Mogo overtakes Zemgale for first place, Prizma’s tough losses: headline January in the OHL

January has come and gone, and Mogo has re-acquired and solidified their spot on top of the Optibet Hokeja Liga standings! Since the previous article on the league, we’ve seen an even split in two games between Zemgale and Mogo, the latter also sunk Panter’s remote hopes of a first-place finish, while Prizma has dropped multiple games that they definitely should’ve been winning.

Mogo and Zemgale split two exciting games evenly

Mogo and Zemgale faced off against each other twice, on 15th January at Jelgavas Ledus Halle, and on 22nd January at Mogo’s home rink, with the home team winning in both games. Zemgale managed to grab their first victory of the season against Mogo in a low-scoring victory, with a score of 2-1. Mogo managed to score first, with the veteran forward Gints Meija picking up their lone goal that game just under 12 minutes into the game. Zemgale’s Mariuss Bajaruns-Galejs would post a stellar goaltending performance in the rest of the game, all in all stopping 30 of the 31 shots he faced. Toms Mots tied the game 1-1 in the 39th minute, and Kristaps Rokis would score the game-winning goal early in the third period, leading Zemgale to their first (and so far only) victory against Mogo this season.

In the follow-up game, Mogo would come from behind as they grabbed a 3-2 victory in the shootout. Zemgale started strong, with their new signing – Leevi Sorvali – making a great pass to a wide open Ricards Bernhards, who made it 1-0 in the 7th minute. Rising tensions led to a fight between Mogo’s youngster Vladimirs Zaicevs and Zemgale’s leader Ricards Bernhards, leaving Zemgale for the worse, and Zemgale wouldn’t recover afterwards. Mogo tied the game midway through the game with a goal from Elviss Zelubovskis, while Krisjanis Redlihs put Mogo in front in the 46th minute. Zemgale managed to tie it late in the game, with a goal from defenseman Renarts Alksnis on the powerplay. Overtime ended the same as regulation, while Mogo’s Gints Meija was the only player to score in the shootout.

Having played 5 games between eachother, Mogo has won the “season series” already, picking up 4 wins – 2-0, 3-2SO, 4-1, 2-1SO, while Zemgale only has the 2-1 victory to their name. Both Mogo and Zemgale have now played the same amount of games – 27 – and Mogo is 4 points ahead. Mogo is currently first place with 49 points, while Zemgale’s in 2nd with 45. The final game between the two will be on 22nd February at Mogo’s home rink.

Panter’s remote hopes of a first-place finish are all but gone

Panter’s surprise 5-2 victory against Mogo earlier in the season had sparked keen interest in the games between the two, indicating that Panter may just be able to upset the apple cart this season. While there were two clear leaders in the league before the start of the season – Zemgale and Mogo – the surprise victory and the amount of time Panter spent leading the league made some fans think that they might be a surprise challenger for first. The biggest hurdle in their ambitions was a series of games versus the current champions, Mogo.

However, the four games against Mogo this January weren’t kind for the Tallinn-based Panter, with each of them ending up with a blowout loss. Mogo picked up 5-1 and 4-1 wins at home, while Henrijs Ancs picked up a 6-0 shutout away in Tallinn, alongside a 6-2 victory. These results leave Panter a whopping 10 points behind even 2nd-placed Zemgale, completely halting Panter’s ambitions in the regular season this year.

Prizma’s inconsistency shines through, as they pick up multiple unexpected losses

A strong start for Prizma has collapsed to inconsistency and unexpected losses. While a 4th-place finish felt like it was guaranteed for Prizma, the team has started to pick up losses against the lower-ranked teams.

Prizma is currently on a four-game losing streak, with just one of the losses – 1-6 against Zemgale – having come against a higher-ranked team. The losing streak started against Rigas HS, when Ivans Kufterins managed to entirely shut out Prizma’s offense, stopping all 19 shots he faced. Rigas HS looked better throughout the entire game, putting up 32 shots in a 3-0 victory. Prizma looked even worse against Energija, a 1-6 loss where they were outshot 18-30, with Davis Straupe scoring their lone goal. Potentially the worst game in the series was against the Vilnius Hockey Punks, where Prizma couldn’t hold on to either a 4-2 or a 6-4 lead in the third period, before David Maniacek scored with just over two minutes left to give Vilnius a 7-6 win.

Prizma has brought in goalie Janis Auzins and defenseman Maksims Širokovs to remedy the situation, and it appears to have slightly helped. Prizma kept it 1-1 for the first 40 minutes against Zemgale in their first game of February, though they ultimately collapsed, with Zemgale scoring 5 goals in the third to make it 6-1. Goalie Auzins has performed remarkably well in the previous seasons, and it remains to be seen how much he can turn around Prizma’s fortunes.

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