Scorer Kārlis Ozoliņa is confidently recognized as the MVP of the OHL regular season – Hockey – Sportacentrs.com

The questionnaire was filled out by 14 media representatives. In the symbolic selection, one goalkeeper, two defenders and three forwards had to be chosen, which had to be ranked in order. The first striker received three points, the second – two, the third – one, while the defenders shared three points in their competition – two for the first vote and one for the second. Voters also had to choose the most valuable hockey player of the regular season and the best in the U20 age group (born in 2003 or younger).

The OHL playoffs start tonight. At 19:00, the fourth-placed “Prizma” will host the fifth-placed HS “Rīga”, live broadcast on TV4 and Sportacentrs.com. At 19:15, the winner of the regular season “Mogo”/LSPA will host the eighth-placed Vilnius “Hockey Punks”, live broadcast on Sportacentrs.com.

Symbolic sampling

Also for the third year in a row, the season’s top scorer won the MVP award. Kārlis Ozoliņš, who played both center and right wing, appeared in all 32 matches and scored 38 goals and 77 points. Ozoliņš was kept to zero in only three matches (twice against “Zemgali”/LLU and once against HS “Rīga”), he also collected six points in three games (twice against “Kaunas City” and once against “Dinaburg” of Daugavpils ).

Ozoliņš’s 77 points is the seventh most productive season in the history of the Latvian Championship and the most productive since 2005. The record with 142 points since 1993 belongs to Helmut Balder, and he is the only hockey player who has exceeded the hundred point mark.

MVP did not score a goal against only one of the eight opponents – the goalkeepers of Riga “Dinamo” remained unbeaten in four games. However, he managed to give seven assists. Ozoliņš’s most comfortable opponents were Daugavpils “Dinaburga” (9+8 in four games) and “Kaunas City” (8+9 in four games). He averaged 3.08 points per game against Lithuanian teams, but against Latvia playoff for teams – an average of 1.43 points.

Last year, the most valuable player award was won by Gatis Gricinskis, as many as five candidates were voted for, but the victory was quite convincing – the center forward representing “Mogo”/LSPA received 13 votes, while the closest follower, Robert Yekimov, had four. On the other hand, two seasons ago, Kirill Tambijev was only one vote short of a perfect MVP vote, just like Kārlis Ozoliņš this year.

It goes without saying that Kārlis Ozoliņš, who won the MVP award, was the striker with the most points in the vote. Second place went to his exchange partner throughout the season Rudolph Maslowskiwho finished second on the list of top scorers with 63 points.

If Ozoliņš did not score a single goal against Riga “Dinamo”, Maslovskis scored five goals in the last meeting on February 18. It was the only five-goal game of the OHL season. It was Maslovski who deprived Ozolins of one MVP vote.

Vote for MVP and best U20

The goal scorer of the Latvian championship fought diligently for the third forward position in the symbolic team Elvis Zhelubovski and the most productive Lithuanian Tads Kumełuskis. Both scored ten points. The first criterion in case of a tie was the highest place in the voting. No one received a three-point vote, but Zhelubovskis was placed in second place five times, Kumelyusks – two.

Thus, only “Mogo”/LSPA strikers entered the symbolic selection – Kārlis Ozoliņš, Rudolph Maslowski and Elvis Zhelubovski.

Among the defenders, the hockey player who won the regular season also received the most approval. Chris Lipsberg with 22 points in 30 games, was the most productive defender of “Mogo”/LSPA and received nine points in the vote. He was included in eight questionnaires out of 14. While seven hockey players received votes in the forward competition, there was more competition among defenders – nine hockey players were included in the questionnaires.

“Prism” teammates earned seven points in the vote – Kristaps Miller and Christ Apsites. Taking into account the draw formula, Apsītis was included in the symbolic selection, who as the first defender was included in three questionnaires, while Miller – in two.

He was not the only representative of “Prism” in the symbolic selection. He earned the most approval among the goalkeepers Janis Auzins. Like Apsītis, he also started the season in the goal of “Dinamo” Riga, but after an injury and unpaid debts, he moved to “Prizma”, in whose goal he won 14 out of 20 games and coped with 91.7% shooting. Auziņš received ten votes, while “Mogo”/LSPA’s long-time number one earned four Henry Anch.

Finally, the striker was recognized as the best junior Ernest Krum, who came of age during the season, on December 4. Krūms collected 31 points in 31 games and in the ranking of “Mogo”/LSPA was immediately behind the big four, who also collected the first four places in the entire league (Kārlis Ozoliņš – 77 points, Rūdolfs Maslovskis – 63 points, Artūrs Ozoliņš – 60 points, Elviss Želubovskis – 58 points).

In the first half of the season, Krum mostly played as a second-shift left winger, while at the end of the season he already became a second-shift center. The 18-year-old hockey player missed the final match of the regular season (1:3 against “Zemgali”/LLU), but playoff Krum will be back in the lineup.

Krūms received six votes, while the second with three votes was the best scorer of HS “Rīga” Christer Anson. He finished the regular season with seven goals in the last five matches. In total, six different juniors received votes.

Symbolic sample vote

Votes from previous seasons

In the Sportacentrs.com vote, the OHL national team is determined, Gricinskis is the MVP
In the vote organized by Sportacentrs.com, the OHL team is determined, MVP – Tambijev