Rihards Bukarts (born 31 December 1995) 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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He is currently playing for

HC Vitkovice 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 * ...

in 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). Bukarts was selected 9th overall in the

2012 KHL Junior Draft The 2012 KHL Junior Draft was the fourth entry draft held by the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), taking place on 25–26 May 2012 in Traktor Sport Palace. Ice hockey players from around the world aged between 17 and 21 years of age were select ...

by the Dinamo Riga. With the selection, Bukarts became the highest-drafted Latvian in KHL history, four spots higher than his brother Roberts Bukarts in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Playing career

Bukarts is youngest player ever who score in MHL on 15 September 2011 On 2 July 2012 Rihards Bukarts signed 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 ...

two-way contract. Bukarts was selected 7th overall in the 2013 CHL Import Draft by

Brandon Wheat Kings The Brandon Wheat Kings are a Canadians, Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Brandon, Manitoba. Founded in 1936, the team was for three decades a successful junior team playing principally in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The Whe ...

( WHL). Bukarts was the highest-drafted player in Wheat Kings' history. In the summer of 2013, Bukarts broke contract with Dinamo Riga and left for North America to play for the

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

. He officially signed a contract on 19 July 2013 with the major junior team. In his first season in North America in 2013–14, Bukarts in 65 games scored (28) goals (WHL Most Goals by Rookie) and gave 26 assists. In the following 2014–15 season, he featured in 62 games, scoring (33) goals totalling the most goals scored by a European player in the team's history (single-season record) as well as adding 41 assists. On 8 February 2015, Bukarts was named Denny's WHL Player of the Week. Bukarted helped the Wheat Kings reach the WHL finals in the post-season, suffering defeat against the

Kelowna Rockets The Kelowna Rockets are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Kelowna, British Columbia. The team plays in the B.C Division of the Western Hockey League's Western Conference, playing their home games at Prospera Place. The Rockets a ...

. In 16 playoff games, Bukarts scored 4 goals and 18 points. Undrafted, Bukarts accepted a try-out over the summer to attend the 2015 NHL training camp of the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

. After his release from the Oilers, Bukarts returned to the Wheat Kings for the 2015–16 season before he was traded to the

Portland Winterhawks The Portland Winterhawks are a junior ice hockey team based in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1950 as the Edmonton Oil Kings, the team relocated to Portland in 1976 and was known as the Winter Hawks until 2009. The team plays in the U.S. Divisio ...

on 29 October 2015. On 14 December 2015, Rihards Bukarts was named 2nd time in his career as the WHL player of the Week. In 55 games with the Winterhawks, Bukarts amassed 53 points. At the conclusion of his major junior career, Bukarts joined the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks ...

of the AHL, an affiliate to the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

, on an amateur try-out basis to complete the season. He recorded an assist in a solitary game. Bukarts attended the Panthers' rookie camp after signing a one-year deal with the Panthers' inaugural AHL affiliate, the

Springfield Thunderbirds The Springfield Thunderbirds are a professional ice hockey team based in Springfield, Massachusetts. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues. The Thunderbirds play their home games at th ...

. After attending Florida's main training camp, before he was reassigned to begin the 2016–17 season with the Thunderbirds. He split the season between Springfield and the ECHL with the

Manchester Monarchs Manchester Monarchs may refer to: *Manchester Monarchs (AHL) (2001–2015) *Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) The Manchester Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL which began play in the 2015–16 ECHL season, 2015–16 season. Bas ...

. As a free agent in the following off-season, Bukarts returned to Europe in agreeing to an initial one-year contract with HC Zlin of the

on 21 August 2017. In the 2017–18 season, Bukarts left the Czech Republic after 17 games, making appearances in 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 ...

with

before completing the season with German club, Eisbären Berlin of the DEL. Bukarts opted to continue in the DEL as a free agent, agreeing to a one-year deal with

Schwenninger Wild Wings The Schwenninger Wild Wings are a professional Germany, German ice hockey team from Villingen-Schwenningen in Baden-Wuerttemberg that was founded on 20 July 1904 and currently plays in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The greatest success of the ...

on 13 July 2018. In the 2018–19 season, Bukarts contributed with 22 points through 42 games, unable to help the Wild Wings progress to the post-season. At the completion of the season, Bukarts left Schwenninger at the conclusion of his contract. On 13 May 2019, Bukarts secured a one-year contract to continue in the DEL with Düsseldorfer EG.

International play

Bukarts participated at the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

IIHF World U18 Championships and also 2013 IIHF World U20 Championships he was a member of the Latvia men's national junior ice hockey team. He finished with the most penalty minutes in the tournament. 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 three goals and eight assists and won a bronze medal, Latvia's first ever IIHF World Championship medal.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
Rihards Bukart's MHL profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bukarts, Rihards 1995 births Living people Admiral Vladivostok players Brandon Wheat Kings players Dinamo Riga players Düsseldorfer EG players Eisbären Berlin players EC KAC players Latvian ice hockey forwards Sportspeople from Jūrmala HK Riga players Kapitan Stupino players Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) players Portland Pirates players Portland Winterhawks players Schwenninger Wild Wings players Springfield Thunderbirds players PSG Berani Zlín players Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Latvia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in the Czech Republic Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Expatriate ice hockey players in Austria