highly rated teams. In 1973 Dinamo Riga could even celebrate the re-emergence in the first league after 14 years.

RVR opened a hockey school in 1967 and a little later

, was also considered Balderis.

Dinamo Riga remained first class until the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ethnic composition of the crew changed dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s as more and more Russians displaced the Latvians. An exception were the goalkeepers

Soviet Union national ice hockey team

. The latter was the same year with the national team Olympic champion.

The time after 1990

Since the beginning of Mikhail Gorbachev's term of office, Latvians have increasingly begun to strive for Independence. The Latvian Supreme Soviet declared independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990. Only after the coup in Moscow in August 1991 followed the international recognition of Latvia. Irbe finally became the hero and role model of the Latvians when he participated in the defense of barricades against the Soviet Army and later refused to continue playing for the Soviet national team. Already in the 1991–92 NHL season he signed his first NHL contract with the San Jose Sharks and also won his first game.^[9]

Emigrants and returnees

Due to the political turmoil, Latvian ice hockey collapsed and players dispersed in leagues around the world.

The returnees from North America found a financially troubled country in which the hockey game for survival and players abruptly left their teams as soon as they offered a chance abroad. During the 1990s there was only one ice rink in Latvia, the time-honored Rigas Sporta Pils. Hockey teams emerged and disappeared and changed their names with the current main sponsor. Dinamo Riga was renamed Hockey Club Riga, then Riga stars (after the sponsor A / S Stars ) and finally in Pārdaugava . First, the team played in the Russian Interstate League , later in the Eastern European Hockey League before 1995, the bankruptcy was filed. The team was re-founded under the name Riga Juniors , as today's successor to Dinamo, the HK Riga 2000 can be viewed.

Governing body

The Latvian Ice Hockey Federation organizes amateur and professional ice hockey in the country.^[11][12]

Domestic league

Latvia is one of the smaller member countries of the IIHF with (in 2017) a total of 6,699 registered ice hockey players, including 1,888 juniors and 101 women. There are also 185 registered ice hockey referees in the country. The

. Between 1946 and 1990, the year of the Latvian Declaration of Independence, no official Latvian championship was played, but nevertheless a tournament was held annually.

In 1990 the Latvian league was a pure

Dinamo-Juniors Riga

.

Below the Latvian ice hockey league there is a second and third division and an amateur league in which nine teams fought for the title in the 2006/07 season.

Reestablishment of Dinamo Riga

As part of the opening of the Russian Super League and renaming it in

match practice.

The

HK Dynamo Moscow

eliminated.

National team

During the cold war the Latvian players played ice hockey under the banner of the Soviet Union.[14]^[15] Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 Latvians play under the Latvian national team.^[16]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the IIHF introduced qualifying tournaments for the Ice Hockey World Cup, as many new national associations wanted to participate. The Latvian national team won their

and Latvia rose to the B-group.

In the following three years, the national team took part in the B World Championships and won the

2003

in Finland on 4 May, the day of the declaration of Latvian independence.

With the success of the national team also strengthened the hockey sport in Latvia. New ice rinks gradually developed and the

was voted best defender of the tournament.

The Latvian national team has never reached beyond the quarter finals of any major ice hockey tournament, except for the 2023 championship after winning against USA and got a bronze medal.[17]

Women's Ice Hockey

The Latvian women's national team has been involved in international title fights since 1993 and won the B European Championship in the same year, allowing them to participate in the IIHF European Championship in 1995.^[18] This tournament was held in Riga and the ladies of the Latvian federation won only sixth place, so the Latvian selection returned to the B-group. A year later, however, the team could celebrate the runner-up of the B-EM.

From 1999, the field of participants of the World Championship was increased. However, the Latvian women were only able to reach a back rank in the Qualifying Tournament for the A World Championship, and since then they have been playing in the IIHF World Championship B Group usually occupy places in the midfield.

The players of the national team are mainly recruited from the two top clubs of Latvian women's hockey,

In addition to the SHK Laima Riga and the IceGirls there is a third women's team, LSK Liepāja . These three teams are playing the Latvian Women's Championship among themselves, with the SHK Laima team winning the title in 2006.

Latvians in the National Hockey League

A total of 27 Latvians (6 goalkeepers and 21 outfielders) have already been on the ice in the

.

Sergejs Žoltoks was considered one of the best Latvian players of all time. He was the best scorer of the Latvians in the

he suffered a severe heart attack. On November 3, 2004, the Center died of heart failure at the age of 31. The resuscitation attempt of the doctors failed and Žoltoks died in the locker room.

Fan culture

Ice hockey is considered one of Latvia's national sports. Dinamo Riga's successes drew much attention to the sport. In contrast, clubs in the 1990s did not attract many fans to the arenas, whereas the national team has become increasingly popular since its re-founding. For every world championship, large numbers of Latvian fans travel to and support to support national team,

During the 2000 World Championship, the Latvian Parliament interrupted its sessions so that the politicians could follow the national team's games on television. After beating Russia 3–1, the members of the Opposition and ruling party in the arms and sang together.

At the 2006 World Championship held in Latvia, Latvian fans caused a scandal during their 11-0 defeat against Canada. The audience felt discriminated against by referee Rick Looker in the first period, as he called many penalties against the Latvian team with the Canadian team scoring on the power play. The home crowd, predominantly made up of Latvian supporters, began throwing items onto the ice. The officiating crew took the break so that the ice could be cleaned and the crowd could be calmed down. But trouble began again in the third period as more objects were thrown onto the ice and the teams left the ice once again. To calm the situation, the Latvian player Jānis Sprukts spoke to the audience over the stadium speakers: "Of course the referee makes many mistakes and we are not happy either, but please do not throw anything on the ice."^[24] After that, the game ended without further interference from the crowd.

There have also been many Latvians who have gone overseas to play in the

.

References