The Latvian Locomotive is heading to the Beijing Olympics.
Buffalo Sabres center Zemgus Girgensons was named Friday morning as one of the three provisional players for Latvia for the Games in China in February. Girgensons was joined by left winger Rudolfs Balcers of the San Jose Sharks and defenseman Kristians Rubins of the AHL's Toronto Marlies.
Girgensons, 27, will be making his second Olympic appearance for his home country. He played in 2014 on an upstart team directed by former Sabres coach Ted Nolan and scored a goal against Henrik Lundqvist in a game against Sweden.
"It's an unbelievable experience to have as a player and I'm just happy to be a part of it again," Girgensons said after practice Friday in KeyBank Center. "Just being in an (Olympic) Village with all the other athletes, I think that was the coolest part about it. Just being surrounded by other world-class athletes and having a chat with other countries' and your own country's other players."
Girgensons helped Latvia advance to the Olympic tournament by playing in the qualifying round in August in Riga. After beating Italy and Hungary by a combined 15-0 count, Latvia held off France, 2-1, to earn the Beijing bid. Girgensons played even though it had not yet been determined if NHL players were going to be part of the Games.
"If I wasn't going, what it means to other players back home to go is a big thing. It's huge," Girgensons said. "Hockey's big back home, every World Championship, they take it serious. Olympics is just the next level. It was a sold-out building. It was a great feeling to be in front of the fans. And for the guys we were celebrating like we won the (Stanley) Cup or something."
In 2014, the Latvians took Canada to the brink in the quarterfinals, as it took a goal by Shea Weber with less than seven minutes remaining for Canada to pull out a 2-1 victory despite having a 57-16 advantage in shots on goal.
"It was just everything about our team," Girgensons recalled when asked what worked. "The coaching, our players. We had a good older and younger player kind of mix and our goalies played unbelievable in that tournament."
Each nation is unveiling its first three players in advance of the final rosters being announced in January. The three players are guaranteed spots provided they remain eligible and healthy. South Buffalo native Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks was named for Team USA while former Sabre Andrej Sekera of the Dallas Stars was named by Slovakia.
