Jevpalovs Alternate Captain of Latvia

The Shield's leading scorer from the 2010-11 season, Nikita Jevpalovs was recently named as an alternate captain to Team Latvia in the World Junior Championships. Nikita is one of two GMHL alumni playing the the WJC-20, the other being Matus Matis (Bradford Rattlers) who is playing Slovakia.

Nikita is continuing his strong international representation of his country through this year’s tournament. Jevpalovs is logging the most minutes out of any forward on Latvia, seeing time on the first line and special teams. He scored a goal against the Czech Republic and is in the top four in point getting for Latvia. He leads the team with 10 shots on goal for the tournament.

During his season with the Shield Nikita registered 48 goals and 43 assists for 91 points in 41 games. He also added another 9 goals and 18 assists for 27 points in only 16 playoff games to help lead the Shield to their third straight Russell Cup Finals appearance. When the Shield ultimately lost in game 7 of the finals, head coach Dallyn Telford recalls Nikita wanting to stay in Canada to continue his hockey career.

As it turned out, Nikita ended up back in Canada for this season playing for Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL<. His big break came on the largest stage in all of junior hockey last year when he suited up for Latvia for the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships in Calgary, Alberta. Despite being one of the youngest players in the entire tournament, the 17 year old Jevpalovs led his team in scoring with 2 goals and 3 assists in 6 games. He was named player of the game for Latvia in their opening game against Sweden and scored the overtime winner against Denmark that saved his country from relegation and kept them in the top division for the following year. He also captained the Latvian U18 entry at this years World Under-18 Championships.

His play garnered attention from National Hockey League scouts as he was ranked as high as 86th overall for European skaters for this recent NHL draft. Although he was not selected this year in Pittsburgh, he benefited from the increased exposure being drafted in the first round, #40 overall to Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL. Nikita is off to a strong start with 6 goals and 9 assists for 15 points in his rookie QMJHL campaign.

After this season, Nikita will still have one more year of eligibility for the tournament.

Everyone here with the Shield organization and the community itself is extremely proud of Nikita and his accomplishments this far in his young career. We take pride in knowing that we helped Nikita learn to play a different style of hockey here in Canada and fostered the skills and abilities that make him such a dynamic player. Congratulations Nikita!