Latvia names Olympic roster

by James Mirtle on Dec 29, 2009 1:21 PM CST Comment 7 comments

Dallas Stars defenceman Karlis Skrastins is a Latvian superstar.

Hopefully things go better for Latvia here than they have at the world juniors so far.

Also worth noting — every Latvian name ends in 's':

Goal: Edgars Masalskis, Ervins Mustukovs, Sergejs Naumovs
Defence: Oskars Bartulis, Guntis Galvins, Rodrigo Lavins, Georgijs Pujacs, Krisjanis Redlihs, Arvids Rekis, Karlis Skrastins, Kristaps Sotnieks
Forwards:Girts Ankipans, Armands Berzins, Martins Cipulis, Lauris Darzins, Kaspars Daugavins, Martins Karsums, Gints Meija, Aleksandrs Nizivijs, Mikelis Redlihs, Aleksejs Sirokovs, Janis Sprukts, Herberts Vasiljevs

The big names here are Skrastins and Bartulis, two Latvian defencemen in the NHL this season with Dallas and Philadelphia.

The vast majority of this team (65%) comes from Latvia's KHL team, Dinamo Riga. Daugavins and Karsums are playing in the AHL, and two others are in Germany's top league.

What's strange is Sandis Ozolinsh has been left off the team, as he is playing with Dinamo. Raitis Ivanans (the third Latvian NHLer) was left off, too. No fighting in the Olympics, which is a tough break for the Kings enforcer.

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Gints Meija.
No “s”.
Exception that proves the rule?

Vintage Leafs Blog

by somny on Dec 29, 2009 2:07 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

My guess is that that’s not a Latvian last name.

Doug Murray does play for Sweden.

Blogging on hockey at fromtherink.com

by James Mirtle on Dec 29, 2009 2:17 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Does anybody know what Murray’s origins are? Pretty unusual name for a Swede.

Please allow me to adjust my pants, so that I may dance the good time dance, and lead the onlookers and innocent bystanders into a trance.

by Smoboy41 on Dec 29, 2009 5:49 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Meija is actually a fairly common Latvian name-as in the author of the book Latvians in Michigan Silvija D. Meija -and this player was born in Riga.

Here’s the scoop on Douglas Murray:

“My ancestors on my father’s side came from Scotland, but we’ve been in Sweden for longer than the United States has been a country,”All my cousins have Swedish names, but my mother wanted to be different so they gave us English names," said Murray, who has brothers named Charles and Ted and a sister, Roseanna.
And, while some people call him Doug, his mother insists on using his full name.
It seems that when you say Doug with a Swedish accent, it sounds like Dog.

by Big Picture Guy on Dec 29, 2009 6:07 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs