Other events in Baltic States

Legendary Latvian goalie Arturs Irbe is to be inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation's Hall (IIHF) of Fame in 2010, reports LETA.

The induction ceremony will take place on May 21, 2010 in the German city of Cologne, during the Ice Hockey World Championships.

Irbe will become the second Latvian inducted into the IIHF's Hall of Fame. The other is legendary Latvian forward Helmuts Balderis.

''I am happy for Arturs Irbe. He became Latvia's first true ice hockey super star,'' the president of the IIHF Rene Fazel said. ''When I visited him in Washington several days ago, Arturs proved to me that he deserves to be in the IIHF's Hall of Fame.''

The IIHF's Hall of Fame was established in 1997, and includes 160 ice hockey legends from 22 countries.

During his career, Irbe played in 13 season in the NHL, playing for the San Jose ''Sharks'', Dallas ''Stars'', Vancouver ''Canucks'' and Carolina ''Hurricanes''. In 2002, Irbe helped the Carolina ''Hurricanes'' make it to the Stanley Cup finals, where they lost to the Detroit ''Rd Wings'' 1-4.

Irbe has played in 64 game for the Latvian national men's ice hockey team, participating in nine World Championships and two Olympic Games. In 1989 and 1990, Irbe participated in the Ice Hockey World Championships for the Soviet team.

Irbe is best remembered by Latvian ice hockey fans for his heroic performance at the 2000 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, where Latvia defeated a star-studded Russian team 3:2.