He's played against poor competition even by Latvia's standards, because he is also sort of unique even for Latvian players. Most Latvian youth, when they reach 12-13 years, are collected into ''super-teams'' from their local clubs so they can go and play in Russia or other international leagues to have better competition. This is a big issue in Latvian hockey and there is always a discussion, is it better to completely destroy Latvian youth system and collect these players in ''select'' teams to have better competition, or ban Latvian youth clubs from playing in foreign junior leagues (not MHL, but younger ages) to keep Latvian youth leagues at better level. This is a real issue in Latvia, because in U10 level we have 22 youth teams in the country but by the time they reach U18 level, there are 5!! teams left (plus 1-2 that play outside the country). Small teams are robbed of their talents and those who are not ''stars'' at 12-13 already, are basically consigned to play in a weak competition. Some say this harms Latvian hockey, others say that if better players will not have better competition, that will harm our hockey even more
Dzierkals was one of those who stayed at the local club and did not join a foreign-bound team, so that can also show something about his motivation, that even in weak competition he managed to grow into arguably Latvia's top 1997 talent. You should not really look at his Latvian U18 or U20 league numbers, cause the leagues are really *****. Even Latvian men's league is not much better than MHL (Russian major junior), I would even say bottom teams are much worse and the top three are probably a bit better but not much.
What matters though is his WJC U18 stats (best ever for Latvian player) and MHL stats (best ever for Latvian of his age). He was 5th in the whole MHL by ppg last year (in front of him only first rounder Guryanov and three midgets 5'9'' and 150 or so lbs) in U18 category and all Russian top talent plays there, along with neighboring ex Soviet countries that play hockey. Judging by stats of various players who played there and later transferred to CHL leagues and the fact that the league allows a bit older players than CHL, the level is comparable to CHL. Every Latvian that I know has improved upon his MHL stats next year in CHL, being older and more experienced, so I hope Dzierkals follows the pattern.
Latvians who moved from MHL to CHL:
Roberts Lipsbergs
MHL 11/12 58 14+14
WHL 12/13 64 30+28
Nikita Jevpalovs
MHL 11/12 58 8+13
QMJHL 12/13 60 18+21
Georgs Golovkovs
MHL 12/13 57 9+15
QMJHL 13/14 62 17+24
Rihards Bukarts
MHL 12/13 62 18+17
WHL 13/14 65 28+26
The only thing is that Dzierkals was in the MHL only for half a season, so perhaps his production would not be as high the whole season, or perhaps it would be. But I really expect that at least point per game would be his numbers, with potential of more, just seeing the past trends. The fact is that even in Latvia he was kind of in a shade, as people had talked way more about Rudolfs Balcers taken in the 5th round by San Jose as a top player from this year.
