Rodrigo Laviņš (born 3 August 1974) is a Latvian former professional ice hockey

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 ...

Playing career

Laviņš began his career with his hometown team Pārdaugava Rīga. He then moved to North America in 1994, starting with the

East Coast Hockey League The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

where he played for the

Raleigh IceCaps The Raleigh IceCaps were a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1991 and playing at Dorton Arena, located at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, the IceCaps were members of the ECHL. The club was forced ...

and the

Tallahassee Tiger Sharks The Tallahassee Tiger Sharks were a minor league professional ice hockey team that played in Tallahassee, Florida, from 1994 to 2001 as members of the East Coast Hockey League. The Tiger Sharks home rink was the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Cent ...

. He also had a spell in the

Colonial Hockey League Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French colonial architecture * Spanish colonial architecture Automobiles * Col ...

with the

Muskegon Fury Muskegon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Muskegon County, Michigan, United States. Situated around a harbor of Lake Michigan, Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, and boating. It is the most populous city along Lake Michigan' ...

. In 1997, he moved to the International Hockey League with the

Las Vegas Thunder The Las Vegas Thunder were a professional ice hockey team competing in the International Hockey League. The team's home rink was at the Thomas & Mack Center. They began play in the 1993–1994 season, folding on April 18, 1999. The demise of the ...

. He then moved to the

Tacoma Sabercats The Tacoma Sabercats were an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, ...

of the

West Coast Hockey League The West Coast Hockey League (WCHL) was a professional minor ice hockey league active in the Western United States from 1995 to 2003. The number of teams ranged from six to nine. The teams were located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Id ...

the same season. Laviņš returned to Europe in 1998, splitting the year in Finland's

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

with

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (, English: Joker (playing card), Jokers or Jesters of Helsinki) is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland, which competes in Mestis. Jokerit plays its home games at the Helsinki Ice Hall and Helsinki Halli in ...

and Sweden's

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

with AIK. He returned to Finland the next season, splitting the year with HPK and

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

before moving to the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a professional ice hockey league in Germany and the highest division in German i ...

in Germany, suiting up for the

Augsburger Panther The Augsburger Panther are a professional ice hockey team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, DEL. The team is based in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. They play their home games at the Curt Frenzel Stadion. Founded in 1878, the team's name was Augsburge ...

. Laviņš returned to Russia in 2001 where he spent two seasons, playing for

Molot-Prikamye Perm Molot-Prikamye Perm () is a professional ice hockey team based in Perm, Perm Krai, Russia. They are playing in the Supreme Hockey League The All-Russian Hockey League (VHL) (, ''Vserossiyskaya hokkeinaya liga (VHL)''), also known as the Majo ...

and

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

. He returned to Latvia in 2003, signing with

HK Riga 2000 HK Riga 2000 was an ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. The team had played in the LHL since it was founded. In 2004-05 and 2005–06 seasons the club also iced a team in the Belarusian Hockey League, and in 2005-06 finished 3rd. HK Riga 2000 ...

where he stayed for three seasons. He came back to Sweden in 2005, joining

Brynäs IF Brynäs IF is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), promoted from the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of ice hockey in Sweden, following the 2023–24 season. The ...

for two seasons and then split 2007-08 with

Södertälje SK Södertälje Sportklubb, also known as Södertälje SK and often referred to as SSK, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level of pro hockey in Sweden. Södertälje were charter members of El ...

and Russian side

Metallurg Novokuznetsk Metallurg Novokuznetsk ( ) is a professional ice hockey team from Siberia based in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. They are currently members of the Supreme Hockey League (VHL). History The team was founded in 1949 in Novokuznetsk (then S ...

. In the 2008–09 season, he will play for Dinamo Riga in the newly formed

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 ...

International

He was named to the

Latvia men's national ice hockey team The Latvian men's national ice hockey team represents Latvia in international ice hockey. The team is ranked 10th in the world by IIHF as of 2023. The team is controlled by the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation. Their best ever finish at the World C ...

for competition at the

2014 IIHF World Championship The 2014 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Belarus in its capital, Minsk, held from 9 to 25 May 2014. Sixteen national teams were competing in two venues, the Minsk-Arena and Chizhovka-Arena. It was the first time Belarus hosted the tourname ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lavins, Rodrigo 1974 births Living people Augsburger Panther players Brynäs IF players Dinamo Riga players Latvian expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Expatriate ice hockey players in Germany HC Dynamo Moscow players Empire State Cobras players HK Liepājas Metalurgs players HPK players Ice hockey people from Riga Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Ilves players Jokerit players Las Vegas Thunder players Latvian ice hockey defencemen Metallurg Novokuznetsk players Molot-Prikamye Perm players Muskegon Fury players Olympic ice hockey players for Latvia Raleigh IceCaps players Södertälje SK players Tacoma Sabercats players Tallahassee Tiger Sharks players