Energija/GV Elektrėnai

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Energija/GV Elektrėnai
SC Energija Logo.png
City: Elektrėnai, Lithuania
League: OHL
Founded: 1977
Home Arena: Elektrėnai Ice Palace
Colors: Red, white, light blue, black
                   
Franchise history
1977–2019: Energija Elektrenai
2020–: Energija/GV Elektrenai
Energija.jpg

Energija/GV Elektrėnai (formerly Energija Elektrėnai) is a Lithuanian professional ice hockey team that plays in the Latvian Hockey League. Energija is the most successful ice hockey team in Lithuania, having won 26 Lithuanian championships.[1][2] The team is based in Elektrėnai and play their home games at Elektrėnai Ice Palace.[1]

History

Energija Elektrėnai was founded in 1977,[3] following the completion of the Elektrėnai Ice Palace the year prior.[4] The team immediately joined Lithuanian league and fared well in their first season, finishing fifth out of nine teams whilst qualifying for the second round of competition.[5] Energija won its first Lithuanian championship in 1986 after battling with Baltija Klaipėda for the top spot over the course of the season.[6] The following season, Energija made it to the play-off final, ultimately losing to Baltija.[7] The team won their next championship in 1990,[8] and that marked the beginning of the team's dominance of the domestic competition, as they went on to win every Lithuanina championship until the 1999 season.

Starting in 1995, Energija participated in the Eastern European Hockey League, a trans-national league featuring teams from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. In addition to the EEHL, Energija were given an automatic spot in the final in the Lithuanian league, despite no longer competing in the Lithuanian regular season. Energija's maiden season in the EEHL saw them finish sixth out of eight teams.[9] During the team's tenure in the EEHL, they were often near the bottom of the table. Energija did not compete in the 1999–2000 EEHL season, however, they returned to the league in 2001, and remained there until 2003, a year before the league folded.

Subsequently, Energija joined the Latvian Hockey League, they had a strong debut season, making it to the semi-finals, losing to ASK/Ogre. They then lost again in the third place game to HK Liepājas Metalurgs. Despite the auspicious start north of the border, the team's first season in the Latvian border was their best; they never managed to advance past the quarter-finals.[1] Energija participated in the Latvian league until 2012, when they returned to the Lithuanian league. During their time in Latvia, Energija were again given an automatic spot in the Lithuanian final, and they continued to dominate the league, winning every edition of the competition between 2003 and 2009.[1] In September 2010, a new league had been formed in Lithuania, the Lithuania Hockey League (Nacionaline ledo ritulio lyga), of which Energija were founding members.[10] After leaving the Latvian league, Energija played one season in the NLRL, again being crowned champions, before deciding to move solely to the Belarusian second tier, the Vysshaya Liga.

The side's maiden season in Belarus was a decent one, finishing fifth out of 13 teams in the regular season, before losing in the play-off quarter-finals.[11] Their best season in Belarus came during the 2015–16 season, where they reached the play-off semi-finals.[12] The 2015–16 season saw Energija return to the NLRL; they continued to field a team in both in the Vysshaya Liga and the NLRL until 2018, when they elected to focus solely on the NLRL.[1] During this season, former NHL star and Olympic gold medallist Darius Kasparaitis briefly played for Energija in order to qualify for the Lithuanian national team, having previously represented Russia.[13][14] He had played for Hockey Punks Vilnius in previous seasons, whilst obtaining national team eligibility.[15][16] The move saw Kasparaitis play one game for Energija, the same team with whom he played as a junior.[17] Fellow ex-NHLer Dainius Zubrus also began his career with Energija.[18] However, Enerjiga only played one season in the NLRL before suffering from financial difficulties which resulted in a dispute with the owners of the Elektrėnai Ice Palace, as a result the team did not compete in the NLRL during the 2019–20 season.[19][20] The team later went on to partner with the Geležinis Vilkas hockey school, named after the mythical Iron Wolf, and returned to the NLRL for the 2020–21 season under the name Energija/GV.[21][22]

Owing to the team's dominance of the Lithuanian league, they regularly appeared in continental competition in the 1990s and 2000s. Initially appearing in the European Cup and then its successor competition the Continental Cup. However, they did not have much success in Europe, only managing to make it out of the initial group stage twice.[1]

Results (up to 2015)

Latvian Hockey League

  • 2003/04: 4th place (lost in semifinals)
  • 2004/05: 6th place (lost in quarterfinals)
  • 2005/06: 7th place (lost in quarterfinals)
  • 2006/07: 6th place (lost in quarterfinals)
  • 2007/08: 7th place (did not qualify for playoffs)
  • 2008/09: 4th place (lost in quarterfinals)
  • 2009/10: 4th place (lost in quarterfinals)
  • 2010/11: 6th place (lost in quarterfinals)
  • 2011/12: 6th place (did not participate)

Lithuanian Hockey League

  • 1992: 1st place
  • 1993: 1st place
  • 1994: 1st place
  • 1995: 1st place
  • 1996: 1st place
  • 1997: 1st place
  • 1998: 1st place
  • 1999: 1st place
  • 2000: 2nd place
  • 2001: 1st place
  • 2002: 2nd place
  • 2003: 1st place
  • 2004: 1st place
  • 2005: 1st place
  • 2006: 1st place
  • 2007: 1st place
  • 2008: 1st place
  • 2009: 1st place
  • 2010: DNP
  • 2011: DNP
  • 2012: DNP
  • 2013: 1st place

Vysshaya Liga

  • 2014: 5th place (lost in quarterfinals)
  • 2015: 8th place (lost in quarterfinals)

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season League GP W L T OTW OTL Pts GF GA Finish Playoffs
2015–16 NLRL 24 24 0 — 0 0 72 280 64 1st Champion (Hockey Punks)
2015–16 BHL 36 15 15 — 5 1 56 132 148 5th Semi-final loss (HC Shakhtyor Soligorsk-2)
2016–17 NLRL 20 20 0 — 0 0 60 182 50 1st Semi-final loss (Juodupė)
2016–17 BHL 44 18 19 — 4 3 65 176 191 8th Quarter-final loss (HC Shakhtyor Soligorsk-2)
2017–18 NLRL 20 19 1 — 0 0 57 155 55 1st Champion(Kaunas Hockey)
2017–18 BHL 52 9 40 — 1 2 31 139 335 12th Did not qualify
2018–19 NLRL 18 15 2 — 0 1 46 90 36 1st Champion(Hockey Punks)
2019–20 Did not compete

Honours

Lithuanian Championships:

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Elite Prospects – Energija/GV Elektrenai" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/1216/energija-gv-elektrenai?team-history=complete#team-history. 
  2. ↑ ""Energijos" erai atėjo galas?" (in lt). Sportas.lt. November 30, 2018. http://www.old.sportas.info/naujienos/46348-energijos_erai_atejo_galas.html. 
  3. ↑ "Apie mus – Elektrėnų Airwell Energija" (in lt-LT). https://airwellenergija.lt/apie-mus/. 
  4. ↑ "Apie mus – ELEKTRĖNŲ LEDO ARENA" (in lt). Elektrėnai Ice Palace. http://www.elektrenuledas.lt/about/. 
  5. ↑ "Lithuania – 1976–1977 on EliteProspects" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/lithuania/standings/1976-1977. 
  6. ↑ "Lithuania – 1985–1986 on EliteProspects" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/lithuania/standings/1985-1986. 
  7. ↑ "Lithuania – 1986–1987 on EliteProspects" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/lithuania/standings/1986-1987. 
  8. ↑ "Lithuania – 1989–1990 on EliteProspects" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/lithuania/standings/1989-1990. 
  9. ↑ "EEHL – 1995–1996 on EliteProspects" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/eehl/standings/1995-1996. 
  10. ↑ "NLRL" (in lt). Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation. http://www.hockey.lt/index.php/apie-lygas/nlrl/48. 
  11. ↑ "Belarus Vysshaya – 2013–2014 on EliteProspects" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/belarus-vysshaya/standings/2013-2014. 
  12. ↑ "Belarus Vysshaya – 2015–2016 on EliteProspects" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/belarus-vysshaya/standings/2015-2016. 
  13. ↑ "Naująjį sezoną Kasparaitis užsivilks "Energijos" marškinėlius" (in lt). Alfa.lt. July 26, 2017. https://www.alfa.lt/straipsnis/50199136/naujaji-sezona-kasparaitis-uzsivilks-energijos-marskinelius%C2%A7. 
  14. ↑ "Darius Kasparaitis putting retirement on hold to join Lithuanian national team" (in en). The Hockey News. January 17, 2016. https://www.si.com/hockey/news/darius-kasparaitis-putting-retirement-on-hold-to-join-lithuanian-national-team. 
  15. ↑ "Kasparaitis Is Playing for More Than a Paycheck" (in en). TheHockeyWriters.com. November 18, 2017. https://thehockeywriters.com/darius-kasparaitis-interview/. 
  16. ↑ "Ledo ritulio legenda D. Kasparaitis gins Elektrėnų "Energijos" garbę" (in lt). DELFI. July 26, 2017. https://www.delfi.lt/sportas/kitos-sporto-sakos/ledo-ritulio-legenda-d-kasparaitis-gins-elektrenu-energijos-garbe.d?id=75327537. 
  17. ↑ "Darius Kasparaitis - EliteProspects.com" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/8685/darius-kasparaitis. 
  18. ↑ "Dainius Zubrus - EliteProspects.com" (in en). EliteProspects.com. https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/8632/dainius-zubrus. 
  19. ↑ "D.Kasparaitis apie Elektrėnuose verdantį skandalą: "Manau, kad "Energija" neturi finansų, o lengviausia buvo apkaltinti kitus"" (in lt). Sportas.lt. October 8, 2019. https://www.sportas.lt/naujiena/284945/d-kasparaitis-apie-elektrenuose-verdanti-skandala-manau-kad-energija-neturi-finansu-o-lengviausia-buvo-apkaltinti-kitus. 
  20. ↑ ""Energijos" direktoriaus pareigas perima V.Mickevičius, komanda ruošiama kitam sezonui" (in lt). Sportas.lt. December 5, 2019. https://www.sportas.lt/naujiena/288229/energijos-direktoriaus-pareigas-perima-v-mickevicius-komanda-ruosiama-kitam-sezonui. 
  21. ↑ "Lietuvos ledo ritulio čempionate čiaužys penkios komandos" (in lt). Delfi. July 15, 2020. https://www.delfi.lt/sportas/kitos-sporto-sakos/lietuvos-ledo-ritulio-cempionate-ciauzys-penkios-komandos.d?id=84774879. 
  22. ↑ ""Geležinis vilkas" ir Elektrėnų "Energija" Lietuvos čempionate jungia jėgas ambicingiems tikslams" (in lt). Sportas.lt. June 30, 2020. https://www.sportas.lt/naujiena/416298/gelezinis-vilkas-ir-elektrenu-energija-lietuvos-cempionate-jungia-jegas-ambicingiems-tikslams. 
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