Gatis Sprukts is one of the three Latvian hockey players who currently practice professional hockey for a couple of hours from the actually occupied part of Ukraine. The attacker was already ready to thank the management of the Donetsk team of Donetsk for cooperation a few days ago, but the professionalism of the club encourages him to stay for the time being, Sprukts says in a conversation with the Delfi portal.
For the second time this season, the Delfi portal is interviewing a Donbass hockey player from the former Continental Hockey League (KHL) team in Donetsk. In October, we invited the promising goalkeeper Jānis Vori to the conversation, who was inspired to go to Ukraine by professional conditions in the “Donbass” unit.
Not only the political situation has changed in a few months, but also the hockey environment in Ukraine. A quarrel between Donbass club owner Boris Kolesnikov and the Ukrainian Hockey Federation (FHU) over not allowing the Donbass team’s hockey players to the Ukrainian national team has ended with the creation of a separate championship. In the middle of the season, with the blessing of the influential businessman Kolesnikov, the Ukrainian Super League was founded, in which six teams participate, but only five units remain in the highest league organized by the federation.
Four of the new Super League teams are based in the Donetsk region cities of Mariupol, Druzhivka and Kramatorsk, which experienced serious fighting in 2014 and were even in the hands of separatists for a few months. Kramatorsk, which is located about 122 kilometers from Donetsk, has become an island of peace in Latvia. The Kramatorsk club, represented by Denis Berdnik, and the team of “Donbass”, represented by Gata Sprukt, Oleg Shishlannikov and the Latvian-grown Mark Kaleinikov, who are still formally attached to the Donetsk label, are playing in the city.
At the beginning of his career, 26-year-old Gatis Sprukts was in the “Dinamo” system of Riga, later he played in the second highest league in France, as well as in the Alpine League, but in 2019/2020. became the most successful player of the domestic “Optibet” hockey league in the season “Zemgale” / LLU (52 points in 35 games).
The invitation received in November to join the “Donbass” team was a surprise, admits Jelgava, who does not hide that he has not played at such a high level – professional club management, team members with KHL experience, agitation around the Super League matches in Kiev was also observed on the giant screen in the capital of Kiev) and feel the demands to win every match.
We have an unexpected day in the talks after the loud announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the state recognizes the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk. Sprukts does not hide that, encouraged by people close to him, he was already ready to go home. However, at least for now, the management of the club has been able to convince Latvians that it will take care of its hockey players. After all, it already has 2014 experience. At that time the team had to move from Donetsk…
I see you have a serious gaming schedule. You’ve been playing almost every other day lately.
Yes, for us tomorrow [trešdien] there will be a game again. It’s like “play-offs” before “play-offs”. This league was established only in early December. In order to have a full season, we have 30 games planned. The regular season without a little or three months to play. There are eight to ten games a month. It has also been the case that four games have to be played in eight days. Tight schedule.
