By Luke McGinnis
Last night, the Stars picked up a massive 7-1 win over HK Liepāja to kickstart their three-game home preseason schedule featuring international opposition.
“We spent some time working on our defensive zone this week, and for the most part, we kept things fairly solid in our end,” said Head Coach Scott Dutertre.
“The other message was getting the puck to the net and being opportunistic. Anytime we had the opportunity, get to the net and make sure sticks are down for any secondary opportunities or tips, and it worked out for us.”
Rasmus Nousiainen and Ben Brown both scored twice, while Travis Ewanyk, Maxim Eliseev and Duggie Lagrone also found the back of the net.
Dundonian netminder Dominick Jaglar made his first-ever start for the club, blanking Liepāja during the opening period before Carl Stankowski made his Stars debut in relief ahead of the second period.
Keaton Jameson made his Stars debut, meaning the entire 2026/27 roster is now available to play.
“I’d say my early impression of the group is a lot of intensity and a good group of guys. I think all of our practices have been pretty high-tempo with a lot of skating. Even our workout on Tuesday was quite challenging.
“I think we have a great room of guys. There’s a good mix of experienced players with some younger guys who have a lot of energy,” said Jameson.
The Kyiv Capitals, who compete in the Optibet Hockey League in Latvia, are entering their third game in three nights. Friday saw the Capitals suffer an overtime loss to the Fife Flyers before rebounding with a 7-4 win over the Glasgow Clan last night.
“Preseason is all about working out the kinks. Execution will come. For us right now, it’s all about doing the little details within the game so we’re ready for the first regular season game,” said Assistant Coach Brad Herauf.
“There’s not a lot of video on the other team, so for us the biggest thing is worrying about what Scott has been trying to implement, our systems and the style of hockey we want to play,” he added.
A variety of skaters have found the back of the net for Kyiv across those two games, with Renars Cipruss, Mykhailo Kovalchuk, Harijs Brants and Deivids Sarkanis all having scored twice for the Capitals this weekend.
Defenceman Eduards Hugo Jansons is returning for his second season with the club, after leading in playoff scoring and finishing tied first in league playoff goal scoring last season.
Former Nottingham Panther Deivids Sarkanis is bolstering the Kyiv forward core after finishing second in league scoring and leading the league in playoff scoring last season en route to his fifth Latvian Championship with HK Mogo.
“It’s like what we’ve talked about from day one, when we were trying to build this thing. It’s about getting a nucleus of older guys, then having the young guys work around them,” concluded Dutertre.
“The older guys will make sure they take care of the young guys, and the young guys have stepped up and taken the load as well.”
