SHK Laima Riga
SHK Laima Riga (Latvian: Sieviešu hokeja klubs Laima) is a Latvian women's ice hockey club from Riga. The club was founded in the spring of 1989 by Uldis Opits, Andrejs Zaķis and Marika Nagumanova and aimed to give individual athletes such as figure skaters, speed skaters and track and field athletes the opportunity to play a team sport.
As there were no other women's teams in Latvia, the team initially competed against boys' teams. Their first women's opponent was from Kharkiv, Ukraine, with the game taking place at the Daugava ice rink on March 30, 1991. From 1992 onwards, Laima also regularly took part in international tournaments where it met other women's teams. Since 2004, they have competed in the Latvian Women's Hockey League, and have been by far the most successful team in the league.
Since 2004, SHK Laima has also regularly participated in IIHF tournaments. In December 2009, they reached the intermediate round of the IIHF European Women's Champions Cup.