New additions to camp roster

Due to the fact that some players are still tied with their club teams and we also have 1 injured player, coaches have decided to add following players to the training camp roster:

Kirill Kolpakov - D

Anton Jasterbov - F
Sergei Novikov - F

These players as all the other ones invited to the training camp will be fighting for their spots at the final roster for the tournament.

Ismo & Jukka

Training camp program

Team Estonia will use next week to get ready for the games. Here's the program.

Monday 05.04.2010

12:00 -14:00 Gathering in hotel (Go Scnhelli).
14:00 Lunch
18:30 Ice practice @ Jeti (100 minutes)
22:00 Dinner

Tuesday 06.04.2010

08:00 Breakfast
10:00 Morning ice @ Jeti (60 minutes)
14:00 Lunch
19:00 Ice practice @ Jeti (120 minutes)
22:00 Dinner

Wednesday 07.04.2010

08:00 Breakfast
10:00 Morning ice @ Jeti (60 minutes)
14:00 Lunch
19:00 Pregame @ Premia
20:00 Team Finland vs. Team Estonia @ Premia
23:30 Dinner

Thursday 08.04.2010

08:00 Breakfast
10:00 Morning ice @ jeti (60 minutes)
14:00 Lunch
16:30 Ice practice @ Jeti (100 minutes)
21:00 Dinner

Friday 09.04.2010

08:00 Breakfast
09:30 Bus to Narva

NOTE! All players must bring their passports for IIHF control meeting.

More info here in the blog as it becomes available

Team Estonia roster

Coaching staff has selected following players

Goalies

1. Mark Rajevski
2. Villem-Henrik Koitmaa
3. Kristjan Eerme

Defence

1. Dmitri Suur
2. Lauri Lahesalu
3. Kaupo Kaljuste
4. Pelle Sildre
5. Stanislav Pankov
6. Aleksandr Ossipov
7. Pavel Narvet

Forwards

1. Toivo Suursoo
2. Andrei Makrov
3. Aleksandr Petrov
4. Vassili Titarenko
5. Anton Nekrassov
6. Maksim Semjonov
7. Olle Sildre
8. Veikko Suvaoja
9. Jaanus Sorokin
10. Mihkel Vorang
11. Kaspar Karik
12. Aleksei Sibirtsev
13. Maksim Ivanov

Coaches will make final roster / playing line-up during the training camp.

The following players have also been listed as eligible to play in IIHF roster and can be called up as replacements in case of injuries etc

Kirill Kolpakov
Anton Jastrebov
Robert Rooba
Sergei Novikov (Assuming that he has Estonian passport by the time)
Igor Savvov
Denis Konõshev
Jan Rajevski

Right now we are doing final checkings on everyones availability and health status while making rapid changes based on the fact that games are now at Narva.

While we feel bad for Estonian hockey and Tallinn about this move we have to say that we are thankful for the city of Narva to support the games in such a short notice.

Ismo & Jukka

Huge disappointment

We were informed today that games will be moved to Narva instead of Tallinn. This is huge disappointment to us coaches as we had agreed to donate our time to help Estonian hockey with goal of having great training camp (including game against Finland) at Tallinn and then play tournament in front of home crowd at Saku Suurhall.

Right now we have no information what will this mean, how things will be arranged and what will happen. We feel very sorry for the Estonian hockey and especially our players. Hopefully things will be resolved at least some way during the next couple of days. Once we have all the information we have to see what will be done next.

In any case, this is not good for the great game of hockey and for Estonian hockey people.

Ismo & jukka

26 Days left...

Only 26 days left before the puck will drop at the Div-II World Championships at Tallinn. Team Estonia will be ready and we should have the best possible team if a few players will be able to recover from their injuries in time and a couple of other ones can make it back to Estonia in time after their own seasons have ended at the foreign countries where they play.

The result of the games will depend on the whole TEAM Estonia. How well can WE play as a team and how well can WE execute the playbook, i.e. follow the system designed by us coaches for OUR team. Naturally that will also require that OUR players are in better shape than before, which WE believe is the case as WE have seen good dedication and work ethics demonstrated by OUR national team candidates.

WE are looking forward for an exciting tournament and great training camp before the games.

Ismo & Jukka

It’s up to our players now…

Estonian National Hockey team candidates have all received personal training programs a few months ago to follow on top of their own club practices. Last month head coach Ismo Lehkonen also demonstrated the moves to players in a dryland training session at Savonlinnna, Finland during our weekend game and practice trip to Finland.

For us coaches it is clear that if our players take care of their training, nutrition and rest like professional athletes do and like they have been instructed, we can expect good results from the upcoming Div-II World Championships in April at Tallinn.

This additional and personal training is a must for team Estonia members in order to have the needed stamina and skating power we need to follow the game plans/system that has been designed for the team.

We have also made a decision to focus on quality on everything we do and therefore we decided not to participate at the February tournament in Lithuania as we would have not been able to get all the best Estonian players from foreign leagues to join the team for that tournament. Savonlinna already did teach us a lesson in December and we know now that we need those players from overseas in order to have a good and competitive Team Estonia!

Before we start our training camp at Tallinn in April to get ready for the games we will organize 1-2 events for the players from Estonian league, but it is really up to our players now to work hard on their own and get them ready for the upcoming World Championships so that we can have a team and results we can all be proud of!

Transferring knowledge

For the last 10 days one of our key players and leaders of Estonian national team, Olle Sildre, has been spending his time at Kouvola Finland. Coach Lehkonen invited Sildre to Kouvola to practice with his team KooKoo at Finnish Mestis pro league with main goal to teach Olle the methods that Ika is using with his team both on and off the ice. With this knowledge Sildre can now go back to Estonia and pass the info to his teammates and use the drills and techniques himself as the national team players work out together with Sildre on their own between the national team gathering / events.

Sildre will also translate the dryland programs used by Ika for his Estonian team mates to follow.

Due to injuries and bad flu wave at KooKoo Sildre also got an opportunity to sign a 3 game contract. Ika knew what to expect, but a lot of other people were skeptic about 36-year olds capability to still play at this level. In 3 games against to top teams of the league Sildre proved that he can still play at very high level and be a leader at the locker room. In the 2 games against D-team and 1 game against Vantaa Sildre did keep up with the pace of the game and also collected 2 assist and served 1 minor penalty. According to Lehkonen it is very much a possibility that Sildre could still don KooKoo’s jersey this season if team phases another injury wave.

Overall this was a very good experience and encouragement for the Estonian national team program and all Estonian players. It shows that with hard work talented Estonian players can take the next step and elevate their game. Key is how ever to become a serious professional athlete and live & workout as that status requires. Sildre has always stayed in good shape, but this season his training has been raised to a different level in intensity since late August when Estonian national team new coaches started the project and showed the players what it means to be serious and professional athlete. During those 3 games at KooKoo Sildre demonstrated what 3 months of serious work can do to elevate the game. If all Estonian players keep on working like Sildre and follow coaches instructions they can expect very good results at the end of their project in April when Div-II world championships are being played at Tallinn, Estonia.