Optibet League. October 10, 13:30. Piņķi, Inbox Ice Arena.
The opponents approach this head-to-head matchup sitting in second (Kyiv Capitals, 12 points) and fourth (Zemgale/LBTU, 8 points) places in the standings, respectively. However, one shouldn’t be surprised by the reigning vice-champion’s point total, as Artis Abols’ wards have played only five games so far.
The latest of these took place on Wednesday. The Jelgava squad dropped points for the first time this season, suffering a 2:4 road defeat to Mogo/RSU.
During the offseason, Artis Abols’ roster was reinforced by Swede Jack Bodin (Mora, Sweden), as well as Latvians Martins Antons (Esbjerg 2, Denmark), Artis Duklavs (Brinkens U20, Sweden), Adrians Klavins (Borlange U20, Sweden), Deniss Fjodorovs (Torun, Poland), Rauls Karupa (Litvinov U20, Czechia), Jevgenijs Kuderko (HS Riga-17), Roberts Vorona (Prizma), alongside two of our team’s former players – Aleksandrs Novikovs and Lauris Bajaruns.
Meanwhile, the Jelgava squad was left by two Finnish imports – Tomi-Petteri Ansio and Joonas Parviainen – along with Rauls Ozollapa (Mogo/RSU), Daniels Gorsanovs (Cracovia, Poland), Ricards Bernhards (Schweinfurt, Germany), Rihards Marenis (Unia, Poland), and Harijs Brants, who moved to Kyiv Capitals.
Brants and Bajaruns recorded points in head-to-head meetings between the Kyiv team and the Jelgava squad last season while playing for their respective former teams, but the top scorer was the previously mentioned Marenis, who racked up 8 points (3+5). Among the Kyiv Capital, Yang Hu collected the most points with 4 (2+2).
Moving on to the history of their head-to-head matchups, Olehg Tymchenko’s wards began their Optibet League journey precisely with an overtime road victory (3:2) over Zemgale/LBTU. After that, the Kyiv team won one more time (3:1), while the rest of the games ended in favor of the Jelgava squad (3:2, 4:3 OT, 2:1).
This season, Kyiv Capitals forward Deivids Sarkanis leads the Optibet League in scoring with 22 points (9+13). Among our upcoming opponents, Deniss Fjodorovs has recorded 7 points (1+6).
Thus, we eagerly anticipate another tense encounter between these rivals, now featuring their revamped rosters.
