Olegs Sorokins, left, and Herberts Vasiljevs, right, will lead the Latvian under-18 ice hockey team next season ©IIHF

Two former Latvian national team players and Olympians have been named coaches of the country's under-18 squad for next season.

The Latvian Ice Hockey Federation has unveiled Olegs Sorokins as the new head coach and Herberts Vasiljevs as his assistant.

Sorokins will replace Igors Smirnovs, who coached the team last season, but left following an abysmal campaign.

Latvia finished the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Under-18 World Championship in Slovakia in last place, causing them to be relegated from the top division.

The team will now battle for promotion back to the elite level at next year's World Championship Division I Group A on home ice in Riga against Kazakhstan, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Slovenia.

Olegs Sorokins, left, represented Latvia at Salt Lake City 2002 ©Getty Images
Olegs Sorokins, left, represented Latvia at Salt Lake City 2002 ©Getty Images

During his career, Sorokins represented Latvia at seven IIHF World Championships and in the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, where they finished ninth.

In 2014, the former defenceman started working as an assistant coach for Mogo Riga, while still playing, and has been the team’s head coach for the last two years.

Vasiljevs represented Latvia in 11 World Championships and the Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 Olympics.

His last tournament was the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

The 41-year-old centre ended his career as a player this year after his 12th season with Krefeld Pinguine of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.