All About Latvia

Pucked Luck

May 02

AleksHockey, Sports Canada, coach, Hockey, language laws 3 Comments

RIGA – Latvia is getting sick with a fever.

A recent survey revealed that 75 per cent of Latvian residents plan to follow a hockey contest. Most of them will be in front of their TV screens, waking up the remaining 25 per cent. The Ice Hockey World Championship starts today in Halifax and Quebec City in the far-away land of Canada. The time difference between Latvia and Canada pushed two of Latvia’s three games to the 2 a.m. time slot. Not that it should deter true fans.

To mark the centennial of the world championship, teams have been asked to wear jerseys from the days of yore. Latvia plans to wear the 1936 Olympic Games jerseys (fingers crossed for a swastika!) which they will don on Sunday, the restoration of independence day.

In hockey – as in politics – Latvia’s victory lays in its own determination against the world’s heavyweights. Latvia will face off against the United States, Canada, and Slovenia, the country that coincidentally currently holds the EU presidency. So, it’s only reasonable that the country’s chances to become the next world champion are slim – 1 in 250 according to the betting agency William Hill.

The host country, however, is “cautious“. For Canada, it’d be foolish to feel overconfident. In 2000 at St. Petersburg, Russia lost to Latvia – much to the joy of Latvian patriots – Switzerland to Belarus. Canada lost 4-1 to France and tied Italy 2-2 in 1995.

While across the pond coaches focus on Canada rather than some obscure European countries, back at home, the controversy already erupted over the very important issue for every hockey player on the eve of the tournament: The state language. At the last press conference before the departure for Halifax, the coach Oļegs Znaroks allegedly asked reporters to “speak in a language I can understand.” The language skills of the man who gave up his Latvian citizenship for the German one in 2001 were made fun of in this video after his inaugural stint as Latvia’s coach in 2006.

In a swift response to the politically incorrect remark by the man who’d lead the national pride and joy into the battle, the language center called Znarok on the carpet for a chat. “(We’ll) check whether he can speak Latvian and knows terminology,” the head of the language center Antons Kursītis told Diena newspaper on April 25.

So, if the team fails, it would likely force Latvia out of the elite division and prompt the search for a new coach, the seventh in the 11 years.

For the next two weeks, though, you could get so much hockey fever that you’d be sick until next year.

Sarauj, Latvija!