Peteris Skudra is a famous Latvian hockey player, a goalkeeper who has played in several elite NHL clubs. At the end of his player’s career, Peteris didn’t leave the sport, but continued his sporting activities as a coach.
Peteris Skudra is a famous Latvian hockey player who began his playing career back in the days of the Soviet Union. The future goalkeeper was born on April 24, 1973 in Riga. In the seventies of the twentieth century in the USSR, among winter sports, hockey was of particular interest. This was facilitated by the numerous successes of the national team on the world stage, as well as the famous USSR Super Series - Canada (1972 and 1974), during which domestic fans first saw professionals from the best NHL world league. Young Peteris was brought up in this era, a boy from an early age imbued with love for hockey. Peter's sports biography began in his native Riga. In this city, the athlete received his first education and puck playing skills.
The beginning of the career of Peteris Skudra
The first professional hockey club at the adult level for Peteris Skudra was RShVSM-Energo. The team played in the second League of the championship of the Union. In the 1990-1991 season, the goalkeeper spent only one match for the team, and the next year he played 33 full games.
From 1992 to 1994, Skudra defended the gates of the Latvian club Pardaugava (from 1995 this team was renamed Dynamo). The Riga team played in the Interethnic Hockey League.
In the first years of his professional career, Peteris Skudra began to show his playing talent. By 1994, the athlete had become one of the best goalkeepers in Latvia, his reliability helped the Hockey Centers team win the Latvian title in the 1993-1994 season. For Peteris, this trophy was the first and only as a player. The statistics of goalkeeper appearances are noteworthy. Peteris finished the season 1993-1994 with the best coefficient of reliability.
Career of Peteris Skudra in North America
In 1994, the Latvian goalkeeper decided to go to North America in order to break into the NHL. The athlete began his performances overseas in the lower leagues. First, he played for the team from Memphis, then moved to Greensboro, was the goalkeeper of “Eri Panthers”, “Johnstown Chiefs” and “Hamilton Bulldogs”. Although all these teams played in professional American leagues, their level was not comparable with the NHL clubs.
In 1997, the talent of Peteris Skudra, his reliability at the last frontier of defense, game creativity and thinking contributed to the transition to the famous club from Pittsburgh. In the debut season in the NHL as part of the “Penguins” Skudra played 17 matches in the regular season, in which he missed 26 goals. In the 1998-1999 season, the trust of the coaching staff of the “penguins” in the Latvian goalkeeper has increased. Peteris has already spent half the regular season at the gates of “Pittsburgh”. Played 37 matches with a reliability score of 2.89. In his third season in the NHL, Skudra was the first to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs. True, the goalkeeper managed to hold only one match in the decisive stage of the tournament. The goalkeeper played 20 minutes and missed one goal.
Since 2000, Peteris Skudra moved to the Boston Bruins, but the Latvian hockey player failed to gain a foothold in this team. The goalkeeper spent few matches in the NHL Championship, after which he was sent to a farm club based in Providence.
The next three seasons Peteris played in two more NHL teams. At first he defended the gates of the “blades” from Buffalo, and then he moved to the Vancouver Canucks. He spent the seasons 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 in a Canadian club.
In total, during his playing career in the National Hockey League, Peters Skudra took part in 147 matches, in which he conceded 326 goals.
Return of Peteris Skudra to Russia
From the 2003-2004 season, Peteris Skudra became a player of Kazan “Ak Bars”. Spent in the Super League for Kazan only nine matches.
From 2004 to 2006 he defended the gates of the Resurrection “Chemist”. In this club, the trust of the coaching staff was more significant. Peteris spent most of the regular season at the gates. In his first season he played six games to “zero”, in 2006 he was able to leave his goal intact in three matches.
The last years of his playing career, the Latvian goalkeeper played in the Moscow CSKA and Novokuznetsk “Metallurg”. In 2007, he ended his playing career.
Career of Peteris Skudra in the national team
Since 1991, Peteris Skudra was involved in the junior team. He played at the European Junior Championship, where he won silver medals. In 1993 and 1994, he took part in the World Championships, though not in the elite division. The goalkeeper first played with the Latvian national team in League C, then in League B. In 1997, Peteris and the Latvian national team took part in the main international tournament for national teams under the auspices of the IIHF. Latvians were able to break into the elite division of the world championship. According to the results of the tournament, the Skudra team took seventh place.
