Top blueliner Alberts Smits is logging a ton of ice time for Latvia at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship in Minnesota.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / TIM AUSTEN
Imagine moving to a foreign country for your work. Even for adults, that can be a challenge. Now picture doing it as a 13-year-old – without your parents. That’s what star Latvian defenceman Alberts Smits did.
It’s certainly not a path recommended for most youngsters. But going to Finland appears to have panned out for the 18-year-old Smits, a rookie and assistant captain at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship.
The Valmiera native spent three seasons with the Helsinki-based Karhu-Kissat sports academy. He then moved to Mikkeli – 230 kilometres northeast of the capital – to play with Jukurit. In his second Liiga season, Smits has six goals and 12 points in 29 games. With size, mobility, and an all-business attitude, the 191-cm, 93-kg blueliner is projected to be among the top 10 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft.
“I felt like if I want to play high-level hockey, I have to move to a better country to develop my hockey skills,” Smits explained to reporters. “It taught me a lot of things in life, and now at the age of 18, I'm independent. I live on my own. So it helped me a lot. Of course, it was tough. I learned a lot of new things. Made a lot of mistakes, but that’s how life goes. You make mistakes and then learn from them and move on.”
It’s certainly not a path recommended for most youngsters. But going to Finland appears to have panned out for the 18-year-old Smits, a rookie and assistant captain at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship.
The Valmiera native spent three seasons with the Helsinki-based Karhu-Kissat sports academy. He then moved to Mikkeli – 230 kilometres northeast of the capital – to play with Jukurit. In his second Liiga season, Smits has six goals and 12 points in 29 games. With size, mobility, and an all-business attitude, the 191-cm, 93-kg blueliner is projected to be among the top 10 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft.
“I felt like if I want to play high-level hockey, I have to move to a better country to develop my hockey skills,” Smits explained to reporters. “It taught me a lot of things in life, and now at the age of 18, I'm independent. I live on my own. So it helped me a lot. Of course, it was tough. I learned a lot of new things. Made a lot of mistakes, but that’s how life goes. You make mistakes and then learn from them and move on.”
His philosophy could easily apply to Latvia’s hard-fought 2-1 overtime loss to Canada on Saturday. Without the penalties that led to two Canadian power play goals, including Michael Hage’s winner, the small Baltic nation might have pulled off another upset like in Ottawa last year. There, power forward Eriks Mateiko broke Canadian hearts with his 3-2 shootout winner.
Smits – who played a game-high 24:37 versus Canada, partnering with Harijs Cjunskis – expressed frustration about having to settle for one point. Still, the left-shooting rearguard acknowledged that 17-year-old centre Rudolfs Berzkalns’ tying goal with 1:58 left can serve as a rallying point for Latvia.
“It shows that we can be close as a team, coming back even in a moment like that,” Smits said. “We are fighting for each other, and no matter what, we’re just trying to do our stuff. We’re not worrying about who we are playing against. We’re just doing our thing.”
How does he feel about playing in his first World Juniors?
“I’m here doing my job. Nothing special for me. Just trying to help my team as much as possible.”
Favourite players?
“I don’t have favourite players.”
What about the pressure of being scrutinized by NHL scouts?
“It doesn’t bother me, because I just don’t think of them. There’s no reason for me to think of that. That’s just pressure on me that I don’t need. I’m getting paid to do my job and I go out and do my job.”
He credits hard work in the off-season and the guidance of Jukurit head coach Jonne Virtanen and his staff for his current level of success.
Smits – who played a game-high 24:37 versus Canada, partnering with Harijs Cjunskis – expressed frustration about having to settle for one point. Still, the left-shooting rearguard acknowledged that 17-year-old centre Rudolfs Berzkalns’ tying goal with 1:58 left can serve as a rallying point for Latvia.
“It shows that we can be close as a team, coming back even in a moment like that,” Smits said. “We are fighting for each other, and no matter what, we’re just trying to do our stuff. We’re not worrying about who we are playing against. We’re just doing our thing.”
How does he feel about playing in his first World Juniors?
“I’m here doing my job. Nothing special for me. Just trying to help my team as much as possible.”
Favourite players?
“I don’t have favourite players.”
What about the pressure of being scrutinized by NHL scouts?
“It doesn’t bother me, because I just don’t think of them. There’s no reason for me to think of that. That’s just pressure on me that I don’t need. I’m getting paid to do my job and I go out and do my job.”
He credits hard work in the off-season and the guidance of Jukurit head coach Jonne Virtanen and his staff for his current level of success.
Based on this tough-minded approach, it may not come as a surprise that Smits had a valid reason for not watching Latvia’s historic bronze medal victory over the U.S. at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Tampere. He was at practice with his Finnish club and only learned the result afterwards.
Smits had to learn English to communicate when he originally moved to Finland, as he did not speak Finnish – a notoriously difficult language spoken by only about six million people worldwide. And how about today?
“It’s all right,” Smits said. “In the locker room, I can speak Finnish, but it’s still not that comfortable to speak in interviews.”
That “hockey fluency” might come in handy in Latvia’s next game against Finland on Sunday. The Finns – the 2025 silver medalists – thumped Denmark 6-2 to kick off their tournament. Regardless of what the Latvians did against Canada, they enter this matchup as underdogs. Latvia has never beaten Finland in eight tries all-time, and has been shut out 3-0, 4-0, and 3-0 at the last three World Juniors.
“There’s a lot of [Finnish] guys that I know, a couple guys that I have played with,” Smits said. “Of course, they are very skillful. So we just have to, from this moment on, get ready for tomorrow’s game.”
Spoken like a kid who grew up fast and is determined to excel on the world’s biggest stages.
Smits had to learn English to communicate when he originally moved to Finland, as he did not speak Finnish – a notoriously difficult language spoken by only about six million people worldwide. And how about today?
“It’s all right,” Smits said. “In the locker room, I can speak Finnish, but it’s still not that comfortable to speak in interviews.”
That “hockey fluency” might come in handy in Latvia’s next game against Finland on Sunday. The Finns – the 2025 silver medalists – thumped Denmark 6-2 to kick off their tournament. Regardless of what the Latvians did against Canada, they enter this matchup as underdogs. Latvia has never beaten Finland in eight tries all-time, and has been shut out 3-0, 4-0, and 3-0 at the last three World Juniors.
“There’s a lot of [Finnish] guys that I know, a couple guys that I have played with,” Smits said. “Of course, they are very skillful. So we just have to, from this moment on, get ready for tomorrow’s game.”
Spoken like a kid who grew up fast and is determined to excel on the world’s biggest stages.