Ole! Latvia digs for gold

RIGA - The Latvian national ice hockey team has easily succeeded in qualifying for the Olympics in Salt Lake City in the United States after two wins and one tie in Klagenfurt, Austria.

After a nervous start against Denmark when the Latvians trailed by two after the first period, some sharpening of skates and minds was enough to inspire the players to equalize before the second period was over.

In the third period, Aleksandrs Kercs scored the winner, with just a little over five minutes left to play, making it 4-2.

Next up after Denmark was France. This turned out to be a brutally physical game, with many tense minutes spent in the penalty boxes for both teams. The French took the lead in the first period through Arnaud Briand, but again Latvia pulled it together to tie in the third for a final 1-1.

Last but not least were the Austrians, the host nation for this qualifying group. Latvia already had a comfortable lead of three goals half way through the game, but a few simple errors let the Austrians chew up that lead until they tied through Christoph Brandner.

But with less than five minutes remaining, 2,200 spectators watched as Juris Opulskis saved the day for Latvia, scoring the winning goal and making the final score 4-3.

LatviaÕs qualification for the 2002 Olympics was achieved without the presence of NHL stars Sandis Ozolins and Arturs Irbe. Instead, players like Viktors Ignatjevs with four goals and Aleksandrs BelavskisÕ solid play paved the way for Latvia.

Sergejs Naumovs did a good job fending off the opponentsÕ pucks in one of his most important appearances in the Latvian goal. Both Estonia and Lithuania failed to qualify after poor results.

Still, in Utah the Latvians will be up against awesome teams such as Russia, Canada, Sweden, Finland, the United States and defending champions, the Czech Republic.