Last season, KHL’s debut defender became the hockey player of “Liepāja”

“Optibet” hockey league (OHL) club “Liepāja” has announced the conclusion of an agreement with Latvian defender Artūrs Salijs.

Last season, the 28-year-old defender made his debut in the Continental Hockey League (KHL), playing two games for Beijing’s Kunlun Red Star. Salija spent most of the season in the Supreme Hockey League (VHL) team in Beijing “KRS-BSU”, where she collected eight (2 + 6) points in 50 games.

Starting from 13/11/2020, the management of HK Liepāja signed a cooperation agreement with Artūrs Salija. Arthur is an experienced defender, practiced in the Continental Hockey League, in the Beijing “Kunlun Red Star” team. The 2019/2020 season was spent in the Russian top league club “KRS-BSU Beijing”. pic.twitter.com/603xBVcwTw

– HKLiepaja (@hkliepaja) November 14, 2020

From 2010 to 2013, the defender played for the Youth Hockey League (MHL) unit “Riga”, later representing clubs in Latvia, Kazakhstan, Poland and Slovakia.

Salija used to play in both U18 and U20 national championships, but last weekend he was included in the adult national team’s application for the German Cup, in which the Latvian national team won. The defender played one match.

“Liepāja” takes the second place in the OHL with 17 points in 12 games, four points behind the tournament leader Riga “Olimp”.

During the season, the head coach of the club became the experienced local specialist Normunds Sējējs, who replaced Guntis Pujāts in this position. The previous coach remained at headquarters, becoming the assistant head coach.