Iveta Koka (born 9 March 1982) is a Latvian

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 h ...

forward, currently playing in the Swedish

Damettan DamEttan (called Division 1, 2007–2015) is the second-highest women's ice hockey league in Sweden, below the SDHL and above Damtvåan. Beginning with the first official women's ice hockey Swedish Championship in 1988, the league served as th ...

with the women's representative team of

Haninge Anchors HC Haninge Anchors HC is a Swedish ice hockey club located in Haninge. The club will play the 2014–15 season in group East of Hockeyettan, the third tier of Swedish ice hockey. The club plays its home games in Torvalla Ishall, which has a capaci ...

. She began playing with the Latvian national team in 1995 and holds the title for most career points in team history. During her nine-season career in the

Swedish Women's Hockey League The Swedish Women's Hockey League ( sv, Svenska damhockeyligan), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016– ...

(SDHL), she scored over 240 points and is the all-time leading scorer from Latvia.

Playing career

Early in her career, Koka played in the

Russian Women's Hockey League The Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL; russian: Женская хоккейная лига, translit=Zhenskaya khokkeynaya liga, translation=Women's Hockey League), officially called the Women's Hockey League (WHL), is a professional ice hockey leagu ...

with HC Tornado and in the Swiss Leistungsklasse A with the Ladies Team Lugano. From 2012 to 2018, she played for

Leksands IF Dam Leksands Idrottsförening Dam or Leksands IF Dam are a professional ice hockey team in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in Leksand, a town in the western-central Swedish province of Dalarna, at the Tegera Arena. Until 2021, th ...

in the Riksserien (renamed SDHL in 2016), putting up over a point per game with 179 points (81

goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer to: Sport * Goal (sports), a method of scoring in many sports, or the physical structure or area where scoring occurs ** Goals, the goal frame in ...

+ 98 assists) in 176 games for the club. , she stands as the third highest scorer in Leksands history. After leaving Leksands, she joined

AIK Hockey Dam AIK Hockey Dam is a professional ice hockey team in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (, SDHL), the top flight of Swedish's women's ice hockey. They play in Solna Municipality in Stockholm, Sweden at the Ritorps Ishall. History AIK were pr ...

in Stockholm for the

2018–19 SDHL season The 2018–19 SDHL Season was the 12th season of the Swedish Women's Hockey League. The season began in September 2018 and ended in February 2019. Luleå HF/MSSK were the regular season champions for the fourth season in a row, and defeated Li ...

. After scoring only 6 points in 19 games in the

2019–20 SDHL season The 2019-20 SDHL Season was the 13th season of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). The season began in September 2019 and ended in February 2020. The playoffs began a week after the end of the regular season, but the finals were cancelled ...

, she signed an extension with the club and posted 4 points in her first 7 games of the 2020–21 season.

International play

Koka made her debut with the Latvian national team at the 1995 IIHF European Women Championships, several weeks after her thirteenth birthday. Her next major international tournament was the 1999 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships – Pool B, the first lower-divisions tournament to be organized unde the

IIHF Women's World Championship The IIHF World Women's Championship (WW or WWC), officially the IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship, is the premier international tournament in women's ice hockey. It is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The offi ...

, where she recorded 3 goals and 7 assists (10 points) in five games and was selected as Best Forward of the tournament by the directorate. She scored six points in five games at the lower divisions championships the next year, held in her native Latvia. After Latvia was relegated in 2008, she scored 20 points in 5 games at the 2009 IIHF Women's World Championship Division II, earning honors as tournament MVP, contributing significantly to Latvia's undefeated streak and leading the team to gaining promotion right back to Division I. In

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, she captained the country to promotion from Division 1B to 1A. In total, Koka served as Latvian national team captain during six international seasons, most recently during the qualification tournament for the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koka, Iveta Living people 1982 births Latvian women's ice hockey players Latvian ice hockey left wingers Women's ice hockey forwards AIK Hockey Dam players Leksands IF Dam players HC Tornado players Expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Latvian expatriate ice hockey people Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden