Energija/GV Elektrėnai

Energija/GV Elektrėnai (formerly Energija Elektrėnai) is a Lithuanian professional ice hockey team that plays in the Latvian Hockey Higher League. Energija is the most successful ice hockey team in Lithuania, having won 25 Lithuanian championships. The team is based in Elektrėnai and play their home games at Elektrėnai Ice Palace.
==History==
Energija Elektrėnai was founded in 1977, following the completion of the Elektrėnai Ice Palace the year prior. The team immediately joined Lithuanian league and fared well in their first season, finishing fifth out of nine teams whilst qualifying for the second round of competition. Energija won its first Lithuanian championship in 1986 after battling with Baltija Klaipėda for the top spot over the course of the season. The following season, Energija made it to the play-off final, ultimately losing to Baltija. The team won their next championship in 1990, and that marked the beginning of the teams dominance of the domestic competition, as they went on to win every Lithuanina championship until the 1999 season.
Starting in 1995, Energija participated in the Eastern European Hockey League, a trans-national league featuring teams from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. In addition to the EEHL, Energija were given an automatic spot in the final in the Lithuanian league, despite no longer competing in the Lithuanian regular season. Energija's maiden season in the EEHL saw them finish sixth out of eight teams. During the teams tenure in the EEHL, they were often near the bottom of the table. Energija did not compete in the 1999–2000 EEHL season, however, they returned to the league in 2001, and remained there until 2003, a year before the league folded.
Subsequently, Energija joined the Latvian Hockey Higher League, they had a strong debut season, making it to the semi-finals, losing to ASK/Ogre. They then lost again in the third place game to HK Liepājas Metalurgs. Despite the auspicious start north of the border, the team's first season in the Latvian border was their best; they never managed to advance past the quarter-finals. Energija participated in the Latvian league until 2012, when they returned to the Lithuanian league. During their time in Latvia, Energija were again given an automatic spot in the Lithuanian final, and they continued to dominate the league, winning every edition of the competition between 2003 and 2009. In September 2010, a new league had been formed in Lithuania, the Lithuania Hockey League (), of which Energija were founding members. After leaving the Latvian league, Energija played one season in the NLRL, again being crowned champions, before deciding to move solely to the Belarusian second tier, the Vysshaya Liga.
The sides maiden season in Belarus was a decent one, finishing fifth out of 13 teams in the regular season, before losing in the play-off quarter-finals. Their best season in Belarus came during the 2015–16 season, where they reached the play-off semi-finals. The 2015–16 season saw Energija return to the NLRL; they continued to field a team in both in the Vysshaya Liga and the NLRL until 2018, when they elected to focus solely on the NLRL. During this season, former NHL star and Olympic gold medallist Darius Kasparaitis briefly played for Energija in order to qualify for the Lithuanian national team, having previously represented Russia. He had played for Hockey Punks Vilnius in previous seasons, whilst obtaining national team eligibility. The move saw Kasparaitis play one game for Energija, the same team with whom he played as a junior. Fellow ex-NHLer Dainius Zubrus also began his career with Energija. However, Enerjiga only played one season in the NLRL before suffering from financial difficulties which resulted in a dispute with the owners of the Elektrėnai Ice Palace, as a result the team did not compete in the NLRL during the 2019–20 season. The team later went on to partner with the Geležinis Vilkas hockey school, named after the mythical Iron Wolf, and returned to the NLRL for the 2020–21 season under the name Energija/GV.
Owing to the teams dominance of the Lithuanian league, they regularly appeared in continental competition in the 1990s and 2000s. Initially appearing in the European Cup and then its successor competition the Continental Cup. However, they did not have much success in Europe, only managing to make it out of the initial group stage twice.
==Roster==
Updated January 28, 2021.
Goaltenders	Goaltenders	Goaltenders 	Goaltenders	Goaltenders	Goaltenders
Number 	 	Player 	Catches 	Acquired 	Place of Birth
33 	 	Albertas Grinevicius	L 	2020 	–
30 	 	Maxim Ponomarenko 	R 	2020 	Kaliningrad, Russia
1 	 	Eduard Zakharchenko 	L 	2020 	Vladivostok, Russia
Defencemen	Defencemen	Defencemen 	Defencemen	Defencemen	Defencemen 	Defencemen
Number 	 	Player 	Shoots 	Acquired 	Place of Birth 	
25 	 	Rolandas Aliukonis 	L 	2020 	Elektrėnai, Lithuania	
12 	 	Mikas Briedys 	R 	2020 	– 	
96 	 	Aurimas Gaidauskas 	L 	2020 	Elektrėnai, Lithuania	
4 	 	Karolis Kubilius 	L 	2020 	Elektrėnai, Lithuania	
15 	 	Herkus Marcinkevicius	L 	2020 	– 	
3 	 	Dominykas Motiejünas 	R 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania 	
88 	 	Avgustinas Silinas 	L 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania 	
77 	 	Jan Tuchto 	R 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania 	
5 	 	Justinas Vezelis 	L 	2020 	Elektrėnai, Lithuania	
Forwards	Forwards	Forwards 	Forwards	Forwards	Forwards	Forwards
Number 	 	Player 	Shoots 	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
81 	 	Edvinas Boroška 	L 	LW/RW 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania
97 	 	Justas Fedorovicius 	L 	F 	2020 	Trakai, Lithuania
76 	 	Karolis Fedorovicius 	L 	F 	2020 	Trakai, Lithuania
10 	 	Gediminas Jadkauskas 	L 	LW/RW 	2020 	–
7 	 	Karolis Krasilnikovas	L 	F 	2020 	Elektrėnai, Lithuania
19 	 	Donatas Kumeliauskas 	R 	F 	2020 	Elektrėnai, Lithuania
28 	 	Timonas Mazulis 	R 	LW 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania
17 	 	Ernest Misiuk 	R 	F 	2020 	–
66 	 	Patrik Misiuk 	L 	F 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania
9 	 	Arnas Misiukas 	L 	F 	2020 	–
13 	 	Dino Mukovoz 	L 	F 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania
11 	 	Nikodemas Numavicius 	R 	F 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania
22 	 	Oskaras Oleinikas 	R 	F 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania
24 	 	Rojus Plepys 	L 	F 	2020 	–
6 	 	Dmitri Rabchuk 	L 	F 	2020 	–
22 	 	Edgar Rybakov 	R 	C 	2020 	Trakai, Lithuania
60 	 	Martin Tuchto 	L 	F 	2020 	Vilnius, Lithuania
16 	 	Edgar Rybakov 	L 	F 	2020 	–
==Season-by-season record==
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Season 	League 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	OTW 	OTL 	Pts 	GF 	GA 	Finish 	Playoffs
2015–16	NLRL 	24 	24 	0 	— 	0 	0 	72 	280 	64 	1st 	Champion (Hockey Punks)
2015–16	BHL 	36 	15 	15 	— 	5 	1 	56 	132 	148 	5th 	Semi-final loss (HC Shakhtyor Soligorsk-2)
2016–17	NLRL 	20 	20 	0 	— 	0 	0 	60 	182 	50 	1st 	Semi-final loss (Juodupė)
2016–17	BHL 	44 	18 	19 	— 	4 	3 	65 	176 	191 	8th 	Quarter-final loss (HC Shakhtyor Soligorsk-2)
2017–18	NLRL 	20 	19 	1 	— 	0 	0 	57 	155 	55 	1st 	Champion(Kaunas Hockey)
2017–18	BHL 	52 	9 	40 	— 	1 	2 	31 	139 	335 	12th 	Did not qualify
2018–19	NLRL 	18 	15 	2 	— 	0 	1 	46 	90 	36 	1st 	Champion(Hockey Punks)
2019–20	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete	Did not compete
==Honours==
Lithuanian Championships:
* 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.
==Team records==
===Career===
These are the top five scorers in Energija history.
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Player 	Pos	GP 	G 	A 	Pts
Dovydas Kulevičius	F 	405	189	452	644
Rolandas Aliukonis	D 	517	121	358	479
Sarunas Kuliesius 	F 	353	196	247	443
Aivaras Bendžius 	F 	278	199	161	360
Martynas Slikas 	F 	318	169	189	358
Penalty minutes: Rolandas Aliukonis, 881
===Season===
====Regular season====
* Most goals in a season: Paulius Gintautas, 42 (2013–14)
* Most assists in a season: Dovydas Kulevičius, 274 (205–16)
* Most points in a season: Dovydas Kulevičius, 108 (2015–16)
* Most penalty minutes in a season: Andrius Kaminskas, 146 (2002–03)
====Playoffs====
* Most goals in a playoff season: Povilas Verenis, 10 (2017–18)
* Most assists in a playoff season: Mikhail Yevstigneyev, 9 (2018–19)
* Most points in a playoff season: Povilas Verenis, 16 (2017–18)
* Most penalty minutes in a playoff season: Aivaras Bendžius, 75 (2016–17)
==Notable players==
* Nerijus Ališauskas
* Egidijus Bauba
* Darius Kasparaitis
* Dainius Zubrus
==References==
==External links==
* 
Category:Eastern European Hockey League teams
Category:Ice hockey clubs established in 1977
Category:Ice hockey teams in Lithuania
Category:Latvian Hockey League teams
Category:Lithuanian Hockey League teams
Category:Vysshaya Liga (Belarus) teams