GOLDEN GAME: Latvia vs Belarus

From February 11 to 13, 2005, the Latvian national team competed for the right to participate in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Riga Sports Palace. Assisting Beresnev for the first time, the tandem of Oleg Znarok and Harijs Vītoliņš is born. After the knee surgery, Artūrs Irbe joined the coaching staff, but in the NHL lockout season, after a sad farewell to Sergejs Zholtoks, Sandis Ozoliņš and Kārli Skrastins became the mainstay of the defense. In the first game, the Latvian national team defeated Slovenia with the result 2:1. In the second game, Poland was beaten 3:1, but in the decisive game, the Latvian national team managed to defeat the Belarusian national team 5:4 in a dramatic battle and won the right to participate in the Olympic Games. This is considered the greatest game in the history of Latvian hockey. Three months earlier, the legendary striker Sergej Zholtok passed away, and many still believe today that it was his hockey spirit that helped the national team recover. Each player of the Latvian hockey team received a 7,500 USD bonus for winning a ticket to the Turin Olympic Games.
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