Fecere and Cibuļskis' Danish champions open new season with dominant win

Denmark's top ice hockey league, Metaligaen, kicked off its new season with the defending champions — featuring Latvian goaltender Roberts Fecere and defenceman Oskars Cibuļskis — securing a commanding 7:1 win over an opponent that included several other Latvian players.

For 20-year-old Fecere, last season marked his first as his club's undisputed starting goaltender, during which he posted a 91% save percentage across 47 games. Meanwhile, the more experienced 38-year-old Latvian national team defenceman Cibuļskis received a two-minute penalty for roughing in this match. Last season he recorded 32 points (6 goals, 26 assists) in 57 games with a plus-minus rating of +54.

On the opposing side, former Latvian national team defenceman Artūrs Kulda was penalized for hooking. Last season Kulda played for Austria's Villach and Romania's Csíkszereda.

The same game marked the top-flight Danish debuts of two young Latvian players: 22-year-old Elvis Laškovs from Valmiera, who plays defence for Esbjerg, and 24-year-old Edvards Bergmanis, a product of Riga's hockey system, who plays forward.

In another Metaligaen fixture, forward Raimonds Vītoliņš, who gained experience in both Slovakia and Denmark last season, played his first game of the new campaign. His team, SønderjyskE of Vojens, lost 1:2 to the Odense Bulldogs.