There was a lot of confusion about this test tournament – it wasn’t clear until a week before the race whether the games would not be canceled at the last minute due to Covid-19 restrictions. The tournament took place, but the virus also said its name: the tournament’s first match between Slovakia and Norway was due to take place on Thursday, but the Norwegians refused to drive to Fispu on Tuesday morning due to a bowling announcement and restrictions on various activities, including sports. During Tuesday, the hockey federations of the remaining three countries rescheduled the tournament, but on Wednesday morning, both the Latvian national hockey team and I were already at Riga Airport, waiting for a flight to the Swiss city of Zurich.
Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –– Photo: Maris Bergs –—
The day for the national team was actually very long and tense – the team was already at the airport at 10 in the morning, but the game against the Slovaks started less than 12 hours later. During this time, they had to fly to Zurich, followed immediately by a 3.5-hour journey to Fispa in southern Switzerland. The flight did not take place like a driveway either – the departure was delayed by an hour, to some extent the hockey team was to blame. Respectively, the plane was already loaded, but it had to be unloaded in order to pick up the hockey players’ large and numerous bags. Thanks to the late, we managed to recover a little overdue during the flight, the team went straight to the bus and arrived in Fisza in time enough to warm up a lot and play the game against the Slovaks. Fispa is a small town surrounded by the Alps in the south of Switzerland, in the canton of Valais, near the Italian border, but there you hear a lot of French there – the German “danke” is immediately followed by the French “merci” at the petrol station or shop. The city of Zion, very well known and heard by football fans, is about 40 kilometers away. The picturesque town of Zermatt and perhaps Switzerland’s most famous mountain, the Matterhorn, are also relatively close by car, about an hour’s drive away. A transit route to Italy runs through the city, with Milan closer than Zurich. Construction of a motorway is also going on nearby, but digging tunnels through the Alps is quite a time-consuming process, so transport through Fispu and other nearby towns will definitely take several more years. To get to Fispa from the north or middle of the country, the straightest way is to use a car train, ie the vehicle at the station rides on a special train platform and takes you through the mountains. The second option is to drive about 100-120 kilometers longer around the mountains using the highway. If there are no traffic jams or accidents on the way, the time spent traveling to / from Zurich by car is actually only 20-30 minutes. Fuel is an expensive pleasure – on the highways around 1.85 francs per liter, here 98th grade petrol cost as much as 2 francs per liter (1 franc is about 96 cents). It is also possible to use Swiss trains, but given the famous Swiss cost, it is much cheaper to drive a car, especially if there are several people. The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides and the landscape is very different from the northern part of Zurich – if there is no snow in the city and the air temperature is above zero, then in the mountains of Fispa there was a ten centimeter thick snow cover, giving a suitable hockey atmosphere. The sun rises here in the middle of December around 8 in the morning, but it rises above the mountains only around eleven. Even in the middle of the day, part of the city remains in the “shadow of the mountains”, while the villages on the mountain slopes are lit by the sun. Serpentines lead to them, which, like most other roads and sidewalks, were surprisingly clean and tidy. However, although the snow is completely cleared of roads and sidewalks, in the evenings you should still be careful of icing. Early in the afternoon, a thick mist appears, darkness faster than it should. The tournament was hosted by Lonza Arena, a new and very cozy hall with 5,100 seats, built in 2019. It is an unusually large hall for a city of 8,000 inhabitants. It is a 10-minute walk from the historic center, surrounded by buildings other than parking. For example, you need to use the parking lot of the nearby Lidl store or leave the car at the train station. Every day, the hall is inhabited by a local hockey team, which plays quite well in the 2nd league of Switzerland after becoming a champion twice in the last 10 years. The first Latvian national team game against the Slovaks went to empty stands. However, this is not due to any restrictions on Covid-19 – due to the hastily rescheduled calendar, the organizers simply could not offer tickets to this match. People were interested, as several fan groups walked through the dark doors of the arena in the evening and tried to find an open entrance. At least in the beginning, ours looked much better against the Slovaks – in both the first and the second period, the Latvian national team was even better than their opponents, but while ours hit the goal posts several times, the Slovaks were lucky here and there. In the 3rd period, the young goalkeeper Eriks Vitols took part in the fight. Although he played generally acceptable, a couple of unconvincing actions led to the puck being pulled out of the goal net twice, followed by another throw-in in the empty goal, with the Slovaks setting a final score of 2: 6, which didn’t really match the strength on the pitch. When it comes to the limitations of Covid-19, which is a very topical issue today, they were quite moderate in Fispa. Yes, masks had to be worn in grocery stores and elsewhere, but the restrictions on the number of visitors were such that people did not have to stand in line at the entrance to the store even during the hottest part of the day, ie just after the end of the working day. Take the basket / cart and go inside. Also in the Latvian match against Switzerland, one of the stands (on the camera side) was almost completely sold out. Wearing masks was recommended for spectators, but was not mandatory, with most choosing not to wear masks. Admission, of course, only with certificates. In addition, a Covid-19 test is currently required to arrive in Switzerland, regardless of vaccination status – the epidemiological safety of a mountainous country is taken quite seriously, but not intrusively. If you stay in Switzerland for more than 4 days, you will have to take another test at your own expense from the fourth to the seventh day, which can also cost 150 euros. The interest in the Swiss games in the city was, of course, very high and the locals knew perfectly well that such a tournament was taking place there. I arrived at my hotel an hour and a half before the game against the Slovaks – just enough time to put the bag with me and walk to the hall. The first thing the hotel staff said was that hopefully you didn’t have to play tonight. I was also asked about the progress of the match after the games. Fispa was waiting for this tournament – the number of spectators in the first game of the home against Latvia was about half of the capacity of the hall. If during the day there is a bustle in the city streets, people go everyday, then around 7 pm the streets are already very empty, only larger crowds gather around the hall. Do not meet people in the evening after the games on the streets. The Swiss and Slovak national teams were housed right in Fispa, near the hall, while Latvian hockey players lived 10 kilometers away in Naters. In their free time, the Swiss and Slovak players were not ashamed to see the city where they had to play, but we practically had no free time – training on Thursday morning, then lunch and pre-game rest, and another match against the Swiss was played in the evening. The home team delighted their fans with a 2: 1 victory. Goalkeeper Ēriks Vītols made his debut in the national team. Ivars Punnenovs was originally planned as the main goalkeeper for both games, but he had received a support vaccine in Latvia the day before going to Switzerland. In the match against the Slovaks, the goalkeeper did not feel well and he did not dress for the game against Switzerland at all, saving his health. After the second match, Punnenov expressed hopes that he had proved himself quite well before the head coach of the national team Harry Vītoliņš and that these problems would not affect his chances to go to Beijing. Vītoliņš, meanwhile, admitted that ours were not ready for the pace offered by the Swiss, reminding once again that such games help to prepare for the Olympic tournament. NHL club scouts, who are always present in all hockey tournaments, also watched the matches in Switzerland. They are not difficult to notice – often there is a piece of clothing with the symbols of the represented club, but the scout is always given a notepad, in which something is regularly recorded during the game. In a match against Switzerland, I spoke between one of the Kings of Los Angeles’ Kings scouts in Europe, who did not want to reveal his name in public, because he could not speak on behalf of the whole organization, but could only express his opinion. He pointed out that the players of the Latvian national team have not shown anything remarkable in this tournament, but there were several players who are interesting for NHL clubs and who are followed on a daily basis. Success and ratings vary – a few players show expectations or even exceed expectations, others were expected to see more progress in mastery and better performance. At present, the coaches of all national teams have a month and a half to figure out which 25 players they will take to the Chinese capital. The situation is complicated by uncertainty about the possible participation of NHL players – the league is forced to postpone more and more games and they can withdraw from Beijing without paying a fine until January 10. Several NHL hockey players have already expressed concern about the risks of going to China, as well as the draconian demands of quarantine – quarantine may take up to 3-5 weeks. The Latvian national team will have a training period of about 10 days before Beijing – the first training sessions in Riga, after which the national team will go to China. It is planned to play another test game here at home, but then to play in China before the start of the tournament. Until then, the practice and training gained at Fispa will be analyzed, with the coaching staff preparing the team for the main tournament of the year. –
