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HK Liepāja

HK Liepāja
CityLiepāja, Latvia
LeagueOptibet Hockey League
2014 - 2022
Founded2014
Home arenaLiepājas Olimpiskā Centra ice hall
(capacity: 1143[1])
ColoursGreen, red, white
     
General managerKaspars Repss[2]
Head coachNormunds Sējējs[2]
CaptainBruno Zabis[2]
Websitehkliepaja.lv
Championships
Playoff championships1 (2016)

HK Liepāja are a Latvian professional ice hockey team that plays in the Optibet Hockey League, the top tier of the sport in Latvia. The team is based in Liepāja and play their home games at the Liepājas Olimpiskā Centra ice hall.

History

Hokeja Klubs Liepāja was founded in 2014,[3] following the collapse of the previous team in the city; HK Liepājas Metalurgs folded as a result of their title sponsor, Liepājas Metalurgs, pulling funding as a result of financial difficulties steming from the Great Recession.[4] Several months later, the company would declare themselves insolvent.[5] The eight Latvian championships won by won HK Liepājas Metalurgs is, as of February 2021, the most won by any team.[4]

HK Liepāja began play in the 2014–15 Latvian Hockey League season and immediately assembled a strong side, finishing 2nd in the regular season before losing in the play-offs semi-finals to HK Kurbads. They would pick up a medal however, as they beat HK Zemgale in the bronze medal game.[3][6] The team fared even better in their second season, finishing 1st in the regular season, before going on to claim the Latvian championship by beating HK Kurbads in the play-off final.[7] The following season saw Liepāja finish 4th overall, before losing in the play-off semi-finals to HK Mogo.[2] The 2017-18 season saw the team improve in the regular season, finishing 2nd, however, they again losing in the play-off semi-finals to Kurbads, who would ultimately go on to win the league. In the off-season the team parted ways with Head Coach Igors Ļebedevs, who subsequently joined HK Zemgale as an Assistant Coach,[8] and replaced him with Maksims Bogdanovs.[9] Under their new coach, Liepāja's fortunes worsened, finishing the 2018-19 season in 5th place, causing them to miss out on the play-offs for the first year since their inception.[10] The 2019-20 season saw the team finish in 4th place before the play-offs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the off-season, Bogdanovs was replaced with former KHL Head Coach and General Manager Normunds Sējējs.[11]

Due to winning the Latvian league in 2016, the team qualified for the 2016–17 IIHF Continental Cup, where they were drawn in Group B alongside Turkish side Zeytinburnu Belediyespor, CH Jaca of Spain, and British champions Nottingham Panthers. HK Liepāja would comfortably beat both CH Jaca and Zeytinburnu Belediyespor before losing their final game against the Panthers.[12] As a result, Liepāja finished 2nd in their group, and did not progress any further in the comeptition.[12] The Panthers, who finished Group B in 1st place, would ultimately go on to win the Continental Cup.[13]

In 2020 HK Liepāja took place in the inaugural Baltic Hockey League, a competition made up of two teams from each of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Liepāja represented Latvia alongside compatriots HK Mogo.They went on to win their group, beating both Estonian outfit HC Everest, and Hockey Punks Vilnius of Lithuania.[14] As a result they progressed to the final round, due initially to take place in December 2020, however, this was postponed until February 2021 as a result of several HK Mogo players having been exposed to COVID-19.[15] In early February the final round was again postponed due to the pandemic, with the date to be announced when the Covid situation improves.[16]

Roster

Updated February 17, 2021.[17]

Goaltenders
Number Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
35 Latvia Māris Jučers L 2019 Priekule, Latvia
76 Latvia Patriks Bērziņš L 2020 Talsi, Latvia
74 Lithuania Laurinas Lubys L 2020 Klaipėda, Lithuania
Defencemen
Number Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
3 Latvia Kristers Freibergs L 2019 Liepāja, Latvia
5 Latvia Mārtiņš Oskars Freimanis L 2019 Liepāja, Latvia
9 Lithuania Paulius Rumševičius R 2018 Elektrėnai, Lithuania
12 Latvia Kristaps Nīmanis L 2020 Liepāja, Latvia
18 Latvia Ralfs Grinbergs L 2019 Riga, Latvia
22 Latvia Mārtiņš Gipters (A) L 2020 Riga, Latvia
24 Latvia Matīss Petrovics L 2020 Liepāja, Latvia
36 Latvia Romāns Ņekļudovs L 2014 Liepāja, Latvia
58 Latvia Renārs Kamergrauzis L 2020 -
23 Latvia Ričards Birziņš R 2020 Riga, Latvia
82 Latvia Emīls Auziņš R 2020 Liepāja, Latvia
8 Latvia Reinis Demiters L 2019 Aizpute, Latvia
55 Latvia Artūrs Salija L 2020 Riga, Latvia
Forwards
Number Player Shoots Position Acquired Place of Birth
7 Latvia Raivo Freidenfelds L C 2020 Grobiņa, Latvia
10 Latvia Bruno Zabis (C) L C/LW 2017 Liepāja, Latvia
11 Latvia Linards Mazurs-Mago L LW 2020 Liepāja, Latvia
13 Latvia Egils Kalns R LW/RW 2020 Liepāja, Latvia
33 Latvia Deniss Vilmans R W 2018 Liepāja, Latvia
16 Latvia Roberts Krieviņš L F 2020 Liepāja, Latvia
19 Latvia Valters Freijs L RW 2016 Talsi, Latvia
25 Latvia Kārlis Ozoliņš L C 2020 Riga, Latvia
31 Lithuania Mark Kaleinikovas R LW 2019 Kaunas, Lithuania
44 Latvia Klāvs Plānics L C 2019 Brocēni, Latvia
47 Latvia Miks Krišs Rungovskis L C 2018 -
53 Latvia Karolis Krasilnikovas L F 2019 Elektrėnai, Lithuania
59 Latvia Niks Zīle L F 2019 Liepāja, Latvia
77 Latvia Māris Miezis R F 2019 Jelgava, Latvia
88 Latvia Rihards Ričards Fomins L F 2017 Liepāja, Latvia
91 Latvia Artūrs Mickevičs (A) R RW/LW 2020 Talsi, Latvia
52 Ukraine Bohdan Panasenko R LW 2019 Kharkiv, Ukraine

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season League GP W L T OTW OTL Pts GF GA Finish Playoffs
2015-16 Latvian Hockey Higher League 30 22 5 — 1 2 70 165 93 1st Champion
2016-17 Latvian Hockey Higher League 30 18 12 — 0 0 54 182 99 4th Semi-final loss
2017-18 Optibet Hockey League 30 17 7 — 3 3 60 144 94 2nd Semi-final loss
2018-19 Optibet Hockey League 36 14 18 — 2 2 48 100 120 5th Did not qualify
2019-20 Optibet Hockey League 35 20 10 — 3 2 48 132 94 4th Playoffs cancelled

Honours

Latvian Championships:

Team records

Career

These are the top five scorers in HK Liepāja history.[2]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player Pos GP G A Pts
Bruno Zabis F 149 85 153 238
Māris Diļevka F 146 77 121 198
Egils Kalns F 107 63 54 117
Valters Freijs F 156 57 60 117
Klāvs Plānics F 130 39 68 107

Penalty minutes: Dmitrijs Korņilovs, 214

Season

Regular season

Playoffs

Notable players

Notable coaches

References

  1. ^ "LOC" (in Latvian). Liepājas Olimpiskā Centra ledus halle. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Liepaja". EliteProspects.com. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Par klubu - HK Liepāja" (in Latvian). HK Liepāja. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Par mums - Optibet Hockey League" (in Latvian). Optibet Hockey League. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  5. ^ "Liepājas metāla sirds stājas; gaidāms dzīves līmeņa kritums reģionā" (in Latvian). Diena Bizness. November 5, 2013. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  6. ^ "Elite Prospects - Team Standings Latvia - 2014-15". EliteProspects.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  7. ^ "Elite Prospects - Team Standings Latvia - 2015-16". EliteProspects.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  8. ^ "Kuļibaba turpinās vadīt "Zemgali/LLU", asistēs Ļebedevs" (in Latvian). sportacentrs.com. August 6, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  9. ^ "HK Liepāja trenēs Maksims Bogdanovs" (in Latvian). sportacentrs.com. April 18, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  10. ^ "HTeam Standings Latvia 2018-19". EliteProspects.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  11. ^ "Normunds Sējējs pievienojas hokeja klubam "Liepāja"" (in Latvian). TV NET. October 12, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Games - CCB - International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF". IIHF. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  13. ^ "Nottingham Panthers win Continental Cup with 4-1 win over Ritten". BBC. January 15, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  14. ^ "Lietuva always h`ockey!". Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  15. ^ "COVID-19 virusas jaukia Baltijos lygos planus: nukeliamas finalinio ketverto turnyras" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation. December 15, 2020. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  16. ^ "Baltijos lygos finalinis ketvertas dar kartą nukeliamas" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation. February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  17. ^ "Komanda - HK Liepāja" (in Latvian). HK Liepāja. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
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