“I wanted to be like Vitolins”

class=”sc-29f61514-0 kHgAwW”>

The life of Harijs Vitolins (55) is closely linked to Switzerland. The national coach of Latvia worked there twice between 1992 and 1994 and from 1996 the Latvian settled in Switzerland. More precisely in Chur. For five seasons, the center made the Graubünden’s game shine and led them to promotion to the NLA. That was in the year 2000.

Nino Niederreiter was eight years old that year. He was born in Chur and discovered ice hockey there. But it was only through Vitolins that he really liked it. Before the game against the World Cup hosts, he says: “He was my childhood idol. I wanted to be like him. He was this big striker who scored all the goals. When you’re a kid, it inevitably impresses you.”

A memory remains firmly embedded in the mind of the national captain. “He always wore the signature helmet of the best scorer. He was still silver then,” says the NHL striker. “Vitolines was also big and the most technically skilled player.”

“It was a very emotional moment for me”

Little Nino mimicked Vitolins. “I wanted to be the same player as him. I wore number 11 in the EHC Chur juniors to do the same,” he says with a laugh.

After the later HCD coach left Chur, the two men rarely interacted. “We always greeted each other, but that’s all.” That changed when they happened to meet each other in Riga. “We talked for a long time on the day we arrived,” enthuses Niederreiter. “It was the first time we talked so much. It was a very emotional moment for me. He knows I really liked him as a kid. But he probably doesn’t realize how much he means to me.”

Did Niederreiter not tell the Latvian coach how important he is to him? The 30-year-old Winnipeg Jets forward blushes and says, “You can’t say that directly to the person involved, can you?”

Source : Blick