| Team: | HK Zemgale/LBTU |
| Colour: |
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| Colour Text: |
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| Logosize: | 200px |
| Founded: | 2002[1] |
| City: | Jelgava, Latvia |
| Arena: | Jelgava Ice hall |
| Capacity: | 1,500[2] |
| League: | OHL |
| Colours: | Blue, red, white |
| President: | Armands Ozollapa |
| Coach: | Artis Ābols |
| Captain: | Rustams Begovs[3] |
| Parentclub: | Dinamo Riga (OHL)[4] |
| Championships1 Type: | Latvian Hockey Higher League |
| Championships1: | 2 (2021–22, 2022–23) |
| Dates1: | 2002–2003 |
| Name1: | ASK/Zemgale |
| Dates2: | 2003–present |
| Name2: | HK Zemgale |
HK Zemgale/LBTU is a Latvian professional ice hockey team that plays in the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The team is based in Jelgava and play their home games at the Jelgava Ice hall.
The team was founded in 2002, shortly after the opening of the Jelgava Ice hall, in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence.[1] The team was initially called ASK/Zemgale, and joined the Latvian Hockey Higher League, in addition the team also participated in Division 2 of the Eastern European Hockey League during the 2002–03 season. At the culmination of the season, financial issues meant that the team split in two, with the ASK franchise relocating to Ogre, creating ASK/Ogre, whilst the Zemgale side of the partnership remained in the town, operating under the name HK Zemgale.[1] The team remained in the Latvian first tier for two further seasons before disbanding following the culmination of the 2004–05 season.
Zemgale remained inactive until the 2010–11 season, when they reformed and returned to the Latvian top tier,[1] where they have played since. Usually a mid-table team,[3] HK Zemgale's most successful season came in the 2017-18 season where they made it to the play-off final, ultimately losing to HK Kurbads,[5] under Head Coach Haralds Vasiljevs.[6]
In 2013, the team established a partnership with the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (Latvian: Latvijas Lauksaimniecības universitāte (LLU)).[7] [8] In addition, Zemgale also serve as the farm team to the KHL's Dinamo Riga.[4] During the 2020/21 season, David Levin played a handful of games for the team whilst under contract with Dinamo.[9]
Updated February 11, 2021.[3]
| Goaltenders | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=5% | Number | width=5% | width=15% | Player | width=8% | Catches | width=9% | Acquired | width=37% | Place of Birth | |
| 30 | Mariuss Bajaruns-Galejs | L | 2018 | Riga, Latvia | |||||||
| 1 | Rihards Cimermanis | L | 2016 | Riga, Latvia | |||||||
| 45 | Artjoms Ļeščenko | R | 2020 | - | |||||||
| Defencemen | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=5% | Number | width=5% | width=15% | Player | width=8% | Shoots | width=9% | Acquired | width=37% | Place of Birth | |
| 47 | Renars Džerods Alksnis | L | 2018 | Aloja, Latvia | |||||||
| 44 | L | 2020 | Valmiera, Latvia | ||||||||
| 33 | Aleksandrs Galkins (A) | R | 2020 | Daugavpils, Latvia | |||||||
| 5 | Daniels Goršānovs | L | 2018 | - | |||||||
| 89 | L | 2020 | Liepāja, Latvia | ||||||||
| 85 | L | 2020 | Riga, Latvia | ||||||||
| 83 | L | 2020 | Riga, Latvia | ||||||||
| 55 | L | 2020 | - | ||||||||
| 77 | Mārtiņš Porejs (A) | L | 2020 | Riga, Latvia | |||||||
| 35 | L | 2020 | - | ||||||||
| Forwards | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=5% | Number | width=5% | width=15% | Player | width=8% | Shoots | width=8% | Position | width=9% | Acquired | width=37% | Place of Birth | |
| 22 | L | F | 2017 | - | |||||||||
| 7 | Rustams Begovs (C) | L | C | 2018 | Olaine, Latvia | ||||||||
| 97 | R | RW | 2017 | Riga, Latvia | |||||||||
| 73 | Ričards Briņecs | R | F | 2018 | Jelgava, Latvia | ||||||||
| 0 | Verners Fricbergs | R | F | 2020 | Riga, Latvia | ||||||||
| 19 | Artūrs Homjakovs | L | W | 2019 | - | ||||||||
| 72 | R | LW/RW | 2020 | Riga, Latvia | |||||||||
| 23 | Ralfs Jevdokimovs | L | F | 2020 | - | ||||||||
| 17 | Aleksandrs Novikovs | L | W | 2018 | Liepāja, Latvia | ||||||||
| 88 | Roberts Petrovičs | L | F | 2020 | - | ||||||||
| 14 | Frenks Razgals | L | LW/RW | 2020 | Riga, Latvia | ||||||||
| 13 | Kristaps Roķis | L | F | 2020 | Valmiera, Latvia | ||||||||
| 90 | Kirils Tambijevs | L | C/RW | 2019 | Riga, Latvia | ||||||||
| 71 | Deivids Tempelmanis | R | F | 2020 | - | ||||||||
| 16 | Deniss Vilmans | R | W | 2020 | Liepāja, Latvia | ||||||||
| 8 | Aleksandrs Visockis | L | LW | 2019 | Liepāja, Latvia | ||||||||
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Season | League | GP | W | L | T | OTW | OTL | Pts | GF | GA | Finish | Playoffs | |
| 30 | 17 | 11 | — | 1 | 1 | 54 | 137 | 87 | 4th | Quarter-final loss | |||
| 30 | 18 | 7 | — | 2 | 3 | 61 | 137 | 85 | 3rd | Semi-final loss | |||
| 30 | 12 | 13 | — | 4 | 1 | 45 | 87 | 94 | 4th | Final loss | |||
| 2018–19 | 35 | 20 | 11 | — | 2 | 2 | 66 | 138 | 89 | 2nd | Semi-final loss | ||
| 2019–20 | 35 | 15 | 14 | — | 2 | 4 | 38 | 138 | 105 | 5th | Playoffs cancelled |
These are the top five scorers in HK Zemgale/LLU history.[3]
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | |
| F | 91 | 100 | 98 | 198 | ||
| D | 235 | 67 | 110 | 177 | ||
| F | 156 | 53 | 87 | 140 | ||
| F | 179 | 47 | 84 | 131 | ||
| F | 138 | 58 | 75 | 128 |
Penalty minutes: Krišs Kupčus, 211