Lithuanians who tried Vilnius ice – about the excitement, the leader heading home and expensive helmets | Sports

Lithuanian ice hockey players are putting the finishing touches.

Some of them already tried the ice poured in the Twinsbet Arena in Vilnius on Thursday, when they answered questions from journalists during the official press conference.

Perhaps the brightest star of the team, the goalkeeper Mantas Armalis, tested his strength by holding the kicks of the press representatives at the goal.

“You felt that after each throw it was getting better and better, after about 100 thousand. shots would be quite good,” the goalkeeper, who plays for the “Leksands IF” club in Sweden, assessed the ability of the journalists who were close to the goal several times, but did not excel before him.

There is no lack of good mood in the Lithuanian national team.

The representatives of the Lithuanian national team came to the press conference, which was held on the freshly poured ice, in full hockey clothes, and M. Armalis also with a helmet, which he will wear during the championship matches.

When asked why he was wearing a blue and yellow helmet, which, unlike in previous years, no longer had the details of the Marvel comics on it, the goalkeeper took off the piece of equipment and began to tell:

“Helmets are an expensive thing. It has my team’s logo and number on it, and the Lithuanian flag and my son’s name on the back. Because of Marvel, when I’m over 30 years old, I’ve already calmed down,” M. Armalis laughed, also mentioning the prices of helmets.

“The recording costs at least 2 thousand. euros, the helmet itself may be the same.”

Both 31-year-old M. Armalis and other team members are happy that after six years they will be able to play again with the support of their fans.

The last time the matches of the IB group of the World Championship took place in Lithuania in 2018, when the Lithuanian national team, together with Dainius Zubrum and Darius Kasparaičius, triumphed at the “Žalgiris” arena in Kaunas.

After winning the ticket to the IA group, the Lithuanians stayed there for five years, but last year they returned to the lower level again – to the third level in terms of capacity after the elite division and the IA group competitions.

Now in Vilnius they will try to repeat 2018. success and earn the right to rise again.

“The team’s preparation was good, we played two friendly matches, we won one and lost the other. We saw what we know and what we still lack. It’s nice to come to this beautiful arena, to feel the ice for the first time. We can’t wait for Saturday”, said Emilijus Krakauskas, representing the “HC Sierre” team in Switzerland, two days before the first Lithuanian match against Spain.

For the 26-year-old ice hockey player, like M. Armali and many other players, this will not be the first time they will have to play in front of their own fans at the World Cup.

Paulius Gintautas, who represents the Sarpsborg “Sparta” club in Norway, is well aware of this feeling, but for some players it will be a difficult test – after all, they will have to play in front of maybe even 7.5 thousand spectators. seats for the grandstands.

“The most important thing will be to deal with the excitement. We will have some new younger players. As elders or veterans, it will be up to us to set them up and reassure them. When you go out on the ice, after the first touch, the excitement automatically disappears, said 28-year-old P. Gintautas, who made his debut in the national team ten years ago during the IB group tournament, which was also held in his hometown of Vilnius. – I remember that even shivers went through my body. I was the youngest player, I was shaking to see so many people around. There were veterans like Zubrus who cheered me up, explained that it’s just a game.”

“Excitement turns into energy after a while. How much can fit here, 10 thousand. people? – how much M. Armalis multiplied, underestimating the rather mind-boggling number of chairs due to the wider ice and sides in the arena. – Everyone gathers, screams for us – the energy here is so great that you can’t compare it to anything else.”

Starting from 2012, when the I division of the world championship will be divided into A and B levels, Lithuanians will play in the IB group for the eighth time. They won gold only in 2018, won bronze four times (2014-2017), and finished fifth twice (2012-2013).

Performances of the Lithuanian national team since 2012.

Year	Level of competition	Place	Place in the world
2012	IB	5	27
2013	IB	5	27
2014	IB	3	25
2015	IB	3	25
2016	IB	3	25
2017	IB	3	25
2018	IB	1	23
2019	IA	6	22
2022	IA	3	19
2023	IA	6	22
2024	IB	?	?

This year, our team is considered one of the main contenders to win this tournament and win a ticket to the IA group. But the Lithuanian ice hockey players themselves do not look too far into the future and do not set specific goals for themselves.

“We will look at the match after the match, we will only accumulate for the next ones. We don’t think far ahead, but we want to win as many matches as possible”, said P. Gintautas.

The Lithuanian national team will be coached for the third championship in a row by Canadian Ron Pasco, who took over at the helm in 2019.

The 52-year-old specialist from Ottawa intends to announce the final composition of the team on Friday, one day before the start of the tournament, and is slowly preparing the team for the battles.

“The team trained hard for 3-4 weeks. The players finished their club seasons at different times and joined the national team as soon as they were released. We have taken care of the players’ form, and now we are slowly moving to the tactical part. Some players have joined in the last 10 days, but we’re slowly making progress and completing the highlights. Now we want to fix some things in training and get ready for Saturday,” said the Canadian.

True, he still lacks one of his sharpest weapons. The captain of the 32-year-old national team, Nerijus Ališauskas, only ended his season at the club on Wednesday, when he played the last match against the Spisška Nova Ves club in the final of the Slovakian championship, which N. Ališauskas’ team lost.

But R. Pasco reassured – the star of the team should join the national team even before the start with the Spaniards.

“His team’s season ended yesterday. We are in contact with him, he will join the team, I think before the first game. On the one hand, he had a disappointing end to the season with the club, but we are very happy to have him because he is very important both on the ice and in the locker room. He is an experienced player who has played at a high level in Europe. He is a person who stabilizes our team, who can connect different players and be an example for them. He brings peace to the team and is very important to us,” said the Canadian.

It is interesting that this year he will be assisted in the national team by a well-known compatriot – Danielis Lacroix, who himself coached the Lithuanian national team before handing over its helm to R.Pasco. D. Lacroix led the national team of our country in 2019. in the championship, and then R. Pasco helped him. Now the men have switched roles, but they don’t see a problem with that.

“I am very pleased that Dan has joined the team. We talked about adding to the coaching staff, and when it turned out Dan was going to be joining him, I was thrilled. He is an amazing hockey coach, a very smart guy and a great person. This is a great addition that will greatly strengthen our team,” said the strategist of the Lithuanian national team.

While preparing for the championship, the Lithuanian national team played just two warm-up matches. First, they beat Estonia 3-1, and then lost 2-5 to Ukraine. Lithuanians will play against both these teams in Vilnius.

The members of the national team agreed that there could have been more during the preparation of the matches.

“Perhaps there were a couple of matches missing, because we used to play four each, but it turned out that not everyone had come together yet, Nerijaus Ališauskas was not there. But the preparation was smooth, we trained a lot – responsibly, but with a good mood”, said P. Gintautas.

“A goalkeeper needs to have a feeling of security, so he needs to play as many games as possible. Now I got such an opportunity. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good preparation,” agreed M. Armalis.

“If you ask any coach, he would say that there were not enough warm-up matches and he would like more of them,” R.Pasco smiled. – But it was probably not realistic for many reasons. Every game is good not only for the players to play, but also for the new players that have joined the team that we as coaches have not seen in recent years.”

The members of the Lithuanian national team unanimously agree that Ukraine, having defeated Lithuania in the preparation, will be our main rival in the fight for a ticket to the IA group. 15 minutes according to information, the Ukrainians will be supported by at least 100 fans in the stands in the “Twinsbet” arena, and the confrontation between the favorites of the tournament, Lithuanians and Ukrainians, will take place on the last day of the championship – May 3, Friday.

“I couldn’t name their weaknesses because it’s a very strong, balanced, experienced team at this level. It’s very good that we could play with this team, it gave us a chance to see what we still lack and should improve”, said R. Pasco about the Ukrainians.

“Ukraine is one of the favorites,” M. Armalis added. – It’s good that we got to play against them, to feel their level. I think our chances are really, really good. We will settle down a bit, play more precisely and anything can happen.”

While presenting the championship on Thursday, the leaders of the tournament and Lithuanian ice hockey said that it can be a message to the authorities of the capital, who are not in a hurry to build an ice arena, and the members of the national team also mentioned the growing interest in ice hockey in Lithuania and the ice hockey boom in our country after the championships.

Our chances are very good indeed.

“More young people started playing sports after those tournaments both in Vilnius and Kaunas. It’s great that a lot of new kids are coming in and taking up the sport, it’s growing our sport. Even though we, as players, don’t feel anything, I couldn’t say that someone recognizes me on the streets”, said P. Gintautas.

Lithuanians will start in the IB group of the World Championship in Vilnius on Saturday at 16:00. confrontation with the Spanish.