Last matches of the 2014 Baltic League will be played this weekend in Latvia, where the newly formed Baltic Challenge League will have four games to be contested. Tenax Dobele and Celtnieks/LSPA Riga will host Estonian side Viljandi HC and Belarussian club HC Vityaz Minsk.
Zarinš: “Challenge League is a great chance”
Latvian champion Tenax started BCL with a defeat against Dragunas Klaipeda, but then beat Granitas-Gaja-Karys Kaunas. However, in domestic league Tenax is unbeatable, having won 9 games out of 9! Last weekend they beat HK Ogre/Miandum 30-26 (Ansis Bilkštis 8 goals). Club manager Ivars Zarinš does not wait any easy opposition this weekend: “It seems all six teams can beat any other in this league, so it’s going to be interesting.”
Zarinš admits the two teams travelling to Latvia are new acquaintances to him and he does not know much about the opponents. “Viljandi is playing very well in domestic league and cup, so they can be tough team to beat. But we are preparing normally and are going to fight for every point. Last month in Lithuania we had some injury worries, but we’ll see on Friday, what is the situation now.”
Tenax missed last season in Baltic League, but returned when the Challenge League was created. “We are an amateur team and we were not strong enough for the top clubs from Belarus or Finland,” explains Zarinš one year’s absence. “And financially it was also very difficult to travel long distances knowing in advance you are going to lose. So we concentrated on winning Latvian league, but then the Challenge League became a great chance to test ourselves internationally as well.”
All teams needing points
The other Latvian team, Celtnieks/LSPA started BCL with two defeats, but has won 8 games out of 10 in the domestic league. On Wednesday they beat ASK/LU Riga 32-25 (Arturs Lazdinš 6 goals). Last season Celtnieks/LSPA played in BHL, which means they met their first opponent of the weekend, HC Vityaz twice and won on both occasions by a seven-goal margin.
Viljandi HC – playing their debut season in Baltic competitions – started well, by beating Vityaz twice. Youthful team from Southern Estonia is also in great form in domestic competitions. On Monday, they eliminated champions HC Kehra/Horizon Pulp&Paper from the Estonian Cup, taking a 26-21 win in the second leg of the quarter-final (Karl Roosna and Kristo Järve 6 goals).
On Wednesday, Viljandi enjoyed another success in the league, beating Aruküla SK 35-26 (Järve 8). Head coach Marko Koks: “It’s another new situation for our young squad – four games in a week, plus playing on the road two days in a row, so we’ll see how we cope. Luckily we have all players available for this weekend, but we don’t know much about the opposition. Two points from this trip would satisfy us, but we are going to fight for all four!”
In general, all teams are desperately looking for points, especially as Vityaz and Celtnieks/LSPA are still without any after first games. Dragunas leads the BCL with 8 points (from 4 games), followed by Viljandi HC 4 (2) and Granitas-Gaja-Karys 4 (4). Tenax has 2 (2), Celtnieks/LSPA 0 (2) and Vityaz 0 (4). BCL’s top scorer so far is Vaidas Drevinskas from Granitas with 32 goals.
Saturday’s matches in Baltic Challenge League:
15:30 Celtnieks/LSPA Riga – HC Vityaz Minsk (in Riga)
17:00 Tenax Dobele – Viljandi HC (in Dobele)
Sunday’s matches in Baltic Challenge League:
13:30 Celtnieks/LSPA Riga – Viljandi HC (in Riga)
14:00 Tenax Dobele – HC Vityaz Minsk (in Dobele)
