Rubins living the dream
Former Tigers defenceman shining at IIHF World Championship with Latvia
Kristians Rubins spent the past two years building a name for himself in the Western Hockey League — and last week he got to bring a taste of that action back home to Latvia.
The 20-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman closed the book on his major junior career last month but immediately moved into a role with Team Latvia at the IIHF World Championship. In the days leading up to the event, Rubins laced them up in his hometown while friends and family packed the Arena Riga to watch their country host Connor McDavid and Team Canada.
“Personally I think that game will stay in my memory for a long time,” said Rubins, whose Latvians fell 6-1 in the pre-tournament game, but have started the championship at 1-1-1. “My family and a lot of friends came to watch the game. I think it was a huge game and event for the Latvian people that are involved in hockey. Obviously in Latvia the kids that are interested in hockey don’t get the chance to watch NHL players everyday — it was more like once in a lifetime. So everyone who could came and those who did not, watched it on TV.”
Rubins and Team Latvia kicked off their tournament with a rousing 3-2 overtime victory over Norway after falling into an early 2-0 hole. While winning the game in a fourth period left the Latvians with only two of a possible three points, Rubins says it’s hard to top the feeling of a sudden death victory.
“It was an awesome feeling,” he said. “Obviously we want to win games in three periods and get three points, but being down 2-0 and winning it in overtime I would say it made it even more enjoyable — especially seeing my long time friend Rudolfs Balcers scoring that incredible overtime goal for us.” While Latvia followed up the whiteknuckle victory with an 8-1 blowout loss to Finland the following day, they bounced right back into the win column Tuesday with a 5-0 victory over Korea. Rubins worked his way onto the scoresheet with his first assist of the tournament in the shutout win. “It’s an incredible experience to get the opportunity to be here. In some ways I would say I am living the dream right now,” said Rubins. “Obviously playing against the best players all round the world is a huge challenge but at the same time it s been my dream ever since I started to play hockey.” Rubins’ Latvians will take on Team USA this morning and Germany Saturday before crossing paths with Team Canada once again. While Rubins says it’s sure to be their tallest test of the tournament, he added it’s the type of challenge he’s spent his entire life working toward.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge but so is any other game. Of course, as I said it’s been a dream of mine for a long time to play against players like (that),” said Rubins. “But once the puck is dropped and the game has started it does not really matter who you play against, we just have to be ready as a team and play as hard as we can.”
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound blueliner added he is unsure where the game will take him next, as he is “100 per cent focused on having a great world championship,” but added he owes a lot of his success to his time with the Tigers — who helped groom him for a place on the world stage. “The WHL is probably the best junior hockey league in the world right now and getting drafted by Medicine Hat Tigers two years ago was an opportunity of a lifetime,” said Rubins. “I spent two amazing years in the Tigers organization. Each person of the whole organization — the players, coaches, owners — everyone taught me something important in order for me to get to this point. So I’ve got to say a huge thanks to the Tigers organization for everything they have done for me.”