Latvia sounds like my kind of place....
In Latvia, hockey is much like a religion. It is what football is to England. Hockey is national past time. It has always been.
When I was little, my father watched every single game on television. It was the time when everyone needed to keep all non-hockey related conversations outside. A few times he and I went to see the game live. I remember watching Dinamo Riga, our local club play big starts of the Red Army club. Some of the hockey players went on to become stars in the National Hockey League: Arturs Irbe and Sandis Ozolinsh. Some of the Red Army players are now also in the NHL: Sergei Fedorov and Vyacheslav Fetisov.
Latvia fans are passionate about the game. Last year, each time team Latvia beat a strong opponent, like the United States, the fans would gather around that country's embassy to lay down mock wreaths as a sign of simpathy for the loss. National boozing and celebrating was amust.
Last year's Ice Hockey World Championship, unknown in the United States, was held in Germany, where Latvian fans made themselves known. Latvian hockey fans earned Latvia the Ice Hocley World Championship in 2006.
This year's tournament will be held in Finland. Recent reports suggests that at least 2,000 fans will be travelling to Finland to support the team. Although the number of fans is much less compared to the previous years (8,000 fans in 2001), the director of the Latvian fan club explains it that some of the fans will be travelling to Sweden for the basketball tournament.
These folks are serious. I could learn to like that....
