Latvia men's national ice hockey team explained

Latvia
Badge:	Latvia national ice hockey team logo.svg
Badge Size:	135px
Association:	Latvian Ice Hockey Federation
General Manager:	Rūdolfs Kalvītis
Coach:	Harijs Vītoliņš
Asst Coach:	Lauris Dārziņš Artūrs Irbe Petteri Nummelin Ville Peltonen Raimonds Vilkoits
Captain:	Kaspars Daugaviņš
Most Games:	Rodrigo Laviņš (230)
Top Scorer:	Leonīds Tambijevs (66)
Most Points:	Leonīds Tambijevs (150)
Home Stadium:	Arēna Rīga
Iihf Code:	LAT
Iihf Max:	9
Iihf Max Date:	2005–06, 2014
Iihf Min:	13
Iihf Min Date:	2018
First Game:	3–0 (Riga, Latvia; 27 February 1932)^[1]
Largest Win:	32–0 (Bled, Slovenia; 15 March 1993)
Largest Loss:	14–0 (Davos, Switzerland; 20 January 1935)
World Champ Apps:	35
World Champ First:	1933
World Champ Best:	Bronze: (2023)
Regional Name:	IIHF European Championships
Regional Cup Apps:	1
Olympic Apps:	6
Olympic First:	1936
Record:	286–284–28

The Latvian men's national ice hockey team represents Latvia in international ice hockey. The team is ranked 10th in the world by IIHF as of 2023. The team is controlled by the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation. Their best ever finish at the World Championships was in 2023, when they won the bronze medal. Latvia reached the quarterfinals at the 2014 Winter Olympics, losing 2–1 to Canada. Latvia has 7,898 registered players (0.43% of its population).

Overview

Rank	Olympics	World Championships	European Championships
1st
2nd
3rd		2023
4th
5th
6th
7th		1997, 2004, 2009
8th	2014	2000, 2018	1932
9th	2002	1998, 2003, 2005, 2024
10th		1933, 1938, 1939, 2006, 2012, 2017, 2019, 2022
11th	2022	1999, 2002, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2021
12th	2006, 2010
13th	1936	1935, 1996 (1.B)↑, 2001, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016
14th		1994 (2.B), 1995 (2.B)
15th
16th
↑: promoted, ↓: relegated, (3.B): (rank.pool)

Tournament record

Olympic Games

Games	GP	W	T		L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen	3	0	0		3	3	27	Arvīds Jurgens	Leonīds Vedējs	13
1953–1991	As part of
1994 Lillehammer	did not qualify
1998 Nagano
2002 Salt Lake City	4	2	1		1	20	14	Curt Lindström	Harijs Vītoliņš	9
2006 Turin	5	0	1		4	11	29	Leonīds Beresņevs	Kārlis Skrastiņš	12
Games	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish
2010 Vancouver	4	0	0	1	3	6	22	Oļegs Znaroks	Kārlis Skrastiņš	12
2014 Sochi	5	1	0	0	4	9	14	Ted Nolan	Sandis Ozoliņš	8
2018 Pyeongchang	did not qualify
2022 Beijing	4	0	0	0	4	7	14	Harijs Vītoliņš	Lauris Dārziņš	11
2026 Milan/Cortina	TBA

World Championship

width=300px	Championships	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish
1933 Prague	4	1	0	3	3	9	–	Arvīds Jurgens	Finished in 10th place
1935 Davos	5	1	0	4	11	25	–	Leonīds Vedējs	Finished in 13th place
1938 Prague	4	1	0	3	4	8	Arvīds Jurgens	Leonīds Vedējs	Finished tied in 10th place
1939 Zürich/Basel	3	1	0	2	6	21	Larry Marsh	Leonīds Vedējs	Finished in 10th place
1993 Bled/Ljubljana (Group C)	7	6	1	0	101	9	Helmuts Balderis	Konstantīns Grigorjevs	Finished in 21st place (Won Group C)
1994 Copenhagen/Aalborg (Group B)	7	6	0	1	61	9	Helmuts Balderis	Konstantīns Grigorjevs	Finished in 14th place (2nd in Group B)
1995 Bratislava (Group B)	7	6	0	1	65	16	Ēvalds Grabovskis	Aleksandrs Beļavskis	Finished in 14th place (2nd in Group B)
1996 Eindhoven (Group B)	7	6	1	0	41	16	Leonīds Beresņevs	Oleg Znarok	Finished in 13th place (Won Group B)
1997 Helsinki/Tampere/Turku	8	4	2	2	37	23	Leonīds Beresņevs	Normunds Sējējs	Finished in 7th place
1998 Zürich/Basel	6	3	1	2	21	18	Leonīds Beresņevs	Oleg Znarok	Finished in 9th place
1999 Oslo/Hamar/Lillehammer	6	2	0	4	24	22	Leonīds Beresņevs	Oleg Znarok	Finished in 11th place
2000 Saint Petersburg	7	3	1	3	15	17	Haralds Vasiļjevs	Harijs Vītoliņš	Finished in 8th place
2001 Nuremberg/Cologne/Hanover	6	3	1	2	19	13	Haralds Vasiļjevs	Harijs Vītoliņš	Finished in 13th place
2002 Gothenburg/Karlstad/Jönköping	6	1	0	5	11	18	Curt Lindström	Harijs Vītoliņš	Finished in 11th place
2003 Helsinki/Tampere/Turku	6	3	0	3	14	16	Curt Lindström	Harijs Vītoliņš	Finished in 9th place
2004 Prague/Ostrava	7	2	2	3	12	14	Curt Lindström	Sergejs Žoltoks	Finished in 7th place
2005 Vienna/Innsbruck	6	2	1	3	10	21	Leonīds Beresņevs	Kārlis Skrastiņš	Finished in 9th place
2006 Riga	6	2	1	3	12	24	Petr Vorobiev	Aleksandrs Semjonovs	Finished in 10th place

width=300px	Championships	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish
2007 Moscow	6	2	0	1	3	20	22	Oleg Znarok	Rodrigo Laviņš	Finished in 13th place
2008 Halifax/Quebec City	6	2	0	0	4	11	19	Oleg Znarok	Rodrigo Laviņš	Finished in 11th place
2009 Bern/Kloten	7	2	2	0	3	15	23	Oleg Znarok	Kārlis Skrastiņš	Finished in 7th place
2010 Cologne/Mannheim/Gelsenkirchen	6	2	0	0	4	15	18	Oleg Znarok	Herberts Vasiļjevs	Finished in 11th place
2011 Bratislava/Košice	6	2	0	2	2	18	19	Oleg Znarok	Herberts Vasiļjevs	Finished in 13th place
2012 Helsinki/Stockholm	7	2	0	0	5	11	19	Ted Nolan	Jānis Sprukts	Finished in 10th place
2013 Stockholm/Helsinki	7	2	0	1	4	14	25	Ted Nolan	Lauris Dārziņš	Finished in 11th place
2014 Minsk	7	3	0	0	4	20	24	Ted Nolan	Herberts Vasiļjevs	Finished in 11th place
2015 Prague/Ostrava	7	0	2	1	4	11	25	Aleksandrs Beļavskis	Kaspars Daugaviņš	Finished in 13th place
2016 Moscow/Saint Petersburg	7	1	0	3	3	13	22	Leonīds Beresņevs	Kaspars Daugaviņš	Finished in 13th place
2017 Cologne/Paris	7	3	0	1	3	14	18	Bob Hartley	Kaspars Daugaviņš	Finished in 10th place
2018 Copenhagen/Herning	8	3	1	2	2	18	19	Bob Hartley	Roberts Bukarts	Finished in 8th place
2019 Bratislava/Košice	7	3	0	0	4	21	20	Bob Hartley	Lauris Dārziņš	Finished in 10th place
2020	Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic^[2]
2021 Riga	7	2	0	3	2	15	16	Bob Hartley	Lauris Dārziņš	Finished in 11th place
2022 Helsinki/Tampere	7	2	1	0	4	14	20	Harijs Vītoliņš	Rodrigo Ābols	Finished in 10th place
2023 Tampere/Riga^[3] ^[4]	10	4	3	0	3	30	25	Harijs Vītoliņš	Kaspars Daugaviņš	Finished in 3rd place
2024 Prague/Ostrava	7	1	3	0	3	19	29	Harijs Vītoliņš	Kaspars Daugaviņš	Finished in 9th place
2025 Stockholm/Herning								Harijs Vītoliņš

European Championship

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship.^{[5] [6]}

Head coach: Harijs Vītoliņš

No.	Pos.	Name	Height	Weight	Birthdate	Team
2	D		1.88m (06.17feet)	98abbr=onNaNabbr=on	17 June 1997	Brynäs IF
6	D		1.8m (05.9feet)	84abbr=onNaNabbr=on	4 January 1998	Trois-Rivières Lions
9	F		1.83m (06feet)	84abbr=onNaNabbr=on	26 December 1998	Graz 99ers
13	F		1.8m (05.9feet)	84abbr=onNaNabbr=on	31 December 1995	Vítkovice Ridera
16	F	Kaspars Daugaviņš – C	1.83m (06feet)	101abbr=onNaNabbr=on	18 May 1988	Dukla Michalovce
17	F		1.83m (06feet)	84abbr=onNaNabbr=on	4 April 1997	Skellefteå AIK
18	F	Rodrigo Ābols – A	1.93m (06.33feet)	93abbr=onNaNabbr=on	5 January 1996	Rögle BK
20	F		1.86m (06.1feet)	84abbr=onNaNabbr=on	29 January 2002	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
27	D		1.88m (06.17feet)	96abbr=onNaNabbr=on	9 April 1988	Herning Blue Fox
29	D		1.81m (05.94feet)	84abbr=onNaNabbr=on	17 May 1991	Mountfield HK
30	G		1.91m (06.27feet)	87abbr=onNaNabbr=on	13 April 1994	Columbus Blue Jackets
34	F		1.91m (06.27feet)	85abbr=onNaNabbr=on	17 February 1997	Rytíři Kladno
35	G		1.85m (06.07feet)	84abbr=onNaNabbr=on	17 July 2001	JYP Jyväskylä
36	F		1.83m (06feet)	80abbr=onNaNabbr=on	10 April 2003	New Hampshire Wildcats
50	G		1.92m (06.3feet)	97abbr=onNaNabbr=on	31 July 1992	Fischtown Pinguins
55	D		1.96m (06.43feet)	105abbr=onNaNabbr=on	6 April 1995	Nové Zámky
65	D		1.81m (05.94feet)	79abbr=onNaNabbr=on	29 December 1999	Alaska Nanooks
70	F		1.93m (06.33feet)	89abbr=onNaNabbr=on	30 September 1990	Brynäs IF
71	F	Roberts Bukarts – A	1.82m (05.97feet)	84abbr=onNaNabbr=on	27 June 1990	Vítkovice Ridera
72	D		1.83m (06feet)	86abbr=onNaNabbr=on	22 August 1995	HC Litvínov
77	D		1.85m (06.07feet)	86abbr=onNaNabbr=on	24 December 1997	HC Litvínov
82	F		1.8m (05.9feet)	82abbr=onNaNabbr=on	15 May 2002	St. Lawrence Saints
85	F		1.85m (06.07feet)	81abbr=onNaNabbr=on	21 January 2004	UMass Minutemen
95	F		1.95m (06.4feet)	106abbr=onNaNabbr=on	7 May 1995	Mikkelin Jukurit
97	F		1.8m (05.9feet)	95abbr=onNaNabbr=on	11 May 1996	MHk 32 Liptovský Mikuláš

Retired numbers

• 1 – Artūrs Irbe
• 7 – Kārlis Skrastiņš
• 19 – Helmuts Balderis
• 33 – Sergejs Žoltoks^[7]

Coaching history

width=100px		width=175px	Coach	width=35px		width=35px		width=35px		width=35px		width=50px		width=35px
1939	Larry Marsh^[8] ^[9]	3	1	0	2	6:21	n/a
1992–1994	Helmuts Balderis	--	--	-	--	---	--
1995	Ēvalds Grabovskis	--	--	-	--	---	--
1996–1999	Leonīds Beresņevs	56	36	7	13	275:143	79
1999–2001	Haralds Vasiļjevs	32	12	8	12	81:76	32
2001–2004	Curt Lindström	65	32	8	25	202:161	72
2005–2006	Leonīds Beresņevs	32	25	3	14	112:113	53
2006	Petr Vorobiev	11	4	1	6	25:35	9
2007–2011	Oleg Znarok	37	15	0	22	98:126	41
2011–2014	Ted Nolan	26	11	0	15	57:65	35
2015	Aleksandrs Beļavskis	7	0	2	5	11:25	5
2016	Leonīds Beresņevs	7	1	3	3	13:22	6
2016	Haralds Vasiļjevs	3	2	0	1	13:5	6
2017–2021	Bob Hartley	29	11	7	11	68:73	41
2021–present	Harijs Vītoliņš	24	7	7	10	73:69	36

All-time record

.^[10]

Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
	25	21	0	4	98	56	+42
	40	19	3	18	106	97	+9
	2	2	0	0	31	4	+27
	23	1	1	21	28	119	-91
	1	1	0	0	22	0	+22
	19	1	1	17	34	66	−32
	2	0	0	2	0	16	−16
	36	23	0	13	124	87	+37
	5	5	0	0	32	6	+26
	31	4	2	25	57	122	−65
	54	34	4	16	183	110	+73
	40	13	4	23	90	103	-13
	11	6	1	4	44	39	+5
	6	4	1	1	31	12	+19
	1	1	0	0	32	0	+32
	19	14	1	4	71	30	+41
	13	12	0	1	79	26	+53
	14	9	0	5	52	31	+21
	5	5	0	0	45	2	+43
	6	6	0	0	45	6	+39
	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4
	40	24	0	16	130	108	+22
	20	15	0	5	67	46	+21
	8	6	0	2	49	7	+42
	22	6	1	15	38	83	−45
	34	10	2	22	71	114	-43
	12	10	0	2	40	21	+19
	3	3	0	0	38	2	+36
	28	3	1	24	48	113	−65
	39	9	3	27	72	119	-47
	19	13	1	5	62	48	+14
	18	4	2	12	35	55	−20
	2	2	0	0	10	0	+10
Total	598	286	28	284	1 868	1 648	+220

External links

• • IIHF profile
• National Teams of Ice Hockey

Notes and References

1. Includes Olympics, World Championships, World Cups, Canada Cups and Summit Series.
2. Web site: Steiss . Adam . 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship cancelled . iihf.com . IIHF . 21 March 2020.
3. Web site: IIHF to move 2023 World Championship. iihf.com. 25 May 2022.
4. Web site: Merk. Martin. Tampere/Riga candidate for 2023 . IIHF. 25 May 2022.
5. Web site: Paziņots Latvijas nacionālās izlases sastāvs Pasaules čempionātam Ostravā un Prāgā. lhf.lv. 7 May 2024. lv.
6. Web site: Team roster: Latvia. iihf.com. 10 May 2024.
7. Web site: LHF iemūžina Žoltoka 33. Numuru un godina viņa piemiņu. 24 April 2019.
8. Web site: Ted Nolan to coach Latvia. webarchive.iihf.com. 11 April 2019.
9. Web site: Latvia's hockey history spans a century. Zariņš. Viesturs. 4 May 2006. Latvians Online. 11 April 2019.
10. Web site: 2016-08-07 . Latvia - National Teams of Ice Hockey . 2023-05-18 . nationalteamsoficehockey.com . en-US.