Harijs Vītoliņš | Photo: LHF
The head coach of the Latvian hockey team, Harijs Vītoliņš, in the conversation “William Hill TV” channel shared his thoughts about Bob Hartley, the goalkeepers of the Latvian national team and Rudolf Balcers.
The national team striker Rihards Marenis recently said in the “Nine” podcast that the players under the leadership of Vītoliņš have more freedom than it was when the national team was led by Hartley. “Why did we get bronze last year? Because he sees that we can do more than throw the puck out of the zone on the board. Maybe that was a problem on Bob's part, he put it in rather large frames,” Marenis said earlier.
“Every coach sees hockey with his own eyes,” Vitolins said about comparing himself to Hartley. One [svarīgs faktors] is that I myself have played and know how everything is. If I started training in football or basketball, I could also learn how to play correctly, what exercises, tactics to apply within a year, but – I have never been on the court. I can tell a player to do something, but I don't understand the game itself, because I would base it on the rules of what can be done at that moment.”
“Maybe that's the difference because Bob never played hockey. Although he is a good psychologist, he relies more on his strengths, which he knows as theory. I do it [savu pieredzi kā spēlētājs] trying to apply as practice. For example, if I see a player make a mistake, I know how difficult it was for him at that moment. The most important thing for me is how they react to the mistakes they made,” Vītoliņš admitted. “I want guys to appreciate that they're allowed to do more, but it's important to me at what point they do it.”
When asked about the goalkeepers, Vītoliņš states that this is not his question, but Artūrs Irbe's. “The goalkeepers have their own conversations, they sit together every day, all the goalkeepers talk about something with Artur. I see that all the goalkeepers are positive, everyone is harmonizing. That's the main thing, I don't even want to go into the details. In the national team, you have to be ready to play at any moment.
Let's see, we have a week to decide who starts and how. But at the moment every goalkeeper is happy to be here and to be given time. Krister traveled to the national team for three years, but he had not played a single match in three years, the match against Norway was his first. And when he comes, everyone is like that wow, Goody has arrived. I think Artūrs showed that positive energy among the goalkeepers last year,” the confident captain of the national team.
“I guess it is [kritiens] after the WC it was necessary, exactly the big drop, you have to survive through it. And at that moment it seems that you have come to a great euphoria from the world championship, everything will be, everything will be, and suddenly bam and they don't even give you a second chance,” Vītoliņs comments on Shilova's wave season. “And you slowly leave, you slowly get used to having to work more. If it happened, then I am to blame somewhere. Everyone analyzes themselves and it is always necessary to start with myself, what can I change. The biggest problem is when you start looking for excuses in others. Start with yourself. Irbi and I laughed that he had only one play-off dry game during his entire career, while Shilov had one dry game out of two.”
The captain of the Latvian national team also shared his thoughts about the injury of Rudolf Balcers, due to which he will not be able to help the team. “I knew that Rudi had chronic problems with his second knee, and he kept reassuring me that everything would be fine. He played both the last WC and the entire season with a chronic injury. But the fact that he injured the second leg, it was unexpected. He hopes to be able to do without surgery so that he can help the national team in the OS qualification. It must be said that Balcer is the most creative striker we have at the moment.
He got the best contract in Europe from the Latvians. Although I know that Zurich was also considered as a center [Rodrigo] Apple, they called me and asked what you would say about him, what he is like. But he already had a contract with Rogle, so they didn't look at that side anymore.”
Vītoliņš also spoke about Zemga Girgensons. “If you play in the NHL all your life, I think agents also start talking that the main thing for you is to secure yourself, to have a contract. We talked – as soon as he gets the contract, he immediately calls and says that everything is fine for him to be able to play in the OS qualification.”
Marenis on Willow and Hartley: Harry sees we can do more than kick the puck out of the box