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

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

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 l ...

for

HC Vítkovice HC, hc or H/C may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Medicine * Health Canada * Hemicrania continua * Hyperelastosis cutis or hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia Chemistry * Hemocyanin, a metalloprotein abbreviated Hc * ...

of the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga () is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created in 1993 following the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia midway through the 1992–93 Czechoslovak Extraliga season (which all Slovak and ...

(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 go ...

for

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

. 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 in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

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 based in Ontario, California. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings. The team plays its home games at the Toyota Arena. The fra ...

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 team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL), playing their home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of t ...

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

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

(KHL).

International play

Freibergs competed in the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

, 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 Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(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 was co-hosted by Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia. The tournament was held from 12 to 28 May 2023, organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Canada men's national ice hockey team, Canada won ...

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

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freibergs, Ralfs 1991 births Living people Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey players Dinamo Riga players Doping cases in ice hockey Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in the Czech Republic Latvian 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 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