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Latvia: Latvian prospects

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Roberts Lipsbergs scored twice for Seattle Thunderbirds in the 4-3 shootout win over Portland Winterhawks in WHL (with Oliver Bjørkstrand only netting 1 goal).
So a pretty great start for him!
 
So situation at the moment:

Both U20 goalies seem to be set:
Punnenovs (94) got his first NLA game for Rapperswil yesterday
Merzlikins (94) debut came only a day later, full game and first NLA win today for Lugano

Hopefully both of them get more good experience in one of the best European leagues and then we have healthy competition for starting goalie in U20s.

Gudļevskis (92) stayed in Tampa Bay's camp till the end but probably only to get more practice time with the big guys, and will start in ECHL.

Defense, nothing much to report. Siksna (93) was on ice for a few minutes in KHL, all other guys are in MHL, Haralds Neimanis (94) and Rinalds Rosinskis (94) seem to be the most prominent. Kristofers Bindulis (95) though is in NAHL, got an assist recently.

Forwards

Girgensons pre season with Buffalo 5 games 3+1, pretty sure he'll get ice time in NHL this season, only question if it will happen already at the start.
Teodors Bļugers (94) preparing for the second NCAA season.
Roberts Lipsbergs (94) in WHL 3 games 2+1 (and a sexy profile pic in WHL homepage)
Rihards Bukarts (95) WHL, 3 games 1+1 (the most stylish of our guys)
Edgars Kulda (94) WHL, 3 games 0+2
Georgs Golovkovs (95) QMJHL, 5 games 2+2
Ņikita Jevpalovs (94) QMJHL, 5 games 5+2
Haralds Egle (1996) USHL, 2 games 0+1
Sandis Zolmanis (1994) USHL, 1 game 0+0
Nikolajs Jeļisējevs (1994) MHL, 8 games 6+3
Rūdolfs Maslovskis (1995) MHL, 8 games 3+6
Rodrigo Ābols (1996) MHL, 8 games 2+3 (not only talent, but also having Dinamo Rīga's head coach as your father might help in future)

These are more like U20 guys above. Other notables and older players include Siksnis (93) who got a few KHL minutes, Kuzmenkovs (93) plays the season as underager and has 1 assist in 10 games, Kārlis Ozoliņš (94) also played prep games with Dinamo Rīga, but now in MHL (8 games 2+2), Andersons (93) now plays in NLB after Swiss U20... Begovs (93) are a line-mate of Jeļisējevs and Maslovskis and also is very productive.

Despite not having Girgensons probably and lack of ''stars'' in defense, I'd say if the team doesn't win DivI U20 this year, I'll be very upset with them.
 
A little news about your southern friends in Lithuania.
After Ervins Mustukovs left Mora in Allsvenskan and returned to the Danish league (for Esbjerg) it opened up for the debut of "The" Lithuanian prospect. Mantas Armalis has played two matches and have started very well with 2,42 GAA and saves of 93,0%.

Stats from eliteprospects.com
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=15753
 
Justinov said:
A little news about your southern friends in Lithuania.
After Ervins Mustukovs left Mora in Allsvenskan and returned to the Danish league (for Esbjerg) it opened up for the debut of "The" Lithuanian prospect. Mantas Armalis has played two matches and have started very well with 2,42 GAA and saves of 93,0%.

Stats from eliteprospects.com
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=15753
Click to expand...

This guy could be really good addition to their NT,but unfortunatley one guy cant save the whole country,but i do wish for Lithuanian hockey to succed in some distant future,so we could have our "Baltic Rivalry":laugh::handclap:
 
Edgars Klavins have been send on loan from AIK (after only 1 SHL game) to the 1. division team of Vallentuna BK. [The Swedish 1. division is probably comparable with the danish league.] A loan to Allsvenskan would probably have been preferred, but it will give him a chance to really up his point production.
 
As Girgensons is still a prospect,i`ll post this here- he will be the first 19 year old Latvian to debut in NHL. First game for him against Red Wings.
Go get em Z ;)
 
To continue our Danish-Latvian nation prospect comparison it looks as follows:

WHL:
Oliver Bjørkstrand 9G 6A in 7 games.
Roberts Lipsbergs 5G 1A in 7 games.
Rihards Bukarts 2G 4A in 7 games.
Edgars Kulda 1G 4A in 7 games.
Mads Eller 1G 1A in 5 games.

QHJHL:
Nikita Jevpalovs 7G 3A in 7 games.
Georgs Golovkovs 6G 3A in 9 games.
Nikolaj Ehlers 5G 3A in 10 games.

So Denmark leads WHL and Latvia QHJHL, but actually all prospects are doing quite well.
Anyways Latvia has 5 and Denmark 3 in these major prospect leagues so you lead there.
 
Justinov said:
To continue our Danish-Latvian nation prospect comparison it looks as follows:

WHL:
Oliver Bjørkstrand 9G 6A in 7 games.
Roberts Lipsbergs 5G 1A in 7 games.
Rihards Bukarts 2G 4A in 7 games.
Edgars Kulda 1G 4A in 7 games.
Mads Eller 1G 1A in 5 games.

QHJHL:
Nikita Jevpalovs 7G 3A in 7 games.
Georgs Golovkovs 6G 3A in 9 games.
Nikolaj Ehlers 5G 3A in 10 games.

So Denmark leads WHL and Latvia QHJHL, but actually all prospects are doing quite well.
Anyways Latvia has 5 and Denmark 3 in these major prospect leagues so you lead there.
Click to expand...

Golvokovs is having an amazing year so far,was not expecting it from him,though im a bit dissapointed with Bukarts,i hope he can start scoring a bit more.
 
So maybe time for a little update on our prospect duel:

WHL:
Oliver Bjørkstrand 13G 12A in 13 games.
Roberts Lipsbergs 10G 4A in 13 games.
Rihards Burkarts 3G 6A in 12 games.
Edgars Kulda 3G 6A in 14 games.
Mads Eller 1G 1A in 11 games.

QHJHL: [all three around a PPG]
Nikolaj Ehlers 8G 10A in 17 games.
Nikita Jevpalovs 9G 4A 13 games.
Georgs Golovkovs 6G 6A in 13 games.
 
Justinov said:
So maybe time for a little update on our prospect duel:

WHL:
Oliver Bjørkstrand 13G 12A in 13 games.
Roberts Lipsbergs 10G 4A in 13 games.
Rihards Burkarts 3G 6A in 12 games.
Edgars Kulda 3G 6A in 14 games.
Mads Eller 1G 1A in 11 games.

QHJHL: [all three around a PPG]
Nikolaj Ehlers 8G 10A in 17 games.
Nikita Jevpalovs 9G 4A 13 games.
Georgs Golovkovs 6G 6A in 13 games.
Click to expand...

:shakehead:help:
 
So LHF announced candidates for U20 team in a prep tournament (Sergejs Zoltoks Cup) vs Denmark, Austria and Belarus that will take place from November 7-9 in Arena Riga. Pretty unremarkable list of names, except for Punnenovs in the net and Sarkanis and Kondrāts from HK Riga and Semjonovs from J20 Superelit as forwards... Pretty much Latvia U20 second team, perhaps even third as regards offense, due to many guys playing abroad and HK Rīga being busy in MHL. So don't expect much from it.

But I think the real list of candidates can already be compiled:

Goalies:
Elvis Merzļikins (1994) Lugano (6 games NLA 91,7%, 9 games Swiss U20)
Ivars Punnenovs (1994) Rapperswil (3 games NLA 90.2% , 4 games Swiss U20)
Nils Grīnfogels (1994) HK Rīga (10 games MHL, 90.1%)

Done deal, pretty much. Merzļikins as nr.1, Punnenovs as backup.

Defense

Edmunds Augstkalns (1994) HK Rīga (16 games, 2+4, +7, MHL)
Haralds Neimanis (1994) HK Rīga (17 games, 1+4, +4, MHL)
Rinalds Rosinskis (1994) HK Rīga (17 games, 0+3, +11 MHL)
Patriks Škuratovs (1994) HK Rīga (17 games, 0+1, +9 MHL)
Jānis Jaks (1994) HK Rīga (17 games, 0+1, +2 MHL)
Kristofers Bindulis (1995) Soo Eagles (13 games, 0+3, +2 NAHL)
Kristaps Bažēvičs (1994) Wichita Falls Wildcats (13 games, 0+3, +7 NAHL)
Mārtiņš Oskars Freimanis (1994) Baltica Vilnius (12 games 5+7, +7 MHL B)

lIKE 2 years ago nothing has changed, weakest link of our team but at least HK Rīga doing great in MHL and as the core of D-men is 1994, perhaps they can be good in U20 Division 1 too

Forwards:
Zemgus Girgensons (1994) Buffalo Sabres (14 games 1+2, NHL) - will not play in Div1 for sure :laugh:
Teodors Bļugers (1994) Minnesota State (4 games 1+1, NCAA)
Georgs Golovkovs (1995) Drumondville Voltiguers (15 games 7+8, QMJHL)
Ņikita Jevpalovs (1994) Blainville Boisbriand Armada (15 games 11+5, QMJHL)
Roberts Lipsbergs (1994) Seattle Thunderbirds (16 games 11+5, WHL)
Rihards Bukarts (1995) Brandon Wheat Kings (16 games 4+7, WHL)
Edgars Kulda (1994) Edmonton Oil Kings (16 games 3+7, WHL)
Romāns Semjonovs (1994) Orebro J20 (14 games 6+6, J20 Superelit)
Haralds Egle (1996) Muskegon Lumberjacks (10 games 1+1, USHL)
Nikolajs Jeļisējevs (1994) HK Rīga (17 games 11+7, MHL)
Rūdolfs Maslovskis (1995) HK Rīga (17 games 5+11, MHL)
Zintis Nauris Zuševics (1994) Graz 99ers (13 games 1+1, EBEL)
Rodrigo Ābols (1996) HK Rīga (17 games 5+4, MHL)

The depth of this batch of forwards is amazing, future national team material... More was expected from Bukarts perhaps (Danish Ehlers numbers) and Egle, but for Egle it's his first season in USHL level... Deivids Sarkanis now also has played 2 games with Dinamo Rīga and got an assist in the first, but he has not really showed up offensively in HK Rīga. Kārlis Ozoliņš also spent pre-season prepping with Dinamo, but hasn't been called up yet.

In any case, I'm worried about Ehlers and Bjorkstrand on Danish side but other than that everything below winning the Division 1, if all (or almost all) guys are present I would consider a disappointment
 
Latgale_fan said:
The depth of this batch of forwards is amazing, future national team material... More was expected from Bukarts perhaps (Danish Ehlers numbers) and Egle, but for Egle it's his first season in USHL level... Deivids Sarkanis now also has played 2 games with Dinamo Rīga and got an assist in the first, but he has not really showed up offensively in HK Rīga. Kārlis OzoliņÅ¡ also spent pre-season prepping with Dinamo, but hasn't been called up yet.

In any case, I'm worried about Ehlers and Bjorkstrand on Danish side but other than that everything below winning the Division 1, if all (or almost all) guys are present I would consider a disappointment
Click to expand...

With regards to Ehlers and Bukarts, I still feel the WHL is a stronger league than the QMJHL, more so for a player playing his first year on NA ice, in a league with big defenders and strong goalies and where the style of play mimics the NHL most closely in terms of physicality imo. Adjustment is obviously easier on a stacked team which for example Bjorkstrand played on last year when he was eased into the league and shown the ropes from the veterans. Now he is taking that winning mentality he learned last year and trying to become a leader himself.
 
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