Kristaps Sotnieks

{{Short description|Latvian ice hockey player}}

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| image = Kristaps Sotnieks 2012.jpg

| caption =

| image_size =

| position = Defence

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1987|1|29}}

| birth_place = Riga, Soviet Union

| shoots = Left

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 0

| weight_lb = 192

| league = KHL

| team = Dinamo Riga

| former_teams = HK Riga 2000
Lada Togliatti

| ntl_team = LAT

| career_start = 2005

| career_end =

}}

Kristaps Sotnieks (born January 29, 1987) is a Latvian professional ice-hockey defenseman. He currently plays for Dinamo Riga in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Playing career

In his first season in senior hockey in 2004/05 Sotnieks mostly played for the reserves squad of HK Riga 2000 which played in the Latvian hockey league, however he also played 5 matches in the main team of Riga 2000 in Belarusian Extraliga. Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout the squad of Riga 2000 was quite impressive that year, including NHLers Kārlis Skrastiņš, Sergejs Žoltoks and Darby Hendrickson, thus it was especially tough for youngsters like Sotnieks to get through on the main team. In 2005 Sotnieks played in five matches for Latvia at the U18 World Championships.

The next season Sotnieks was already a regular player in the main team of Riga 2000 which won bronze medals in the Belarusian Extraliga. In 42 matches he scored one goal, gave 4 assists and got 10 penalty minutes. In 2006 Sotnieks represented Latvia at the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Canada, earning 2 points for assists as Latvia was relegated to Division I.

The next two years Riga 2000 played only in the Latvian hockey league with Sotnieks as one of the most reliable defenders on the team. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 as a member of Riga 2000 Sotnieks won Latvian league titles.

When Dinamo Riga was formed in 2008 Sotnieks wasn't among the players who were expected to be playing regularly for the side which included former NHLers like Duvie Westcott and Filip Novák, as well as a whole selection of players who had played for Latvia national ice hockey team at several world championships - Atvars Tribuncovs, Rodrigo Laviņš, Guntis Galviņš, Krišjānis Rēdlihs, Oļegs Sorokins and Agris Saviels. Thus Sotnieks was expected to be a leading defender for HK Riga 2000 (the farm club of Dinamo) playing in the Belarusian league. However, Sotnieks became a regular for Dinamo. As of 17 February 2009, he has played 43 matches for Dinamo in the KHL, scoring two goals.{{cite web | url = http://www.khl.ru/statistics/?section=team&idteam=2488 | title = Dinamo Riga Statistics | website = Kontinental Hockey League | date = 2010-02-03 | access-date = 2010-02-03 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090218113904/http://www.khl.ru/statistics/?idteam=2488§ion=team | archive-date = 2009-02-18 | url-status = dead }}

International play

In February 2009 Sotnieks played for Latvia national ice hockey team in the Qualification to 2010 Winter Olympics, scoring two assists in three games and earning Latvia a qualification spot at the Olympics.{{cite web| url = https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/186/IHM1860LAT_83_3_0.pdf | title = Team Latvia Statistics |

date = 2009-08-02 | work = IIHF | access-date = 2009-08-02}}

Career statistics

=Regular season and playoffs=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! colspan="5" | Regular season

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! colspan="5" | Playoffs

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Season

! Team

! League

! GP

! G

! A

! Pts

! PIM

! GP

! G

! A

! Pts

! PIM

2004–05

| HK Rīga 2000

| BLR

| 5

0004

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2004–05

| HK Rīga 2000

| LAT

| 21

21314

| 2

0004
2005–06

| HK Rīga 2000

| BLR

| 37

14510

| 5

0000
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2005–06

| HK Rīga 2000

| LAT

| —

36912

| —

2006–07

| HK Rīga 2000

| LAT

| 34

36967

| 11

2024
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2007–08

| HK Rīga 2000

| LAT

| 40

22428

| 7

2024
2008–09

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 46

21334

| 3

0002
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2008–09

| HK Rīga 2000

| LAT

| —

| 7

00014
2009–10

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 48

02228

| 9

0226
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2009–10

| Dinamo Juniors Rīga

| BLR

| 1

0110

| —

2009–10

| Dinamo Juniors Rīga

| LAT

| —

| 5

1232
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2010–11

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 45

26812

| 11

0114
2011–12

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 49

24641

| 6

0112
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2012–13

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 47

35812

| —

2013–14

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 53

561149

| 7

1120
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2014–15

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 55

461034

| —

2015–16

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 60

2121426

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2016–17

| Lada Togliatti

| KHL

| 56

681424

| —

2017–18

| Lada Togliatti

| KHL

| 17

2028

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2018–19

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 55

371028

| —

2019–20

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 60

461020

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2020–21

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 26

0444

| —

2021–22

| Dinamo Rīga

| KHL

| 27

11210

| —

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" | KHL totals

! 644 !! 36 !! 68 !! 104 !! 330

! 36 !! 1 !! 5 !! 6 !! 14

=International=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" ID="Table3" style="text-align:center; width:40em"
ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Year

! Team

! Event

! rowspan="102" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! GP

! G

! A

! Pts

! PIM

2005

| Latvia

| U18 D1

| 5

0002
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2006

| Latvia

| WJC

| 6

0226
2007

| Latvia

| WJC D1

| 5

1232
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2009

| Latvia

| OGQ

| 3

| 0

| 1

| 1

| 2

2009

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

0118
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2010

| Latvia

| OG

| 4

1014
2010

| Latvia

| WC

| 6

0110
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2011

| Latvia

| WC

| 6

0446
2012

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

0000
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2013

| Latvia

| OGQ

| 3

| 0

| 0

| 0

| 0

2013

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

00012
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2014

| Latvia

| OG

| 5

0110
2014

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

1238
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2015

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

00027
2016

| Latvia

| OGQ

| 3

| 0

| 1

| 1

| 2

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2016

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

1232
2017

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

0220
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2018

| Latvia

| WC

| 8

0220
2019

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

0110
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2021

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

0220
2021

| Latvia

| OGQ

| 3

0002
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2022

| Latvia

| WC

| 7

0222
bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" | Junior totals

! 16 !! 1 !! 4 !! 5 !! 10

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" | Senior totals

! 111 !! 3 !! 22 !! 25 !! 75

References

{{Reflist}}