Metalurgs finishes last at Continental Cup

For the past couple of days Latvian club Metalurgs Liepaja participated in the Continental Cup third round, which was held in Rouen. Unfortunately, Liepaja lost in all three of its games, finishing last in the group. The winner of the group (Rouen) qualified for the Continental Cup Final Four.

Throughout the history of Continental Cup the only Latvian club to play in the Final Four was HK Riga 2000, who finished in the second place in both 2006 and 2008. However, in 2008 the tournament was held in Riga, so that HK Riga 2000 had a guaranteed place there.

Final standings:

	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GD	Pts
Rouen	3	2	0	1	0	12:6	7
Coventry Blaze	3	2	0	0	1	15:9	6
Cracovia Krakow	3	1	1	0	1	10:12	5
Metalurgs Liepaja	3	0	0	0	3	7:17	0

Metalurgs Liepaja games:

November 26	Coventry Blaze	1:6
November 27	Rouen	1:4
November 28	Cracovia Krakow	5:7

Metalurgs Liepaja player statistics:

	GP	G	A	P	PIM
Vladimirs Mamonovs	3	2	1	3	0
Edgars Brancis	3	2	1	3	2
Juris Stals	3	1	1	2	4
Yuri Navarenko	3	0	2	2	27
Viktors Blinovs	3	1	0	1	0
Edmunds Kniksts	3	1	0	1	4
Janis Andersons	3	0	1	1	0
Toms Zeltins	3	0	1	1	0
Arturas Katulis	3	0	1	1	2
Nerius Alisauskas	3	0	1	1	2
Vents Feldmanis	3	0	1	1	4
Kristers Freibergs	3	0	0	0	0
Gunars Skvorcovs	3	0	0	0	0
Vitalijs Pavlovs	3	0	0	0	0
Maris Gravitis	3	0	0	0	0
Lauris Bajaruns	3	0	0	0	2
Koba Jass	3	0	0	0	2
Valeri Bobkov	3	0	0	0	2
Renars Demiters	3	0	0	0	4
Valerijs Filimonovs	3	0	0	0	4

	GP	GAA	TOI
Maris Jucers	3	5.71	126:03
Dmitrijs Zabotinskis	2	5.56	53:57

Metalurgs Liepaja wins Polish national team

Latvian club Metalurgs Liepaja spent the last few days in Poland, where it took part in the Sosnowiec Cup, as a part of the team’s pre-season schedule. On August 21, the last day of the cup, Metalurgs Liepaja managed to win over Polish national team and finish the tournament in second place.

On Day 1 Metalurgs Liepaja faced HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Extraleague and lost 2:4. Goals for Liepaja were scored by Edgars Brancis and Vladimirs Mamonovs.

Metalurgs line-up:

Dmitrijs Zabotinskis

Vents Feldmanis – Yuri Navarenko; Vladimirs Mamonovs – Artem Gnidenko – Valerijs Filimonovs

Arturas Katulis – Sergei Gubin; Edijs Brahmanis – Edgars Brancis – Gunars Skvorcovs

Renars Demiters – Edmunds Kniksts; Lauris Bajaruns – Vitalijs Pavlovs – Toms Zeltins

Nerius Alisauskas – Glebs Rogoza; Koba Jass – Maris Gravitis – Maris Dilevka(Aldis or Edgars Abolins)

The roster of Metalurgs Liepaja stayed exactly like this for the rest of the tournament. On Day 2 Metalurgs won local Zaglebie Sosnowiec 5:2 with two goals scored by Ukrainian Artem Gnidenko, as well as Lithuanian Arturas Katulis, Vladimirs Mamonovs and Valerijs Filimonovs. In the team’s 2:1 win over Polish NT the goal scorers were Filimonovs and Skvorcovs.

On September 3 Metalurgs Liepaja will play their last exhibition game against Dinamo Riga. The team will begin the regular season on September 8, when it will play against Khimvolokno Mogilev.

Metalurgs Liepaja is ready to start

It has been already some time, since the Latvian club Metalurgs Liepaja began their thirteenth pre-season camp. For the fifth time the team will play in the Belarusian league. After the current Latvian champion Dinamo Juniors Riga ceased their existence, Metalurgs will also take part in the Continental Cup.

The team is traditionally built around long-time Metalurgs veterans, such as Filimonovs, Zabotinskis, Feldmanis, Mamonovs. The team consists also of many younger players, who have learned the game of hockey in Liepaja. Besides Lithuanian Nerius Alisauskas and Russian Sergei Gubin, who have played in Liepaja for several years, this season the team also includes Lithuanian defender Arturas Katulis and two Ukrainians – Yuri Navarenko and Artem Gnidenko. All three have appeared in several Worlds Championships for their respective national teams.

Two players, who played for Metalurgs almost since the first day, Eduards Ivanovs and Juris Ozols after the previous season have decided to retire from hockey. Eduards Ivanovs already has been announced as one of the Metalurgs-2 Liepaja coaches for 2010/11.

Metalurgs Liepaja current roster:

G	Dmitrijs Zabotinskis	Latvia	1980
G	Maris Jucers	Latvia	1987
G	Janis Kalnins	Latvia	1991
G	Nauris Grinvalds	Latvia	1990
D	Vents Feldmanis	Latvia	1977
D	Edmunds Kniksts	Latvia	1982
D	Renars Demiters	Latvia	1986
D	Nerius Alisauskas	Lithuania	1991
D	Glebs Rogoza	Latvia	1991
D	Karlis Liepins	Latvia	1990
D	Martins Gipters	Latvia	1989
D	Sergei Gubin	Russia	1977
D	Arturas Katulis	Lithuania	1981
D	Yuri Navarenko	Ukraine	1979
F	Valerijs Filimonovs	Latvia	1979
F	Vladimirs Mamonovs	Latvia	1980
F	Maris Gravitis	Latvia	1981
F	Edijs Brahmanis	Latvia	1983
F	Gunars Skvorcovs	Latvia	1990
F	Sergejs Danilovs	Latvia	1989
F	Vitalijs Pavlovs	Latvia	1989
F	Toms Zeltins	Latvia	1986
F	Aldis Abolins	Latvia	1985
F	Lauris Bajaruns	Latvia	1989
F	Arturs Mickevics	Latvia	1991
F	Edgars Brancis	Latvia	1985
F	Maris Dilevka	Latvia	1992
F	Artem Gnidenko	Ukraine	1980