Bozeman goalie Romanovskis shines at Worlds

May 13, 2015

Bozeman Ice Dogs and NA3HL Top Prospects goalie Denijs Romanovskis recently represented his home country from Latvia at the IIHF U18 World Ice Hockey Championships in Switzerland.

 

The 18-year-old from Jelgava, Latvia played very well in goal for the Latvians, who manage to maintain their elite status with a relegation round win over Germany.  Romanovskis started in goal against Canada and despite a 11-6 loss, managed to be named player of the game and make the highlight reel on TSN in Canada.

 

 

Romanovskis had a 92.1% save percentage this season in the NA3HL, appearing in 30 games for Bozeman.  He also played on the NA3HL 18U Selects Team at the NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament.

 

Latvia, a country that proved to be one of the true feel-good stories of the tournament, would end up in the relegation round against Germany Aside from an opening 11-6 loss to Canada, which nonetheless showed that the team could score, the Latvians played close games against each the Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland, first having lost to the Swiss in overtime. 

 

With the preliminary round having boosted their confidence, Latvia proceeded to convincingly beat Germany 5-3 twice to retain the class and guarantee its ticket for Grand Forks next season . A wonderful achievement also considering that a number of these kids will be returning and word is, a few good talents are on the way. For one of the most lightly populated ice hockey crazy countries on the planet, this tournament was a very positive sign that things are on the right track and other countries will need to take note.

 

"Denijs has always played very aggressively and hates to lose, that is what makes him such a great goalie and teammate and sets him apart from other players in my opinion.  He can definitely play at the next level as I have seen what he can do as a player and how he can help transform the attitude on any team.  Denny is extremely positive and works very hard to be the best he can be and as such a young goalie he would be a solid player for a couple years at the Tier 1 or tier 2 level and then move on to college," said Bozeman Icedogs Head coach Mark Vichorek.