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Nothing to lose
Nothing to lose
Underdogs Estonia hoping to beat the odds
The Estonian national team after their last game in the Division II Group A. Photo: Milos Rafailovic
With two promotions to Division I Group A followed by immediate relegations in the last five years, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the Baltic country enters the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B in Eindhoven as the main candidate to finish last.
But rather than taking that fact for granted and playing a lackluster game, the Estonians are coming to the Netherlands with a positive and competitive “nothing to lose” attitude. The squad had a five-day training camp ahead of the tournament and an exhibition game against Kiekko-Vantaa from Finland.
Bordered by ice hockey giants Finland, Russia and Latvia, the sport has never picked up the same popularity as across their borders. With just seven indoor rinks available, the domestic top league (Meistriliiga) consists just out of five teams. Kalev Välk laid claim to the title after a turbulent season.
Having won 12 out of 14 games, HC Viking Talinng looked the prime candidate to win the title, but financial issues meant they were withdrawn from the league opening up the way for Kalev Välk to glory. Narva-based PSK were no opposition given the results of both games in the best-of-three series (12-5, 10-0).
The Estonian team that will travel to Eindhoven will primarily be built from players from both Viking and Kalev. Apart from them, newly appointed head coach Jussi Tupamäki has a number of players that play abroad to his availability.
While most of those players are active in the lower divisions in Finland or Sweden, there are a couple of players that could play key roles for Estonia’s quest for survival.
Continue readingMost notable player on the roster is forward Robert Rooba. The 21-year-old forward has just completed his second full season in the Finnish top league with Espoo Blues and was a cornerstone in Estonia’s gold medal performance in Division II Group A last year with 14 points from five games.
The 34-player Team Entry Long list as released by the Estonian Ice Hockey Association on March 31st shows the country is looking to the future. Over half the team is born 1990 or later which makes Estonia most likely the youngest team on the ice in the tournament.
That isn’t to say there won’t be veteran leadership available on and off the ice for Tupamäki’s troops. The coach can rely on some grizzled World Championship veterans that have been served the country for many years. Defenceman Lauri Lahesalu (aged 36) has donned the blue and white jersey since 1998 and is still playing at the highest level in France. He will be leading the defence and will be asked to mentor the youngsters on the team.
On the other end of the ice there will be a lot of responsibility asked from Andrei Makrov. The 35-year-old also has been around since the late ‘90s and after a two year hiatus made his comeback in the national team again last year. Being one of Estonia’s all-time top scorers, most eyes will be directed at him when he’s on the ice. This season he shared ice time with Arystan Temirtau and Gornyak Rudny in the Kazakh league. In 41 games, Makrov registered 16 goals and 30 points.
Five year results and standings
|
|
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
KOR |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CRO |
|
|
|
3-2 |
|
|
|
GBR |
|
|
0-7 |
|
|
|
|
NED |
|
|
|
|
4-5 |
|
|
LTU |
|
|
2-5 |
|
3-12 |
|
|
EST |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
Final Result |
2 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
|
Level |
Div. 2 |
Div. 2 |
Div. 1 |
Div. 2A |
Div.1B |
Div. 2A |
|
World Ranking |
27 |
27 |
26 |
26 |
28 |
29 |
Camp Roster:
Goalies: Willem-Henrik Koitmaa, Roman Šumihhin, Aleksander Kolossov
Defencemen: Filipp Švarõgin, Maksim Anohhin, Ilja Urušev, Lauri Lahesalu, Anton Levkovitš, Michael Mahkwa Auksi, Maksim Rõbuškin, Silver Kerna
Forwards: Artur Fedoruk, Jaanus Sorokin, Anton Jastrebov, Andrei Makrov, Aleksander Kuznetsov, Vassili Titarenko, Kaspar Karik, Mihkel Võrang, Pavel Kulakov, Valeri Bobkov, Robert Rooba, Kevin Parras, Aleksei Sibirtsev, Roman Andrejev, Ragnar-Hindrek Russ
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