Optibet League. September 23, 18:30. Liepaja, Liepaja Olympic Center Ice Arena.
The championship is gradually gaining momentum. After an unsuccessful game against Mogo/RSU, Oleg Tymchenko’s wards will face off against the bronze medalists of the 2025/2026 Optibet League.
Edgars Brancis’ team currently sits in second place in the standings with six points. In four games, Liepaja defeated Prizma twice with an identical score of 4:2, prevailed over Mogo/RSU in a shootout, and suffered a road defeat to Zemgale/LBTU (2:3) in their previous match.
As with most teams, the Citizens’ roster underwent significant changes during the offseason. First of all, we should note the transfers of Pauls Svars and Kevins Stradnieks, who continued their careers in our team and will play against their former club tonight.
Liepaja was also left by Gustavs Krumins, Valters Niedrajs, Luka Vodlan, Sandis Cionelis, Kristers Kuzņecovs, Rinalds Vutkevics, Rudolfs Laivenieks, Arturs Lavrinovics, Miks Lindbergs, Reinholds Circenis, Dominykas Sadauskas, and Ilja Kozlovs.
At the same time, the roster of our future opponents was reinforced by Kristaps Nimanis (Sande, Germany), Arturs Mickevics (Leeds Knights, Great Britain), Rihards Borskis (Kiruna, Sweden), Karlis Tamenieks (HS Riga), Daniils Andrejevs (Dinaburga), Lithuanians Simonas Valivonis and Sarunas Baltrunas (both from Springfield Junior Blues, USA), as well as Finn Perttu Iso-Kuortti (Kiekko-Vantaa, Finland). The Citizens also called up several hockey players to the squad from their youth team.
Last season, the opponents played five head-to-head matches, in which Liepaja proved stronger three times (5:4 OT, 3:2 OT, 5:3) and the Kyiv team won twice (4:3 OT, 6:2).
Among the interesting facts, it is worth noting that the top scorers for both teams in these matchups have identical statistics – 7 points (2+5) – and are no longer defending their colors this season. We are talking about Rinalds Vutkevics and Martins Karsums.
In the 2026/2027 Optibet League, the leading scorer for the Citizens is Karlis Ozolins with 4 points (2+2), while Deivids Sarkanis has recorded 7 points (3+4) for our team.
Therefore, we look forward to the continuation of the history of these head-to-head meetings tonight.
