Latvia: Hockey in Latvia

[OscarsCards]

Speaking about 2016 NHL Draft I'm was unpleasantly surprised that Kristians Rubins didn't get drafted, that injury affected this very hard but I was more surprised about Rodrigo Abols got drafted not signed as free agent few days later.

I managed to write something about Latvian players in 2015-16 season - America's Latvians in 2015-16 season This would be more interesting for foreign hockey fans than Latvians.

Cheers

 

[SemireliableSource]

Looks pretty good but one correction I noticed that you might want to make is the name of Portland's WHL team. The AHL team in Maine was the Pirates. The WHL team in Oregon is the Winterhawks.

 

[OscarsCards]

looks pretty good but one correction i noticed that you might want to make is the name of portland's whl team. The ahl team in maine was the pirates. The whl team in oregon is the winterhawks.

+100

 

[BalticWarrior]

HK Kurbads has started a construction on a new arena, expected arrival somewhere in may of 2017
http://sportacentrs.com/hokejs/latv...016-kurbads_riga_uzsak_ledushalles_buvniecibu

 

[Rigafan]

What kind of salaries are paid in the Latvian league?

I ask because Ricards Birzins has just gone back to Latvia, HK Mogo from Manchester Storm. After speaking with him last season he was very honest and said he joined the Storm because back in Latvia unless you are on Dinamo Riga roster you don't make a living.. so he's gone back home, he's good enough to play in Europe, so are Mogo paying him?

 

[SoundAndFury]

That was certainly true but Latvian league is establishing itself a little bit and as a result it seems they can afford to play some players. Raitums, Gipters, Birzins, Smirnovs, Janis Ozolins, Arturs Kuzmenkovs all came back to Latvia this season - these are the guys that aren't playing for free. Surely they aren't paid a lot but I think people like Kuzmenkovs or Birzins are getting ~700 euros per month after taxes.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Oskars Bārtulis has founded a junior hockey team that will compete in the latvian kids and junior hockey league (LBJHL)
http://sportacentrs.com/hokejs/23082016-izveidots_oskara_bartula_hokeja_klubs_ber

 

[ozo]

Oskars Bārtulis has founded a junior hockey team that will compete in the latvian kids and junior hockey league (LBJHL)
http://sportacentrs.com/hokejs/23082016-izveidots_oskara_bartula_hokeja_klubs_ber

Certainly good to see. Hopefully it won't just a few season project.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Certainly good to see. Hopefully it won't just a few season project.

He seems pretty serious about it. Now it gets me wondering when will our other NT vets like Ozoliņš and Irbe step up and do something like that, because it seems LHF DGAF(you can blame Lipmans for that). Clearly money isnt an issue for these guys.

 

[Rigafan]

That was certainly true but Latvian league is establishing itself a little bit and as a result it seems they can afford to play some players. Raitums, Gipters, Birzins, Smirnovs, Janis Ozolins, Arturs Kuzmenkovs all came back to Latvia this season - these are the guys that aren't playing for free. Surely they aren't paid a lot but I think people like Kuzmenkovs or Birzins are getting ~700 euros per month after taxes.

Thanks! That's not a bad wage living in Latvia either. I know the league suffered when it lost its Samsung sponsorship but as you seem it seems to be getting better each year again

 

[Milos Krasic]

Oskars Bārtulis has founded a junior hockey team that will compete in the latvian kids and junior hockey league (LBJHL)
http://sportacentrs.com/hokejs/23082016-izveidots_oskara_bartula_hokeja_klubs_ber

Very cool. Was glad when Bartulis got the "C" in Admiral.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Was looking around LHF website to see the trend of registered junior players( u-20) in Latvia and it seems the number growing pretty decently every year.

2011./12 - 1515
2012./13 - 1636
2013./2014 -1689
2014./2015 - 1761
2015./2016 - 1909

Seems that the trend is about 100 new players a year which while not record breaking is actually pretty good

Also a positive thing to note is that LBJHLM(Latvian junior and kids hockey league) increased its number of hockey teams from 83 to 87 last season to 101 teams this upcoming season (highest number in recorded history fro latvian junior hockey)

 

[BalticWarrior]

Positive note that relates to the new Kurbads arena. Along with building the arena itself, Kurbads will also create two junior hockey clubs in LBJHLM, though not specified in which age groups.

 

[OscarsCards]

So, Latvian Hockey Federation has a new President Aigars Kalvitis and the board it self has some new members.
It would be really nice to see and experience a working hockey youth development system.

Aigars Kalvitis as polititian earned very bad reputation in peoples eyes but this should be much better as it was. Hoping for the best.

 

[OscarsCards]

Positive note that relates to the new Kurbads arena. Along with building the arena itself, Kurbads will also create two junior hockey clubs in LBJHLM, though not specified in which age groups.

Here you can find the numbers the official numbers of registered players in Latvia since season 95-96 when I all the registration of hockey players started I think.LINK.

 

[OscarsCards]

In 2015-16 season Latvia has registered 6699 hockey players:
Senior - 4710 (4017 in 14-15 season, 3965 in 13-14 season);
U-20 - 1888 (1722 in 14-15 season, 1689 in 13-14 season) the highest growth in one season since 03-04.

And there is a really bad news, due to dangerous technical condition Daugavas ice rink has been closed in Oct. 31 without prior notice. There is about 300 people including kids who trained in hockey and figure skating and it's almost impossible to find free ice in Riga due to high ice occupancy. In one word - chaos.

 

[OscarsCards]

The good, the bad and the ugly
After the three year struggle to earn a promotion to play in U20 Elite WJC division Latvian men's national under 20 ice hockey team (Latvian U20) has been relegated again in 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Junior Championships (U20 WJC). The biggest upset isn't in the fact that Latvian U20 has been relegated to play in a Div. I next season but in the in fact that Latvian hockey fans hoped for something better. Should we need to blame bad luck or this was Latvian U20 best?

 

[BalticWarrior]

The question is where do we go from now? It looks like Miļūns has already resigned from the u-20 coaching duties, wonder whos gonna replace him?

 

[turk96]

When does the Latvian league schedule come out and where can I find it? I'm going to be in Latvia (and Estonia) in late October through early November and thought it would be cool to catch a game in the league instead of just seeing Dinamo Riga. Also, if anyone knows about the schedule for the Estonian league, I'd be interested in that, too.

Thanks..

 

[v-man]

When does the Latvian league schedule come out and where can I find it? I'm going to be in Latvia (and Estonia) in late October through early November and thought it would be cool to catch a game in the league instead of just seeing Dinamo Riga. Also, if anyone knows about the schedule for the Estonian league, I'd be interested in that, too.

Thanks..

Not sure when it comes out, but they begin play in early September, so I assume it will be sometime soon. You'll be able to find it on the Latvian Hockey Federation website, although you may have to click through a few links/tabs on top to find the individual game info. It also looks like not everything is translated on their english pages, so it may be tricky to find everything easily. It will be posted as "2017/2018: LČ" on the tournaments page I linked to. I believe once the season starts, they have easier to follow info on the main page, including upcoming games along the top.

Also, depending on when you're there, last year's national champions Kurbads will be hosting the second round of the Continental Cup in their new arena from Oct 20-22 against Narvas PSK from Estonia, Donbass from Ukraine and GKS from Poland.

 

[GX]

When does the Latvian league schedule come out and where can I find it? I'm going to be in Latvia (and Estonia) in late October through early November and thought it would be cool to catch a game in the league instead of just seeing Dinamo Riga. Also, if anyone knows about the schedule for the Estonian league, I'd be interested in that, too.

Thanks..

Regular season will begin on September 6, full calendar has not been released yet. Just bear in mind that November 6-12 is IIHF international break, so there won't be any games played during that week.

 

[GX]

So, the calendar has been published. Here are the only three games that are held in Riga and are among title contenders during late October/early November.

Both ice halls are located on the outskirts of Riga. If Mogo is easily accessible by tram, for Kurbads I suspect you might have to use a taxi, but, well, there are currently so many taxis in Riga, they are really cheap.

2017-10-25 TreÅ¡diena HK Mogo HK Liepāja/Optibet
2017-10-28 Sestdiena HK Kurbads HK Liepāja/Optibet
2017-11-04 Sestdiena HK Kurbads HK Zemgale/LLU

 

[turk96]

Thanks for the replies. I think I may try to hit that Mogo game, if I can. I arrive in Riga on the afternoon of the 25th, so it may be tight. I will be going to the Dinamo game on the 26th for sure. I'm assuming seat prices for a Mogo game are pretty cheap and available at the gate? Not sure the gf will let me take her to two hockey games in a row, so I may be flying solo for the Mogo game.

 

[Rigafan]

Thanks for the replies. I think I may try to hit that Mogo game, if I can. I arrive in Riga on the afternoon of the 25th, so it may be tight. I will be going to the Dinamo game on the 26th for sure. I'm assuming seat prices for a Mogo game are pretty cheap and available at the gate? Not sure the gf will let me take her to two hockey games in a row, so I may be flying solo for the Mogo game.

Lativan league games used to be free or something like €2 for all teams? Maybe its changed now but don't expect to pay too much!

 

[v-man]

Mogo doesn't have a website (other than facebook and twitter), and tickets to their homegames aren't available online as far as I can tell, but Kurbads games are 2.00 € - 3.00 € , so I expect that Mogo would be about the same. Even the playoffs don't sell out, so buying a ticket at the gate shouldn't be a problem. FYI, the Latvian League is now called the OHL (Optibet Hockey League). The full schedule can be found here.