Gints Meija

Gints Meija
Date of birth	4th September 1987
place of birth	Riga , Latvian SSR
size	183 cm
Weight	72 kg
position	striker
number	# 87
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
2004	Riga / Saga / LB 18
2004-2005	SK Riga 18
2005-2007	SK LSPA / Riga
2007-2009	HK Riga 2000
since 2009	Dinamo Riga

Gints Meija (born September 4, 1987 in Riga , Latvian SSR ) is a Latvian ice hockey player who has been under contract with Dinamo Riga in the Continental Hockey League since 2008 .

Career

Meija first played in his hometown with Riga / Saga / LB in the U18 junior league of Latvia. During the 2004/05 season he moved within the league to the U18 team of SK Riga . Between 2005 and 2007 he took part in the Premjerlīga with the U20 team of the same club, which called itself SK LSPA / Riga .

For the 2007/08 season he moved within the Premjerlīga to HK Riga 2000 . With his new club, Meija took second place at the IIHF Continental Cup 2007/08 . In the summer of 2008 he got a contract with Dinamo Riga from the Continental Hockey League , but played mostly with HK Riga 2000 - this took part in the 2008/09 season as Dinamo's farm team in the Belarusian Extra League . He has been a permanent member of Dinamo Riga's squad since the 2009/10 season, but was also part of the new farm team, Dinamo Juniors Riga , during that season .

Meija has been a permanent staff member at Dinamo since 2011 and has regularly received contract extensions. In the spring of 2013 he won with Dinamo the Nadezhda Cup , the trophy of that Refrigerating repechage . He was the captain of Dinamo between 2016 and 2018 and has been an assistant captain ever since.

International

Meija played three times for Latvia at Junior World Championships. He took part in the U18 Junior World Championship Division I 2005 , the U20 Junior World Championship 2006 and the U20 Junior World Championship Division I 2007 .

In the senior category, Meija was nominated for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver , where he was used in four games. He also played for Latvia at the 2010 and 2011 World Championships .

In 2012 , 2013 , 2014 , 2016 , 2017 and 2018 he also played for Latvia in the top division of the World Cup. At the World Cup tournaments in 2016 and 2017, he led the Latvian national team onto the ice as assistant captain.

Meija had completed 137 international matches in total by February 2019, in which he collected 47 scorer points.

Achievements and Awards

• 2013 Nadezhda Cup won with Dinamo Riga

Career statistics

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2004/05	SK Riga 18	Latvia		29	19th	17th	36	8th		3	0	2	2	0
2005/06	SK Riga 20	Latvia		47	11	10	21st	43		-	-	-	-	-
2006/07	SK Riga 20	Latvia		48	18th	30th	48	34		-	-	-	-	-
2007/08	HK Riga 2000	Latvia		47	18th	30th	48	26th		-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	HK Riga 2000	Extraliga (BLR)		28	14th	18th	32	33		-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Dinamo Riga	KHL		18th	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	Dinamo Juniors Riga	Extraliga (BLR)		12	5	12	17th	2		-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	Dinamo Riga	KHL		26th	1	2	3	8th		9	1	1	2	0
2010/11	HK Liepājas Metalurgs	Extraliga (BLR)		12	4th	9	13	26th		-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	Dinamo Riga	KHL		26th	1	3	4th	2		1	0	0	0	4th
2011/12	Dinamo Riga	KHL		46	3	5	8th	12		7th	0	0	0	2
2012/13	Dinamo Riga	KHL		50	4th	9	13	24		-	-	-	-	-
2013/14	Dinamo Riga	KHL		25th	3	4th	7th	8th		6th	5	0	5	6th
2014/15	Dinamo Riga	KHL		59	9	6th	15th	16		-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Dinamo Riga	KHL		53	5	11	16	29		-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Dinamo Riga	KHL		60	7th	6th	13	22nd		-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	Dinamo Riga	KHL		47	0	9	9	22nd		-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Dinamo Riga	KHL		51	5	5	10	32		-	-	-	-	-
KHL total				461	38	60	98	175		23	6th	1	7th	12

International

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM	+/-
2005	Latvia	U18 World Championship Div. I.	15th place		5	0	1	1	2	-2
2006	Latvia	U18 World Championship Div. I.	1st place		6th	2	0	2	4th	0
2007	Latvia	U20 World Cup Div. I.	13th place		5	2	4th	6th	0	+4
2010	Latvia	Olympia	12th place		4th	0	0	0	2	-3
2010	Latvia	WM	11th place		6th	1	1	2	0	+1
2011	Latvia	WM	13th place		6th	0	3	3	4th	0
2012	Latvia	WM	Place 10		7th	1	0	1	0	0
2013	Latvia	Olympic torment.	Qualified		3	1	2	3	0	+3
2013	Latvia	WM	11th place		5	1	2	3	4th	+2
2014	Latvia	WM	11th place		7th	1	1	2	2	-4
2016	Latvia	WM	13th place		7th	0	0	0	4th	-2
2016	Latvia	Olympic torment.	Not agonizing		3	0	1	1	0	+1
2017	Latvia	WM	Place 10		7th	1	0	1	0	0
2018	Latvia	WM	8th place		8th	1	0	1	0	-1
2019	Latvia	WM	Place 10		7th	1	1	2	0	−1
Juniors overall					16	4th	5	9	6th	+2
Men overall					70	8th	11	19th	16	-4

Web links

• Gints Meija at eurohockey.com
• Gints Meija at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Latvijas valstsvienības visu laiku rezultatīvākie spēlētāji (1991 - February 8, 2019) (PDF file)