A former Vancouver Canucks goaltender shares how Arturs Silovs suffered knee inflammation ahead of the final Olympic qualifying tournament.
Latvia was dealt a significant blow ahead of the final Olympic qualifying tournament as Arturs Silovs was left off their roster due to an injury. It was later revealed that Silovs was dealing with inflammation in his knee. Although everyone involved hoped he'd be ready to go for Latvia's first game against Slovenia, he couldn't play at all.
Despite not having Arturs Silovs, along with fellow Canuck Teddy Blueger, Latvia was able to win their group to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Latvia defeated Slovenia 4-2, Ukraine 5-1, and France 5-2 to clinch a berth at their second consecutive Winter Olympics.
In a recent interview with Delfi Sports, former Vancouver Canucks goaltender and goaltending coach of the Latvian men's national team, Arturs Irbe, said that Arturs Silovs suffered his injury by overtraining and to be on the safe side, they kept him off the roster for Olympic qualifying. Silovs is expected to bereadyo for the start of Vancouver's training camp on September 19th.
" As for Silovs' situation, it was a process. He had a very productive and busy summer, but unfortunately, he got overloaded somewhere. You have to learn from it; you need breaks, but Arturs is a person who likes to work and who likes to feel healthy fatigue. At some unfortunate moment, the minor pains started to appear," Irbe said.
He added, "Like any hockey player, he tried to overcome it. Then he tried to take a break, returned to training, and again tried to take a longer break. There came a time when the pain was no longer there, but then the time without training had already passed. With his dimensions, he is forced to play a lot on his knees, so he's dealing with constant knocks. That style of play and micro-injury doesn't allow him to do all the moves he needs comfortably. It can be overcome within reason but can affect the game when it becomes a chronic problem."
While it was likely quite disappointing for Silovs that he wasn't able to represent his nation, the Canucks are probably pretty happy he didn't play and do any more damage, especially given their situation with Thatcher Demko's injury. It's still unclear if Thatcher Demko will be ready for opening night against Calgary next month, and if he's not, there's no doubt it'll be Arturs Silovs between the pipes.
