2008/09 was a struggle for survival for the Latvian ice hockey league. Here's a review.
Latvian Championships
2009: HK Metalurgs Liepajas
2008: HK Metalurgs Liepajas
2007: HK Riga 2000
2006: HK Riga 2000
2005: HK Riga 2000
2004: HK Riga 2000
2003: HK Metalurgs Liepajas
2002: HK Metalurgs Liepajas
2001: HK Riga 2000
2000: HK Metalurgs Liepajas
1999: Rigas Nik Brih
1998: Rigas Nik Brih
1997: Ogres Essamika
1996: HK Rigas Allianse
1995: Rigas Nik Brih
1994: Rigas Hokeja Centrs
1993: HK Rigas Pardaugava
1992: HK Kekavas Saga
_______
1944: Rigas US
1942: Rigas US
1941: Dinamo Riga
1940: Rigas US
1939: ASK Riga
1938: ASK Riga
1937: RIgas US
1936: ASK Riga
1935: ASK Riga
1934: ASK Riga
1933: Rigas Union
1932: Rigas Union
The Latvian hockey league was faced with very difficult challenges in the runup to the 2008-09 season. First, Dinamo Riga, the former pride of Latvian hockey, was resurrected and entered the new pan-Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In the process, HK Riga 2000, the club that had won the Latvian championship 4 times in the past five seasons, became a farm team of Dinamo and as a consequence, the Latvian league was deprived a score of its very best players (e.g. defensemen Kristaps Sotnieks and Maksims Sirokovs and forwards Armands Berzins, Tomas Hartmanis and Girts Ankipans). This, however, was the least of the problems as the four best Latvian teams-- Liepajas Metalurgs, HK Riga 2000, ASK Ogre and DHK Latgale--all decided to move to the Belarus Open League.
The Latvian league, which had furthermore lost its main sponsor, Samsung was left with the spoils. This, in effect, meant only SK LSPA Riga and Lithuanian Energija Elektrenai as the Estonian team Big Diamonds had pulled from a league after a threatening financial collapse.
Faced with these tremendous changes, the Latvian hockey federation had to think hard about how to rescue the league, knowing that the options were few. Eventually, the federation decided to invite some teams from the Latvian amateur leagues (HC Riga Concept, HK Ozolnieki/Monarhs (f. Vilki/OP)) and mix them with farm and junior teams (HK Metalurgs Liepajas-2, HK Prima Hanza, SK Riga 18 and Latgale Daugavils Juniors). The remaining Latvian team from the previous season SK LSPA Riga was also basically transformed into a junior team as many of the senior players had left the team in the off season.
The participation of Energija Elektrenai was long in doubt as the Lituanian team also ventured its option in the Belarus Open League. Eventually, Energija concluded that it didn't have the money required to play in this league and settled for deflated Latvian League which was at least still better--much better--than the Lithuanian league.
According to the new format, the 8 teams would play a schedule of 28 games (4x7). The four best teams would qualify for the playoffs where they in the quarterfinals would face the four elite teams that had moved to the Belarus Open League. It was thus a foregone conclusion that none of the eight teams that kept the Latvian League alive had any hope to win the title, let alone survive the first stage in the playoffs. On a more positive note, the Latvian league offered the junior players, many of whom played for the Latvian U18 and U20 teams, plenty of ice time.
As the season got started, the financial crisis kicked in with the Latvian economy being one of the
most severely affected in Europe. The loss of sponsorship and gate receipts didn't have an immediate
impact on the Latvian league as it had now basically become a mixed amateur, semi-professional and junior league. The effects on the league derived from the impact the financial crisis had on the Latvian professional teams playing in the KHL and in Belarus. Unlike many other KHL teams, Dinamo Riga didn't enjoy the financial protection from local governments and industrial patriarchs. The financial crisis left the franchise bleeding and the necessary spending cuts were first and foremost made on its farm team, HK Riga 2000. Several key players (e.g. Agris Saviels and Edgars Lusins) left the team in favour of Belarussian teams, and HK Riga filled the void with players from SK LSPA Riga. This swapping of players probably deprived SK LSPA Riga from a spot in the playoffs.
Ask/Ogre was also heavily affected by the crisis as its primary sponsor, the Latvian Ministry of Defense, cut its sponsorship. ASK Ogre, however, managed to keep its roster intact after having succeeded to agree on a 20% salary cut with the players. DHK Latgale, on the other hand, followed HK Riga 2000's examply by releasing a handful of players. Only Metalurgs Liepajas, the reigning Latvian champion, was relatively unaffected by the crisis.
With these events in mind, it was no surprise that Metalurgs Liepajas and ASK Ogre eventually reached the finals, though Liepajas Metalurgs rather surprisingly had a hard time eliminating DHK Latgale in the semifinals. As expected, the four professional teams from the Belarus Open League easily swept their opponents in the quarterfinals.
The finals between SK Liepajas Metalurgs and ASK Ogre was an exciting contest that went to six games. The key game was game 5 which was played two days after ASK Ogre had tied the series to 2:2. All four games had been tight contest, but in game 5, the series exploded when Metalurgs took a 4-1 lead after period 1. The rest of the game was truly nasty with multiple fights and dirty tricks which resulted in nearly 200 penalty minutes for both teams. ASK Ogre suffered the most by not only losing the game 4-10 but also having three players suspended for game 6 which Metalurgs won relatively easy with 4-1
REGULAR SEASON - FINAL STANDINGS
GP
W
OTW
OTL
L
GF:GA
P
1.
HK Riga Concept
28
21
0
1
6
149:68
64
2.
HK Ozolnieki/Monarkhs
28
18
2
1
7
111:76
59
3.
HK Metalurgs Liepajas-2
28
15
3
2
8
108:77
53
4.
Energija Elektrenai (LTU)
28
17
1
0
10
158:89
53
5.
SK LSPA Riga
28
13
4
3
18
113:82
50
6.
HS Prima-Hanza Riga
28
7
0
4
17
77:135
25
7.
SK Riga 18
28
4
2
1
21
59:137
17
8.
Latgale Daugavpils Juniors
28
4
1
1
22
64:175
15
SCORING LEADERS
GP
G
A
P
1.
Dovydas Kulevičius
SC Energija Elektrenai
25
12
40
52
2.
Martynas Šlikas
SC Energija Elektrenai
22
25
25
50
3.
Vadims Romanovskis
HC Concept Riga
26
21
23
44
4.
Šarūnas Kuliešus
SC Energija Elektrenai
22
19
23
42
5.
Mareks Jass
HC Concept Riga
25
25
15
40
6.
Jurajs Galajevs
HC Concept Riga
26
21
19
40
7.
Mindaugas Kieras
SC Energija Elektrenai
25
15
24
39
8.
Sergejs Povečerovskis
Ozolnieki/Monarch
25
11
23
34
9.
Juris Upītis
SK Riga/LSPA
28
10
24
34
10.
Dalius Vaiciukevičius
SC Energija Elektrenai
14
14
19
33
PLAYOFFS
QUARTERFINALS (3-5 March 2009) SK Liepajas Metalurgs - Energija Elektrenai 2-0 (10-1, 7-5)
HK Riga 2000 - Metalurgs Liepajas-2 2-0 (7-3, 5-1)
Ask/Ogre - HK Ozolnieki/Monarkhs 2-0 (6-0, 4-1)
DHK Latgale - HC Concept Riga 2-0 (7-1, 7-3)
SEMIFINALS (8-16 March 2009) SK Liepajas Metalurgs - DHK Latgale3-2 (2-3 SO, 4-1, 1-2 SO, 4-3 SO, 6-3) HK Riga 2000 - Ask/Ogre1-3 (7-2, 1-4, 1-3, 2-4)
BRONZE MEDAL GAMES (19-21 March 2009)
HK Riga 2000 - DHK Latgale 2-0 (7-6, 3-2)
FINALS
Game 1: 19 March 2009 SK Liepājas Metalurgs - ASK Ogre 3-2 (2-0, 1-1, 0-1)
1- 0 04:46 Edijs Brahmanis, 2-0 06:29 Toms Zeltiņš (Sergejs Daņilovs), 2-1 25:43 Aleksandrs Kerčs (Andrejs Ignatovičs,Edgars Adamovičs), 3-1 35:54 Eduards Ivanovs (Juris Ozols,Vladimirs Mamonovs), 3-2 47:47 Vjačeslavs Fanduļs (Aleksandrs Kerčs).
LIE 3x2 - ASK 5x2
Game 2: 20 March 2009 SK Liepājas Metalurgs - ASK Ogre 3-1 (0-0, 2-0, 1-1)
1-0 22:09 Darius Lelenas (Darius Pliskauskas,Kirill Pafifov), 2-0 37:09 Eduards Ivanovs, 3-0 45:44 Edijs Brahmanis (Darius Lelenas,Darius Pliskauskas), 3-1 57:25 Toms Bluks (Andrejs Ignatovics,Aleksandrs Kercs)
LIE 6x2 + 1x10 (Gorshkov) + 1x25 (Feldmanis) - ASK 4x2
