Kristaps Sotnieks

Latvia Kristaps Sotnieks


Date of birth	January 29, 1987
place of birth	Riga , Latvian SSR
size	180 cm
Weight	80 kg

position	defender
number	# 11
Shot hand	Left

Career stations

until 2008	HK Riga 2000
2008-2016	Dinamo Riga
2016-2018	HK Lada Tolyatti
since 2018	Dinamo Riga

Kristaps Sotnieks (born January 29, 1987 in Riga , Latvian SSR ) is a Latvian ice hockey player who has been playing again for Dinamo Riga in the Continental Hockey League since June 2018 .

Career

Kristaps Sotnieks started his career at HK Riga 2000 , for which he made his debut in 2004 in the B-team, which took part in the Latvian championship . He also came to five missions in the first team that participated in the Belarusian open league . Due to the lockout in the National Hockey League , the first team included players like Kārlis Skrastiņš , Sergejs Žoltoks and Darby Hendrickson , so 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 season, HK Riga 2000 won the Latvian championship .

After the return of the NHL players to North America, Sotnieks belonged to the regular staff of HK in the Belarusian championship in the following season and reached third place in this with his team. Due to the closure of the Belarusian league for foreign clubs, Sotniek's club played exclusively in the Latvian ice hockey league for the next two years and he was one of the most reliable defenders of his team, which won two other Latvian championship titles in 2006 and 2007.

When the KHL participant Dinamo Riga was founded in the spring of 2008 and announced that they would mainly sign Latvian national players, Sotnieks was initially not among the candidates for a place in the KHL squad. Initially, he was intended as a leading player on the defensive of HK Riga 2000, which acted as Dinamos farm team in the 2008/09 season . But in the training camp and the subsequent preparatory games, Sotnieks won a place in Dinamo's defense. In total, he completed 49 KHL games for Dinamo in the season, in which he scored two goals.

Between 2016 and 2018 Sotnieks was with HK Lada Tolyatti , but missed the KHL play-offs with Lada in both years. He returned to Dinamo in June 2018.

International

Early in his career, Sotnieks represented his home country in international tournaments. He took part in one U18 and two U20 world championships . He had to accept relegation to Division I at the U20 World Cup in 2006 with the Latvian junior selection.

He has been a permanent member of the Latvian national team since 2008 and took part in both the 2009 World Cup and qualification for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In three qualifying games, Sotnieks contributed two assists and thus contributed to the successful qualification of his team.

The highlights of his international career so far have been taking part in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics .

Achievements and Awards

2005 Latvian champion with HK Riga 2000
2006 Latvian champion with the HK Riga 2000
2007 Latvian champion with the HK Riga 2000
2013 Nadezhda Cup won with Dinamo Riga

Career statistics

			Regular season					Play-offs
season	team	league	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2004/05	HK Riga 2000	BLR	5	0	0	0	4th	-	-	-	-	-
2004/05	HK Riga 2000	LAT	21st	2	1	3	14th	2	0	0	0	4th
2005/06	HK Riga 2000	BLR	42	1	4th	5	10	-	-	-	-	-
2005/06	HK Riga 2000	LAT		3	6th	9	12	-	-	-	-	-
2006/07	HK Riga 2000	LAT	45	5	6th	11	71	-	-	-	-	-
2007/08	HK Riga 2000	LAT	48	4th	3	7th	32	-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Dinamo Riga	KHL	46	2	0	2	34	3	0	0	0	2
2009/10	Dinamo Juniors Riga	BLR	1	0	1	1	0	-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	Dinamo Riga	KHL	48	0	2	2	28	9	0	2	2	6th
2010/11	Dinamo Riga	KHL	45	2	6th	8th	12	11	0	1	1	4th
2011/12	Dinamo Riga	KHL	49	2	4th	6th	41	6th	0	1	1	2
2012/13	Dinamo Riga	KHL	47	3	5	8th	12	-	-	-	-	-
2013/14	Dinamo Riga	KHL	53	5	6th	11	49	7th	1	1	2	0
2014/15	Dinamo Riga	KHL	55	4th	6th	10	34	-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Dinamo Riga	KHL	60	2	14th	16	26th	-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	HK Lada Tolyatti	KHL	56	6th	8th	14th	24	-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	HK Lada Tolyatti	KHL	17th	2	0	2	0	-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Dinamo Riga	KHL	55	3	7th	10	28	-	-	-	-	-
KHL total			531	31	57	88	296	36	1	5	6th	14th

International

Represented Latvia at:

year	team	event	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2005	Latvia	U18 World Championship Div. I.	5	0	0	0	2
2006	Latvia	U20 World Cup	6th	0	2	2	6th
2007	Latvia	U20 World Cup Div. I.	5	1	2	3	2
2009	Latvia	OQ	3	0	1	1	2
2009	Latvia	WM	7th	0	1	1	8th
2010	Latvia	Olympia	4th	1	0	1	4th
2010	Latvia	WM	6th	0	1	1	0
2011	Latvia	WM	6th	0	4th	4th	6th
2012	Latvia	WM	7th	0	0	0	0
2013	Latvia	WM	7th	0	0	0	12
2014	Latvia	Olympia	5	0	1	1	0
2014	Latvia	WM	7th	1	2	3	8th
2015	Latvia	WM	7th	0	0	0	27
2016	Latvia	WM	7th	1	2	3	2
2017	Latvia	WM	7th	0	2	2	0
2018	Latvia	WM	8th	0	2	2	0
2019	Latvia	WM	7th	0	1	1	0
Juniors overall			16	1	4th	5	10
Men overall			88	3	17th	20th	69

( 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 )

Web links

Kristaps Sotnieks at hockeydb.com (English)
Kristaps Sotnieks at eurohockey.com
Kristaps Sotnieks at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Statistics for Team Latvia (PDF; 50 kB)

Squad of Dinamo Riga in the 2020/21 season

personal data
SURNAME	Sotnieks, Kristaps
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Latvian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH	January 29, 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH	Riga , Latvian SSR

[1] Statistics for Team Latvia (PDF; 50 kB)