U18: Latvia U18s 2025 Roster Talk

[Namejs]

With both the Latvian U18 and U17 national teams taking part in exhibition tournaments, the time is night to start a thread about this very talented group of players.

While the U18s already finished their job and beat Norway, Denmark and Austria, curiously enough about half of the leading kids were actually missing from the U18 squad. Apparently, the Latvian Hockey Federation decided to split the talent evenly across the U18 and U17 national teams in order to take a look at a larger set of players. The U17 team will face Switzerland, Czechia, Slovakia, Austria and Ukraine and notably includes Klaucans and Berzkalns both of whom had quite a lot of ice time at the U20 Worlds.

The U17 team has other great prospects like Reidzans, Grundmanis, Rutkis, Malisevs along with one of the top lines of HS Riga. It will be very interesting to see whether they can beat Slovakia or Switzerland/Czechia.

These 2 exhibition tournaments are the last big filter before the U18 Worlds and the scope and breadth of talent being tried out is encouraging and the LHF has done a real good job so far.

Now, about the U18 tournament:
Serkins 5 pts
Utnans 5 pts
Polis 5 pts
A. Smits (D) 2 pts

A couple of good news here - the struggling HS Riga still has a few pretty good players and I was a little surprised at how productive Utnans and Polis were. However, the biggest surprise to me was how good A. Smits is at skating and moving the puck as a defenceman. This guy will probably be on the top pairing for us. He's played in Finland since he was 14 so I had not seen him play before. An exciting prospect.

Waiting for the U17 tournament (EYOF), which will be streamed live online, by the way. Starts Feb 12. The first international test for Grundmanis, Malisevs and others I've praised before.

 

[Namejs]

The U17 team just lost to Slovakia 2:3. Goals by Klaucans and Reidzans, Plumins saved 23/26. Not a whole lot to go by, but judging by the stat sheet Rutkis played on the top line and clearly was one of the leading players with 4 SOG, Grundmanis with 3 SOG. Malisevs pretty underwhelming even at this level.

A very close game according to LHF.

 

[Namejs]

Oh wow, Ukraine just played 2 close games against both Slovakia and Latvia and actually beat us.

I'm more impressed by their showing than upset about ours and it does look like Ukraine is probably going to be back in the Elite tier in about 5 years or so.

Vasiak and Voroteliak seem to be great prospects for them.

As for Team Latvia, our goalies were underwhelming. 0.864 SVS%. Unfortunately, this might become a theme.

All of Klaucans, Reidzans, Berzkalns and finally Malisevs with 2 points. In other words, the usual suspects and not a whole lot of surprises there.

 

[kudla]

Oh wow, Ukraine just played 2 close games against both Slovakia and Latvia and actually beat us.

I'm more impressed by their showing than upset about ours and it does look like Ukraine is probably going to be back in the Elite tier in about 5 years or so.

Vasiak and Voroteliak seem to be great prospects for them.

As for Team Latvia, our goalies were underwhelming. 0.864 SVS%. Unfortunately, this might become a theme.

All of Klaucans, Reidzans, Berzkalns and finally Malisevs with 2 points. In other words, the usual suspects and not a whole lot of surprises there.

Yeah, Ukraine U18 actually beat Slovakia a few days ago too. What a set of results for them. But I am sure you, or your stunt double know that

 

[Slovakprospects]

Oh wow Supertalented 08 latvians without only Murnieks lose to SVK 08 "B" We missing Ozogany, Kazda, Husák, Chudý, Maršálek, Lukáčik, Koprivnansky, Gašparovič, Šuranyi, Vavro, Halas, Selic, Kubát, Bernát, Floriš, Plančár, Čelko nad others .... and then lost to Ukraine 08/09 wow crazy medal contender U18 Latvians lost to super crappy slovakians and ukrainians .. how crazy

 

[Namejs]

Yeah, Ukraine U18 actually beat Slovakia a few days ago too. What a set of results for them. But I am sure you, or your stunt double know that

View attachment 977213

That's not me. You should know that it lacks at least 5 paragraphs to be worthy of my name.

Namejs is a popular name/nickname in Latvia. See Nameisis - Wikipedia

There's also a movie about the ring of Namejs. Nameja gredzens (2018) 6.0 | Action, Drama, History

(It's not my ring either)

 

[Namejs]

Oh wow Supertalented 08 latvians without only Murnieks lose to SVK 08 "B" We missing Ozogany, Kazda, Husák, Chudý, Maršálek, Lukáčik, Koprivnansky, Gašparovič, Šuranyi, Vavro, Halas, Selic, Kubát, Bernát, Floriš, Plančár, Čelko nad others .... and then lost to Ukraine 08/09 wow crazy medal contender U18 Latvians lost to super crappy slovakians and ukrainians .. how crazy

Why are Slavic people so toxic?

A single U17 exhibition game obviously doesn't mean a whole lot. It is perplexing to me that you're listing a bunch of Slovak kids playing in 16U AAA and scoring below ppg.

These kids were not even looked at in Latvia. We do have a few of them too, but they're clearly not going to be difference makers.

Going by your standards, I could list Murnieks, Naudins (played major minutes in the WJC), Avotins, Zirnitis, Bartulis, Vasilevskis, Gruntmanis, Sparans, Berzins and Laganovskis missing as well.

I can't wait for the U18 Worlds. Let's settle this on the ice on April 28, OK?

 

[Slovakprospects]

vasilevskis 52g 10 p OKAY Gruntmanis 6g 0p with AA league Sparans USHS - MN league okay another trash Laganovskis 54g 17 p okay only 2 players who u mentioned have better stats than all of our players what i type there ... only naudins, murnieks ... others are bunch of lames .. if u write here these lack of shits then i write then other 30 players with same stats like your laganovskis and other pro players from NA what about Pisarcik, Bednár, Kubiš, Baran, Brath, Slovák, Sepák, Žák, Čongrády, Daniš, Šimončič, Lednický, Doboš, Nekoranec, Stadlman, Oszer, Jašo, Havel, Hackenberg, Suja, Mozes, Lang, Rakvica, Križanovič, Blahuta, MIchalov, Lazovský, Rončka, Varga, Hodovský, Kubát, Dubec, Uličný,

 

[Slovakprospects]

want others ?? Fatyka, M. Valent, Valentovič, Niederleitner, Petrovic, Strazovec, Reginac, Kois, SImek, Tlstovič, Tariška, Haroník, Benačka, Ozimák, Šimko, Greguš, Friedl, Trebula, Rychlík, Šromovský, Požgay, Ondrejčák, Kasala, Repka, Rajnoha, Veselý, Brath, Gonšor, Haborák, Chautur, Puškár, Krnáč ... all with same quallity with noobs what u are writing here +)

 

[Rusty7550]

want others ?? Fatyka, M. Valent, Valentovič, Niederleitner, Petrovic, Strazovec, Reginac, Kois, SImek, Tlstovič, Tariška, Haroník, Benačka, Ozimák, Šimko, Greguš, Friedl, Trebula, Rychlík, Šromovský, Požgay, Ondrejčák, Kasala, Repka, Rajnoha, Veselý, Brath, Gonšor, Haborák, Chautur, Puškár, Krnáč ... all with same quallity with noobs what u are writing here +)

Some of these players are 2010/11 born, its impossible to predict their development. And some of them are probably not even playing for Slovakia in the future - Fatyka for example or some kids playing in Czechia.
P.S. Stop with this trolling.

 

[Slovakprospects]

Probably u are troll, not me, All od theese players are Slovakians, not czechs not other nations so stop writing lies ty

 

[Pazucha]

Oh wow Supertalented 08 latvians without only Murnieks lose to SVK 08 "B" We missing Ozogany, Kazda, Husák, Chudý, Maršálek, Lukáčik, Koprivnansky, Gašparovič, Šuranyi, Vavro, Halas, Selic, Kubát, Bernát, Floriš, Plančár, Čelko nad others .... and then lost to Ukraine 08/09 wow crazy medal contender U18 Latvians lost to super crappy slovakians and ukrainians .. how crazy

More realistic list:

Kazda (F) Goljer (D), Bernát (F), Floriš (D), Hrenák (G)

Maršalek (D), Ozogany (F) Šuranyi (D)

 

[Namejs]

I aired this thread for 2 weeks and it still stinks a little.

Smits in the meanwhile has made his pro debut with Jukurit in Liiga and recorded his 1st point over there.
Gasuns has made his pro debut in Allsvenskan as well.

This team really lacked a top pairing D in my mental map a few months ago, but with the coming of Smits I am now optimistic again. He's been the discovery of the year for me so far.

Malisevs as a 2009 does not seem to quite cut it at the U18 level yet in Sweden, and he wasn't convincing enough for me, even if he scored 3 points in 3 games with the U17 NT. I'm not sure he will make the U18 Worlds this year, and probably a limited role for him if he does make it. Grundmanis was solid, but not a lot going for him offensively yet. Might be a 3rd pairing D for us this year. Latvens was not great, to say the least, so I'm scratching him off the list as well.

My very rough take at the roster as of this point and time:

Flugins - Murnieks - Reidzans
Gasuns - Berzkalns - Naudins
Polis - Serkins - Utnans
Rutkis - Klaucans - Obuks


Smits - Sarts
Naglis - Jukams
Grundmanis - X

Plumins
Vitols
X

There's a bunch of half decent forwards playing for HS Riga, the Finnish and Swedish juniors, so I am more than certain that I am pretty off with my take here. A lot of the forwards especially are interchangeable. There's not a whole lot of good bottom pairing D-men or 3rd string goalies left, so I'm not going to guess.

Weak spots:
1. Goaltending (more of a question mark than a weak spot, no established top tier goalies yet)
2. Defensive depth

 

[kudla]

I aired this thread for 2 weeks and it still stinks a little.

Smits in the meanwhile has made his pro debut with Jukurit in Liiga and recorded his 1st point over there.
Gasuns has made his pro debut in Allsvenskan as well.

This team really lacked a top pairing D in my mental map a few months ago, but with the coming of Smits I am now optimistic again. He's been the discovery of the year for me so far.

Malisevs as a 2009 does not seem to quite cut it at the U18 level yet in Sweden, and he wasn't convincing enough for me, even if he scored 3 points in 3 games with the U17 NT. I'm not sure he will make the U18 Worlds this year, and probably a limited role for him if he does make it. Grundmanis was solid, but not a lot going for him offensively yet. Might be a 3rd pairing D for us this year. Latvens was not great, to say the least, so I'm scratching him off the list as well.

My very rough take at the roster as of this point and time:

Flugins - Murnieks - Reidzans
Gasuns - Berzkalns - Naudins
Polis - Serkins - Utnans
Rutkis - Klaucans - Obuks


Smits - Sarts
Naglis - Jukams
Grundmanis - X

Plumins
Vitols
X

There's a bunch of half decent forwards playing for HS Riga, the Finnish and Swedish juniors, so I am more than certain that I am pretty off with my take here. A lot of the forwards especially are interchangeable. There's not a whole lot of good bottom pairing D-men or 3rd string goalies left, so I'm not going to guess.

Weak spots:
1. Goaltending (more of a question mark than a weak spot, no established top tier goalies yet)
2. Defensive depth

I guess Murnieks and Berzkalns won't be there since they will be in USHL play-offs?

 

[Namejs]

I guess Murnieks and Berzkalns won't be there since they will be in USHL play-offs?

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how the whole USHL thing works in respect to releasing players, but even if they don't, there's a good chance they will be out of the play-offs by then.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how the whole USHL thing works in respect to releasing players, but even if they don't, there's a good chance they will be out of the play-offs by then.

They usually don’t release, but occasionally will.

 

[Namejs]

Both Murnieks and Berzkalns are on the extended roster.

Looks like they did not invite any double underagers, so no Grundmanis or Malisevs, or Jukams.

Not a whole lot of surprises otherwise, although I do feel some bias towards HS Riga players, particularly among Ds. With our head coach being the head coach of HS Riga and a former Dman himself, I guess it's not surprising either.

Again, this looks like a very solid team. First prep games next week. The camp is huge with pretty much 2 full teams worth of players, so not expecting much in the first few games.

 

[Antiillafire]

From what I know right now, the games will not be streamed for public viewing. I could be wrong, we shall see

 

[Namejs]

5-6 loss vs. Slovakia
I think both teams iced their B roster

In the Latvian case it sounds like it was mostly based on HS Riga.

Kufterins with 84 SVS%, someone must still believe in him.

 

[Namejs]

From what I know right now, the games will not be streamed for public viewing. I could be wrong, we shall see

I hope you're wrong, I have been hyping myself up about this for a while.

 

[kudla]

I hope you're wrong, I have been hyping myself up about this for a while.

They are streamed...

 

[Slovakprospects]

MEDAL Contender Latvians lost 1:6 vs SVKu18 "B" Iam very surprised, maybe a coincidence or somethink like that. Namejs ?? and dont tell me, that you are expecting a lot of reinforcements from overseas cause a minimum of half of them are still in PO ...

 

[Slovakprospects]

The other reinforcements from overseas are also free to mention, as their quality is similar to the players who started in this double match, so your only reinforcements that can really be called reinforcements are defender Smits (Jukurit - Liiga/U20) and forwards: Murnieks (PO ushl), Berzkalns (PO ushl), Flugins (OHL) and mybe Klaucans (NAHL ) and Latvens (Swe u18 ) thats all .. not a good vision for a medal candidate

 

[Eye of Ra]

The other reinforcements from overseas are also free to mention, as their quality is similar to the players who started in this double match, so your only reinforcements that can really be called reinforcements are defender Smits (Jukurit - Liiga/U20) and forwards: Murnieks (PO ushl), Berzkalns (PO ushl), Flugins (OHL) and mybe Klaucans (NAHL ) and Latvens (Swe u18 ) thats all .. not a good vision for a medal candidate

Nahl and swe u18 are stronger than slovak U20 Leauge, just to be clear.

 

[Namejs]

MEDAL Contender Latvians lost 1:6 vs SVKu18 "B" Iam very surprised, maybe a coincidence or somethink like that. Namejs ?? and dont tell me, that you are expecting a lot of reinforcements from overseas cause a minimum of half of them are still in PO

There are currently 43 players in our camp. This was our B- team.

I have never heard of the player who scored the lone Latvian goal - he is ranked 156th in the Latvian semi-pro league in point production per game. As a forward.

I don't think it is a coincidence.