THE CANADIAN PRESS RON WARD
Medicine Hat Tigers and Latvian defenceman Bogdans Hodass boxes out Finland's Joakim Kemell who watches for a shot from the point during second period IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship hockey action in Moncton, N.B. on Dec. 29.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
There are few better feelings for Bogdans Hodass than suiting up and representing Latvia.
The 19-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman played at his final U20 World Juniors this year as Latvia avoided relegation and earned themselves a spot in the 2024 tournament, which will take place in Sweden.
“It was such a good feeling, coming back with my old buddies and my teammates so we could play together again,” Hodass said. “The only thing bad was that it is my last juniors, that’s the only thing about that. I was excited for the tournament.”
In six tournament games Hodass had two goals and four points, tying him for top scorer on Latvia. All of those points came in the relegation series, where Latvia beat Austria in two straight games. He says they weren’t too worried heading into that series and were confident in themselves.
“We weren’t stressed or nervous about those games because we knew we if we played our game we are better than them and we really wanted to just stay in the main tournament,” Hodass said.
Hodass represented Latvia in Dec. 2021 at the Division A level, winning themselves a spot in the 2023 World Juniors. But because of the cancelled 2022 Juniors and Russia being barred from the games, Lativa earned a spot in the summer tournament and Hodass once again donned the Latvian colours. He had a goal and an assist in five games during that tournament held without fans in attendance.
Comparing that atmosphere to the fans in the stands in Halifax and Moncton, N.S., Hodass says he loved the amount of energy they provided.
“It felt great because every game, it didn’t matter what team you were on there was so many fans,” Hodass said. “The crowd was really, really loud and it was just a great feeling.”
Hodass enjoyed the downtown in Moncton and Halifax and said they had pretty views.
He returned to Medicine Hat last Saturday and was in the lineup Tuesday for a 3-1 loss in Swift Current against the Broncos. In 28 games with the Tigers this season, Hodass has been slotted on the top shut-down pairing alongside Rhett Parsons and has contributed four goals and 11 assists for 15 points. His biggest takeaway from that tournament into the WHL, he just wants to do whatever it takes for his team.
“I can play every role coaches give me, whether it’s play a lot of minutes, I’ll just play my game and it won’t bother me,” Hodass said.
He says he’ll be tuned in next December when Latvia enters the under-20 tournament again and is excited to see how they will do.
“We just need to trust ourselves because we can play against every team, it doesn’t matter what comes,” Hodass said. “We just need to play our game and good things will happen.”
McKenna named to Team Yukon
Medicine Hat Tigers top prospect Gavin McKenna will compete at the Canada Winter Games after being named to Team Yukon earlier this week. The 15-year-old will compete against fellow Tigers prospects Matthew Paranych, Kadon McCann and Jordan Switzer, and South Alberta Hockey Academy teammate Ryan Miller who will suit up for Team Alberta while Owen Pettipas is representing the North West Territories.
Hockey in the Winter Games gets underway Feb. 19 and runs until Mar. 5.
