Gavars Scores Shorthanded Again as Latvian Legionnaires Shine in Czech Hockey League

Multiple Latvian players featured on the scoresheet in the Czech Extraliga. Mladá Boleslav forward Fēlikss Gavars, 24, leveled the score at 1:1 in the 15th minute while his team was shorthanded — the second consecutive game in which he has scored while down a man, having done the same on Sunday. Gavars now has three goals and three assists in six league games this season. Despite his goal, Mladá Boleslav fell 1:4 to Plzeň's Škoda.

In the same match, Plzeň defenseman Kristiāns Rubīns added an empty-net goal late in the game to help secure the win, taking his season tally to one goal and one assist in six games.

Veteran forward Ralfs Freibergs, 35, now playing for Vítkovice, scored against his former club Olomouc, tying the game 3:3 on the power play four minutes before the end of regulation. Olomouc nevertheless lost the match 3:4. Freibergs has one goal and four assists in six games so far.

Defenseman Jānis Jaks recorded two assists and played more than 24 minutes as Litvínov beat Liberec 5:4 in a shootout, bringing his season total to two goals and three assists in six games. On the losing side, Liberec defenseman Kristaps Zīle had a tougher night — his team squandered multiple leads, and he took a holding penalty.

Elsewhere, forward Renārs Krastenbergs finished with a minus-two rating as České Budějovice lost 2:5 to defending champions Pardubice, while Prague's Sparta fell 3:4 to Hradec Králové's Mountfield. Latvian forward Mārtiņš Dzierkals has missed a week of action for Sparta due to a shoulder injury.