Mindaugas Keras [2] ( lit. Mindaugas Kieras , born June 7, 1980 in Elektrėnai ) is a Lithuanian hockey player and coach. In 2015-2017, he was an assistant to the head coach of the Lithuanian youth team , and at the 2018 World Youth Championship, he was the head coach of the Lithuanian youth team . Since September 2018, the head coach of the Vilnius club Hockey Panks .
 Mindaugas Keras | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | defender | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 187 cm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The weight | 87 kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Mindy [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Citizenship |  Lithuania | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | June 7, 1980 (aged 39) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NHL draft | didn't get out | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gaming career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Coaching career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Content
Career
Club
Pupil of the hockey school of Elektrenai " Energy ". He began his career in this club in 1997, having gone up in 2002 thanks to the transfer to the Belarusian Neman from Grodno (with the Belarusian team he won bronze medals in the championship of Belarus and took part in the tournament in memory of A. I. Dubko). He soon returned shortly to his native Elektrenai, and after that he left for the UK , speaking for various clubs. In the UK, he built up a reputation as a good defender, and in the 2005/2006 season he won the British title in the Milton Keynes Lightning [3] .
In 2007-2008, Keras played for the Latvian “ Latgale ” in the Latvian Open Ice Hockey Championship, gaining 24 points (4 + 20) and earning as many as 124 penalty minutes, thereby becoming one of the roughest players in the championship. [4] In 2009, he returned to Lithuania, but due to another unsuccessful performance of Elektrenaya in the Latvian Championship in 2010, he signed a contract with the British club Basingstoke Bison [5] .
After the 2011 World Cup in Division I , matches were held in Budapest and Kiev , some hockey clubs in Ukraine became interested in Mindaugas, however, due to the lack of a sufficient number of scouts [6], none of the clubs offered the Lithuanian a contract, and Kieras soon left the club, leaving in the Slough Jets.
Team
Mindaugas has been a member of the Lithuanian national team since 1999. He continuously participates in world championships and qualifications for the Winter Olympic Games. On April 28, 2018, he played the 100th at the game of the first division of the 2018 World Cup in a match with the Estonian national team.
Rewards
- Winner of the first division of the 2018 World Cup ( Lithuania )
Game Style
According to Peter Russell, the head coach of the Slough Jets club, Keras is a physically very powerful player: left-hander Mindaugas has a strong and dangerous throw, often engages in martial arts on the flanks and is able to play at a high level for at least 40 minutes of playing time. According to all the same Russell, Mindaugas gives all his best in training and games, and in some situations he is able to lead the team forward [7]
Notes
- ↑ Goodnight and Good Luck - Mindaugas Kieras
- ↑ In some Russian-language sources, the spelling Kieras is found
- ↑ Profile at Hometeamsonline.com
- ↑ Statistics on the website Hockey.Penza.Net (Russian)
- ↑ Kieras signs in England
- ↑ Where are you going, legionnaire? (Russian)
- ↑ Kieras joins Slough (English)
Links
- Mindaugas Keras - statistics on Eliteprospects.com
- Mindaugas Keras - Stats at European Ice Hockey Online AB