HK Zemgale/LBTU is a professional ice hockey team based in Jelgava, Latvia. The team competes in the Latvian Hockey Higher League, the top tier of ice hockey in Latvia. The team plays its home games at the Jelgava Ice hall.
The team was founded in 2002, shortly after the opening of the Jelgava Ice hall, in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence. The team was initially called ASK/Zemgale, and joined the Latvian Hockey Higher League, in addition the team also participated in Division 2 of the Eastern European Hockey League during the 2002âÂÂ03 season. At the culmination of the season, financial issues meant that the team split in two, with the ASK franchise relocating to Ogre, creating ASK/Ogre, whilst the Zemgale side of the partnership remained in the town, operating under the name HK Zemgale. The team remained in the Latvian first tier for two further seasons before disbanding following the culmination of the 2004âÂÂ05 season.
Zemgale remained inactive until the 2010âÂÂ11 season, when they reformed and returned to the Latvian top tier, where they have played since. Usually a mid-table team, HK Zemgale's most successful season came in the 2017-18 season where they made it to the play-off final, ultimately losing to HK Kurbads, under Head Coach Haralds Vasiljevs.
In 2013, the team established a partnership with the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies ( (LLU)). In addition, Zemgale also serve as the farm team to the KHL's Dinamo Riga. During the 2020/21 season, David Levin played a handful of games for the team whilst under contract with Dinamo.
<small>Updated February 11, 2021.</small>
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
These are the top five scorers in HK Zemgale/LLU history.
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Penalty minutes: Krià ¡s KupÃÂus, 211