Latvia U18 Women’s Hockey: WC Prep & Lithuania Match

In the period from December 26 to December 28, 2025, the candidates of the Latvian U18 women’s hockey team under the leadership of head coach Mika Golubovič, coaches Vladislavas Koniševas, Laila Dekmejeres-Trigubova and Deni Romanovskis will conduct a training camp at the Daugava Ice Hall, augšiela 1, Riga, and prepare for a test match with their lithuanian counterparts on 28.12.2025.

22 hockey players who represent 14 sports schools and clubs in Latvia and abroad have started participating in the training camp. Candidates spend 2 training days.At the end of the preparation stage – Sunday, 28.12.2025, at 16.00 latvian U18 women’s ice hockey team candidates will play a test match with Lithuania’s U18 women’s ice hockey team at Elektrēni Ice Hall, Lithuania.

28.12.2025 it is possible to watch the test match in person, at the Eletreni Ice Hall, Elektreni, Lithuania. The game will be watched online on the Lithuanian hockey channel of the social network youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGiJHHyTcPE

the training camp and test match is the third stage of preparation for participation in the 2026 U18 World Ice hockey Championship for Women in the II Division Group A tournament (hereinafter – the Championship), which this season from 19.01.2026. until 25.01.2026 will take place in Istanbul, Turkey.

In the championship,the Latvian U18 women’s hockey team will compete against the national team teams of South Korea,New zealand,Kazakhstan,the Netherlands and Turkey to fight for entry into the higher division group (Division I group B) tournament.

The championship is the 4th strongest tournament by rank, but there are six of them in total.

This will be the fifth World Championship tournament for the Latvian U18 women’s hockey team. The foundations of the Latvian U18 women’s hockey team began to be built in 2019, when 15 girls from all Latvian and foreign clubs were invited, where the first games with women’s hockey clubs were played in the Andrej Zakis Memorial Cup tournament for women in a pilot project. Later, the head coach of the Latvian U18 women’s ice hockey team, Miks Golubovičs, started purposefully creating development camps in the respective age group in order to understand the level, number of players and the possible formation of the Latvian U18 women’s team for the start of the World Championship tournaments. Initially, the first start for the Latvian U18 women’s hockey team was planned for 2021. As part of the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic,the tournament scheduled for 2021 was canceled,thus the first start of the U18 Women’s World Ice Hockey Championship Division II tournament was in Turkey,Istanbul in 2022. So far, the best success has been the 2nd place.

Women’s hockey continues to develop, the number of girls playing in the respective age group is increasing, providing additional reserves of players for the preparation of a higher level team. At the moment, there are more than 60 players of the relevant age group, and hockey among young girls is only growing, encouraging the involvement of girls in sports at an ever younger age.

The establishment of the Latvian U18 women’s ice hockey team has promoted positive competition among peers, providing additional motivation to improve the players’ individual abilities and improve the team’s overall performance.Already this year, the list of candidates for the Latvian U18 women’s hockey team includes girls who spend their hockey days in foreign clubs during the season: Kjāra Paula Želubovska will play for Biosteel Sports Academy (Canada) and Anna Elza glāzniece will play for Memmingen Indians (Germany).

Olpha Latvia supports the preparation stages of the Latvian U18 women’s hockey team and their participation in the World Championship!

List of candidates for the Latvian U18 women’s hockey team:

Information prepared by:

Agnes Karkliņa
Latvian Hockey Federation
Women’s hockey development project manager