96 Vilius Krakauskas

The Invicta Dynamos are delighted to announce their 2nd Non-British Trained player for 2024/25 as 6’2” Lithuanian Forward Vilius Krakauskas. He signs after a year away from hockey to set up his new business, previously having represented the Romford Buccaneers at this level.

On joining the Mos, Vilius Krakauskas explained his excitement for the season ahead “I am very excited to join the Dynamos. I cannot wait to meet the team and get started on the ice! Big thank you for opportunity to coach Karl, I will do my best to make the team even stronger”.

The native of Kreitinga spent his formative years in the Lithuanian junior leagues representing both Grifai Kreitinga and Ledzinga Gargzdai in Lithuania 2 division. Across the 2010/11 and 11/12 seasons he played 23 games scoring 30 goals and 16 assists for 46 points. During which time he also represented DKLRM U16 team in both seasons.

In the 2012/13 season Vilius spent his time across 2 countries, crossing the border to Latvia to also represent Metalurgs Liepaja alongside Baltija Klaipeda back home in the Lithuanian 2 league. It was in this season that he was selected for Lithuania U18 National team for the World Junior Championships D2A managing to pick up a goal in the 5 games he iced.

The following year Krakauskas again split his time across countries, this time in Sweden U18 Elit with Nynäshamn IF and Tukum U18 in Latvia, ending the season with his re-selection for the WJC D2A selection for Lithuania but this time picking up a Gold Medal for his Nation.

The following 2 seasons saw Vilius spend time in Liepaja Juniors of the Latvia 2 division, in which he played 41 games, notching 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points. During the 2014/15 season the team were champions of the division. In both seasons he was selected for the Lithuanian U20 WJC team playing a total of 10 games for his country, scoring 2 goals and picking up an assist as the team won back-to-back Silver Medals.

After a spell away from the game and upon his move to the UK, Krakauskas signed for the Raiders IHC 2 (now known as the Buccaneers) at NIHL 1 level. Across the seasons from 2019/20 to 2022/23 he has played 95 games for the Essex side, scoring 52 goals and 51 assists for 103 points in all competitions.

“Across the past few years I can remember Vilius’ name popping up for the wrong reasons… with strong performances and goals against us. That always sticks in your mind when you’re looking for a player. We had a great conversation in the summer, and he explained to me that he had taken a year out to focus on his new business (coaching ice hockey) and was looking for the right opportunity to get back into the game. At 28 he’s still young, skates extremely well and with his size and eye for a goal I expect him to make a big impact for us next season. So very happy to have Vilius with us and can’t wait to start working with him this season.”
Head Coach Karl Lennon