Kristaps Sotnieks
Kristaps Sotnieks ( born January 29, 1987 in Riga, Latvian SSR) is a Latvian ice hockey player who plays for Dinamo Riga in the Kontinental Hockey League since 2008.
- 3.1 International
Career
Kristaps Sotnieks began his career at HK Riga 2000, for in 2004 he was in the B- team, which participated in the Latvian championship, debuted. In addition, he came to five appearances in the first team, which participated in the open Belarusian league. Due to the lockout in the National Hockey League 's first team players like Karlis Skrastiņš, Sergei Žoltoks and Darby Hendrickson belonged to, so that it was difficult for the 18 -year-old Sotnieks to get a regular place in the first team. At the end of the 2004 /05 HK Riga 2000 won the Latvian championship.
After the return of NHL players to North America Sotnieks belonged in the following season to the permanent staff of HK in the Belarusian Championship and reached with his team to third place in this. Due to the closure of the Belarusian league for foreign clubs played Sotnieks club in the next two years exclusively in the Latvian Hockey League and he was one of the most reliable defenders of his team, the two other Latvian Champion title won in 2006 and 2007.
When the KHL Dinamo Riga participants was founded in early 2008 and announced to mainly undertake Latvian national team, Sotnieks initially was not a candidate for a place in the KHL squad. First, he was a leading player in defense of HK Riga 2000, which acted as Dinamo's farm team in the season 2008 /09, are provided. But in training camp and the subsequent pre-season games to Sotnieks won a place in Dinamo's defense. Overall, he graduated in 49 KHL season appearances for Dinamo, where reach in two goals.
Internationally
Early in his career took Sotnieks his country in international tournaments. So, he took part in a U18 - U20 and two World Championships. He suffered at the U20 World Cup in 2006 with the Latvian junior selection relegation to Division I.
Since 2008 he has been a member of the Latvian national team and took part in both the 2009 World Championships and the qualification for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. In three qualifying matches Sotnieks contributed two assists and contributed to the successful qualification of his team.
Awards and achievements
- 2005 Latvian Champion with HK Riga 2000
- 2006 Latvian Champion with HK Riga 2000
- 2007 Latvian Champion with HK Riga 2000
Career Stats
Internationally
Represented Latvia at:
- U18 Junior World Championship 2005 Division I
- U20 Junior World Cup 2006
- U20 World Junior Championships 2007 Division I
- Qualification for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games
- World Cup 2009
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )