Ralfs Freibergs (born 17 May 1991) is a Latvian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

for

HC Litvínov HC Litvinov, called HC VERVA Litvínov for sponsorship reasons is an ice hockey team in the Czech Extraliga. Their home arena is Ivan Hlinka Stadion in Litvínov. Honours Domestic Czech Extraliga * Winners (1): 2014–15 * Runners-up (1): 19 ...

of the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga ( cs, Extraliga ledního hokeje, ELH) is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created by the 1993 split of the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League following the breakup of Czechoslovakia. The leag ...

(ELH).

Playing career

After first playing professionally in his native Latvia, Freibergs moved to North America as a junior and played

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

for

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

. On 8 August 2014, Freibergs signed his first North American professional contract in agreeing to a one-year

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

deal with the

St. John's IceCaps The St. John's IceCaps were a professional ice hockey team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. They were members of the North Division of the Eastern Conference of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team was originally aff ...

. Freibergs appeared in 5 games with the IceCaps. However, he was reassigned to ECHL affiliate, the

Ontario Reign The Ontario Reign are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in Ontario, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings, the team plays i ...

for the majority of the campaign. Leading into the 2015–16 season, Freibergs accepted an invitation to the

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional ice hockey, hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and play home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of the National H ...

training camp on 28 September 2015. He was reassigned and signed an ECHL contract with affiliate Toledo Walleye on 6 October 2015. On 15 July 2016, Freibergs returned to his native Latvia as a free agent from North America, signing a contract with

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga ( lv, Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LLU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL).

International play

Freibergs competed in the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

, being the only active college player to compete in the men's tournament. His first appearance was in the third game when he logged 4:56 of ice time. Freibergs also competed in the elimination round games against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC) announced on 25 April 2014, that Freibergs was excluded from the 2014 Winter Olympics after failing doping test. He represented Latvia at the

2023 IIHF World Championship The 2023 IIHF World Championship will be co-hosted by Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia. The tournament is scheduled to be held from 12 to 28 May 2023, and will be organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Host nation bid The ...

where he recorded one goal and three assists and won a bronze medal, Latvia's first ever IIHF World Championship medal.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1991 births Living people Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey players Dinamo Riga players Doping cases in ice hockey Expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Expatriate ice hockey players in the Czech Republic Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States HC Kometa Brno players HC Litvínov players HC Oceláři Třinec players Ice hockey people from Riga Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Iserlohn Roosters players Latvian expatriate ice hockey people Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Latvian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Latvian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Latvian ice hockey defencemen Latvian sportspeople in doping cases Lincoln Stars players Olympic ice hockey players for Latvia Ontario Reign (ECHL) players PSG Berani Zlín players St. John's IceCaps players Texas Tornado players Toledo Walleye players {{Latvia-icehockey-bio-stub