First season as pro leaves Leeds Chiefs’ Andres Kopstals hungry for more

Whether Kopstals is asked back for a second stint with the Chiefs remains to be seen, with a possible delayed start to the 2020-21 campaign because of the coronavirus pandemic meaning many teams’ recruitment is on hold until the picture becomes clearer.

But, regardless of where the exact location may ultimately be, the 26-year-old centre - who quickly established himself as a fans’ favourite in West Yorkshire - is certainly keen to return to these shores as and when it becomes possible.

While happy with his overall contribution on the ice, Kopstals does admit to some disappointment when it comes to his points tally for the season, the two-way playmaker finishing the campaign with 22 points from 39 appearances, including eight goals.

“I would have loved to have more stats on paper, that’s no lie,” said Kopstals. “But in terms of my general play I think I contributed where I was expected to - being a solid, two-way player, winning face-offs, killing penalties.

“Just being a reliable go-to player in tense moments of the game - whether it be the last minute of the game and we’re down a goal or up a goal - I tried to bring a reliable presence to the line-up.

“If things were going to start back up on time next season, I would definitely be interested in returning to the Chiefs, but that would be a conversation I would have to have with Sam.

“I don’t have a gameplan for next season yet but, with the way things are around the world at the moment, everybody is in no-man’s land.”

Having spent five years studying for an economics and finance degree at the University of Guelph in his native Ontario alongside continuing his development on the ice, Kopstals was determined to strike out as a professional last summer and, from an early stage, was set on making that move in Europe.

It was only after discovering that his Latvian dad was actually born in Bradford that his focus then switched to forging a career for himself in the UK, his subsequent application for British citizenship a mere formality.

His newfound dual-national status combined with an agent in the shape of former Milton Keynes Lightning, Telford Tigers and Guildford Flames forward Gary Clarke eventually brought him to the attention of Chiefs’ player-coach Sam Zajac with Kopstals soon signing up as one of the Chiefs’ two imports for their inaugural campaign in NIHL National.

As has been well-documented it was something of a baptism of fire for all concerned with the Chiefs, delays to the construction of their Elland Road rink seeing them play their first 35 games on the road.

The Chiefs finally got to skate out in front of their own fans at the end of January but, in many ways, the damage caused by endless travelling, lack of practice time and playing short had already been done.

And it was that strength in adversity, the camaraderie and strong bond forged under such trying circumstances - a handful of players did move on because of the situation - that sticks with Kopstals more than anything else from his time in the UK.

“Without the rink and practice, it was a struggle to have a sense of routine, but once the rink opened and we were practising a couple of nights a week and we were not driving 90 minutes to get to practice, it was great” said Kopstals.

“Everyone likes winning, nobody really likes losing but the camaraderie of your team-mates is the most important thing you can have. The times when you are in the locker room and on the bus before and after games, hanging out with people for hours on end - that’s the stuff that I like the most about playing, the brotherhood of playing in a team.

“To say I enjoyed it was an understatement; it was a great time and that is credit to all the other guys in the team too.

“In a way it was good for us to go through those first 30 or so games on the road, there were times where we got sick of it, but you’d look around and remember that everybody else in the room or on the bus was in the same boat.

“It definitely bonded us as a group, maybe more so than other teams in the league. It might have felt different at the time but, looking back, it helped us become a proper team.”