HK Liepāja are a Latvian professional ice hockey team. 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, 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. Several months later, the company would declare themselves insolvent. The eight Latvian championships won by won HK Liepājas Metalurgs is, as of February 2021, the most won by any team.
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. 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. The following season saw Liepāja finish 4th overall, before losing in the play-off semi-finals to HK Mogo. 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, and replaced him with Maksims Bogdanovs. 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. 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.
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. As a result, Liepāja finished 2nd in their group, and did not progress any further in the competition. The Panthers, who finished Group B in 1st place, would ultimately go on to win the Continental Cup.
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. 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. In early February the final round was again postponed due to the pandemic, with the date to be announced when the Covid situation improves.
Roster Updated February 17, 2021.
GoaltendersNumberPlayerCatchesAcquiredPlace of Birth 35Māris JučersL 2019Priekule, Latvia76Patriks BērziņšL 2020Talsi, Latvia74Laurinas LubysL 2020Klaipėda, Lithuania
DefencemenNumberPlayerShootsAcquiredPlace of Birth 3Kristers FreibergsL 2019Liepāja, Latvia5Mārtiņš Oskars Freimanis L 2019Liepāja, Latvia9Paulius Rumševičius R 2018Elektrėnai, Lithuania12Kristaps NīmanisL 2020Liepāja, Latvia18Ralfs Grinbergs L 2019Riga, Latvia22Mārtiņš Gipters (A)L 2020Riga, Latvia24Matīss PetrovicsL 2020Liepāja, Latvia36Romāns Ņekļudovs L 2014Liepāja, Latvia58Renārs Kamergrauzis L 2020 -23Ričards Birziņš R 2020Riga, Latvia82Emīls Auziņš R 2020Liepāja, Latvia8Reinis Demiters L 2019Aizpute, Latvia55Artūrs Salija L 2020Riga, Latvia
ForwardsNumberPlayerShootsPositionAcquiredPlace of Birth 7Raivo FreidenfeldsLC 2020Grobiņa, Latvia10Bruno Zabis (C)LC/LW 2017Liepāja, Latvia11Linards Mazurs-Mago LLW 2020Liepāja, Latvia13Egils KalnsRLW/RW 2020Liepāja, Latvia33Deniss VilmansRW 2018Liepāja, Latvia16Roberts KrieviņšLF 2020Liepāja, Latvia19Valters Freijs LRW 2016Talsi, Latvia25Kārlis OzoliņšLC 2020Riga, Latvia31Mark KaleinikovasRLW 2019Kaunas, Lithuania44Klāvs PlānicsLC 2019Brocēni, Latvia47Miks Krišs RungovskisLC 2018 -53Karolis KrasilnikovasLF 2019Elektrėnai, Lithuania59Niks ZīleLF 2019Liepāja, Latvia77Māris Miezis RF 2019Jelgava, Latvia88Rihards Ričards Fomins LF 2017Liepāja, Latvia91Artūrs Mickevičs (A)RRW/LW 2020Talsi, Latvia52Bohdan PanasenkoRLW 2019Kharkiv, 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: 2016
Team records
Career These are the top five scorers in HK Liepāja history.
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 Most goals in a season: Mark Kaleinikovas, 26 (2019-20) Most assists in a season: Bruno Zabis, 37 (2014-15) Most points in a season: Bruno Zabis, 58 (2014-15) Most penalty minutes in a season: Dmitrijs Korņilovs, 117 (2015–16)
Playoffs Most goals in a playoff season: Egils Kalns, 8 (2015–16) Most assists in a playoff season: Bruno Zabis, 12 (2015–16) Most points in a playoff season: Bruno Zabis, 19 (2015–16) Most penalty minutes in a playoff season: Dmitrijs Korņilovs, 46 (2014–15)
Notable players Roberts Bukarts Mārtiņš Dzierkals Māris Jučers Dmitri Pestunov
Notable coaches Normunds Sējējs
References
External links HK Liepāja