Ģirts Ankipāns (born November 29, 1975) is a retired

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player and coach. Currently he serves as the head coach of Dinamo Riga in

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...

Career

Playing career

He started his professional ice hockey career in Latvia, where he played for various local teams. During the 1996-97 season, he became the best goal-scorer of the

Latvian Hockey League The Latvian Hockey Higher League ( lv, Latvijas Virslīgas hokeja čempionāts), also known as the Optibet Hockey League ( lv, Optibet hokeja līga) since 2017 due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Optibet, is the top tier Sports league, lea ...

. Next 7 seasons Ankipāns spent playing in German hockey leagues. Before the 2003-04 season, he returned to Latvia and joined

HK Riga 2000 HK Riga 2000 was an ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. The team had played in the LHL since it was founded. In 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons the club also iced a team in the Belarusian Hockey League, and in 2005-06 finished 3rd. HK Riga 2000 ...

. He played five seasons with Dinamo Riga in

before retiring as player.

International career

He has played for the

Latvia men's national ice hockey team The Latvian men's national ice hockey team represents Latvia in international ice hockey. The team is ranked 10th in the world by IIHF as of 2019. The team is controlled by the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation. Their best ever finish at the World C ...

in 2003,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

World Championships as well as in

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Coaching career

After ending his career as player Ankipāns joined Dinamo coaching staff as assistant coach. On September 28, 2017, he became the interim head coach of the team, replacing

Sandis Ozoliņš Sandis Ozoliņš (born August 3, 1972), commonly spelled Sandis Ozolinsh in North America, is a Latvian former professional ice hockey player and coach. During his career in North America, Ozoliņš was a seven-time NHL All-Star, Stanley Cup ch ...

. On March 29, 2018 Ankipāns was signed as the head coach.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

*LAT totals do not include numbers from the 2005–06 season, and 2006–07 playoffs.

International

References

External links

*
Ģirts Ankipāns
at Dinamo Riga * * * 1975 births Living people Dinamo Riga players EHC Neuwied players EV Füssen players EV Landshut players HC Dinamo Minsk players HK Liepājas Metalurgs players HK Riga 2000 players Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Latvian ice hockey coaches Latvian ice hockey centres Latvian sports coaches Latvian sportspeople Lillehammer IK players Olympic ice hockey players of Latvia Sportspeople from Riga {{Latvia-icehockey-bio-stub