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Defeat of ECJ against Latvia: a well-deserved wake-up call

 Mathis Therrien
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Defeat of ECJ against Latvia: a well-deserved wake-up call
Credit: Last night, we witnessed one of the biggest and most beautiful surprises in sports history, and more specifically, especially in international hockey history. Indeed, watching Latvia defeat Canada in such an important and widely viewed official tournament as the World Junior Championship was clearly not on your bingo card. At most, we could have predicted […]
Last night, we witnessed one of the biggest and most beautiful surprises in sports history, and more specifically, especially in international hockey history.

Indeed, watching Latvia defeat Canada in such an important and widely viewed official tournament as the World Junior Championship was clearly not on your bingo card.

At most, we could have predicted a close game or a disappointing match from Canada, but never a defeat.

Canada was destined for an easy stroll in the park and a more than easy victory, but in the end, Latvia held its ground and managed to win 3 to 2 in a shootout.

For Latvia, it is simply a magnificent and impressive achievement that will certainly mark the history of the country.

But for Canada, it is truly a shame, but above all a deserved wake-up call.

Under no circumstances should a team composed of TEN first-round picks and 19 players in total drafted in the NHL even come close to losing to a team with only TWO NHL draft picks.

So what happened for Canada to completely drop the ball?

Obviously, we must first give a lot of credit to Linards Feldbergs, the Latvian goaltender, who was simply sensational, stopping 53 of the 55 shots directed at him and not allowing any goals on eight shootout attempts.

He will certainly have a very nice resume for the upcoming NHL draft.

But beyond this stellar performance by the Latvian goaltender, there are several factors that caused this shameful defeat for the young Canadian players.

Even though the team faced a goaltender in great form, there is no way this match should end in a loss.

The problem is that the team was far too confident and much too above its station, and that really showed in the game.

Even the night before against Finland, we saw some players far too confident and cocky as if they had already won the tournament.

Of course, on paper, Canada is the clear favorite, but it is on the ice that the tournament is won.

And last night was truly a well-deserved wake-up call.

There was far too much individualism in this game, as if all the players wanted to be the hero or simply to get points, while the game wasn’t even out of reach for the opponent.

In short, fortunately, this is just a group match, and Canada is still very well positioned to win its group, because if this match had been a single-elimination match, it would have been complete chaos.

Let’s hope this match will serve as a lesson and awakening for the whole team, and that they will be ready for their next game against Germany, another opponent that could pose a problem in the same way as Latvia.


In Brief

– To be continued today.

– With Michkov significantly slowing down, Hutson and Celebrini are just one point behind him.

– We are eagerly awaiting the next Florida battle.

– Bill Guerin is very pleased with the performances of Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. [Responsible Gambler]

– What do you think?

–

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