Optibet League. September 16, 19:15. Pinki, Inbox Ice Arena.
Oleg Tymchenko’s wards are returning to home ice for official matches, where they will play against the Lithuanian Hockey Punks.
The season started for the Kyiv team last Friday with a successful road trip to Daugavpils, where they defeated HS Riga/Dinaburga (3:0).
It is worth noting that the Vilnius team’s list of opponents is identical. Back on September 5, they played at home against the combined team, suffering a 3:4 defeat.
Starting this season, Hockey Punks are headed by Finnish specialist Elmo Aittola, while Dovydas Kulevicius (the former head coach) will work as his assistant.
During the off-season, a number of players joined the team. Among them are two goaltenders (Slovak Mario Lamper from Povazska Bystrica and Lithuanian Domininkas Katkevicius from Hockey Punks-2), Ukrainian defenseman Oleksandr Zaruba (Boston Junior Rangers, USA), Polish forward Mateusz Siekierka (Novy Jicin, Czechia), as well as his Lithuanian fellow forwards: Ilja Gajauskas (Peiting U20, Germany), Georgij Pavliukov (Klaipeda), and 48-year-old Martynas Slikas, who resumed his professional career.
We should separately note that it was exactly from the Vilnius club that defenseman Jani Siekkinen transferred to Kyiv Capitals. Today, the Finn will have the opportunity to play against his former team for the first time.
During the 2025/2026 season, the teams held five head-to-head matchups, each of which ended in a victory for Oleg Tymchenko’s squad (twice 7:3, 4:2, 8:0, 10:3).
What the first game between these opponents in the current Optibet League campaign will be like – we will find out tonight.
