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Mercyhurst’s Karlis Zirnis Heads to Minnesota to Represent Latvia at World Juniors

By Miranda Waterman Graduate Assistant

Men’s ice hockey assistant coach Karlis Zirnis heads to Minnesota as he coaches the U-20 Latvian team for the World Junior Tournament. 

Zirnis, who joined the men's ice hockey coaching staff in August, is no stranger to national stages. Zirnis has has worked as an assistant coach for the Latvian national team since 2012, even finding himself behind the bench at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia in 2014. Now, he heads to Minnesota as he coaches the U-20 Latvian team for the IIHF World Junior Championship (WJF) set to run from Dec. 26 – Jan 5 in Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

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Zirnis will take his place behind the bench on Dec. 27 against Canada – a long awaited matchup between the two countries after Latvia beat Canada for the first time ever last year and it soon being dubbed the “biggest miracle in the junior hockey tournament.”  

Anytime I can represent my country I am proud and honored. It is a privilege to coach at this level, and it is all because of the teams and programs I have been given the opportunity to coach at before. Teams like RPI, the Nashville Junior Predators, and Mercyhurst have given me the opportunity to develop as a coach and make it to this level of coaching and I could not be more grateful.
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Zirnis does not only use his opportunity to coach at the national stage to represent his home country, but also as a recruiting tool as he coaches and plays against some of the best junior hockey players in the world.

I am surrounded by and coaching some of the best junior hockey players in the world. It is a great opportunity to see players from different countries and backgrounds that are looking to play at the Division I level that we may have not had the opportunity to connect with outside of this.
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Latvia stands in group B with Canada, Czechia, Denmark, and Finland. Group A consists of Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland. After a single round-robin series in each group, the top four teams from each group will advance to a playoff round, while the fifth-placed teams will move to the relegation round. The top four teams in each preliminary round will play a cross-over quarter-final game. The winning teams will then go to a semi-final round where they will play to advance and earn either gold, silver, or bronze. The teams have been in Minnesota for training camp practicing, playing exhibition matches, and making spots on the final rosters.

You can learn more about the IIHF WJT tournament here.

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