Optibet League. September 30, 19:15. Pinki, Inbox Ice Arena.
The fifth team that Oleg Tymchenko’s wards will face this season will be Prizma/RTU.
The Riga squad approaches the current matchup in sixth place with four points to their name. In their last two games, our future opponent suffered defeats against Lithuanian teams – Hockey Punks (2:4) and Energija (2:5).
In contrast, the Kyiv team is in high spirits following spectacular victories over Liepaja (5:0) and the aforementioned Hockey Punks (9:1).
Prizma/RTU started the new season without Roberts Vorona (Zemgale/LBTU), Haralds Gabrans (Mlada Boleslav, Czechia), Ilja Grekovs (Dinaburga), Stanislav Teplytskyi (Tisza Volan, Hungary), Ricardo Valero Fino David (Basel U21, Switzerland), Arginto Milbergs, Rihards Purgailis, Ricards Jeļenskis, Rihards Kovaļevskis, Patriks Egle, Rodrigo Strautins, and Reinis Virsnitis (all currently without a club).
At the same time, a whole host of players joined Prizma/RTU`s roster. Among them are Finns Elias Kirola (goaltender, Crvena Zvezda, Serbia) and defenseman Leevi Rautiainen (Junkkarit). American forward Michael Mizerak also moved to the Latvian capital from the same team, and Israeli forward Nikita Zitserman became another import player. The rest of the hockey players who strengthened the Prizma/RTU roster hold Latvian passports: Arturs Skrebutens, Kirils Vasiļjevs, Arturs Tomsons, Alens Stendenbergs, Viktors Klabis, Reinis Jonuss, Kristers Apsitis, Kristers Bormanis, Roberts Vitols, and Andis Rupeiks.
Eriks Miļuns, who has held the position of head coach since 2013, will continue his work at the helm of the team. One of his assistants is last year’s captain, Edijs Brahmanis. From now on, the captaincy has passed to the top scorer of the 2025/2026 regular season, Roberts Jekimovs.
Last season, the opponents played 8 head-to-head games (5 in the regular season, 3 in the playoff quarterfinals). The Kyiv team emerged victorious 7 times (notably including a record 16:3 win), while the Riga squad won once.
The top scorers in these matchups are the current forwards of both teams: Danylo Tsarkovskyi (12 points (7+5), Kyiv Capitals) and Roberts Jekimovs (10 points (8+2), Prizma/RTU).
Regarding the 2026/2027 Optibet League, the player with the most points in the championship right now is our team’s forward Deivids Sarkanis with 14 (7+7). Among the opponent’s players, we should highlight two hockey players who have recorded 7 points each: Emils Ezitis (3+4) and Matiss Birins (1+6).
Therefore, tomorrow we look forward to the continuation of the head-to-head history, now within the framework of the new season.
