Kristers Gudļevskis

Kristers Gudļevskis
Born July 31, 1992
Aizkraukle, Latvia
Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight 197 lb (89 kg; 14 st 1 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
NHL team (P)
Cur. team
Former teams 		Tampa Bay Lightning
Syracuse Crunch (AHL)
HK Ogre
Dinamo Riga
National team  Latvia
NHL Draft 124th overall, 2013
Tampa Bay Lightning
Playing career 2009–present

Kristers Gudlevskis (born July 31, 1992) is a Latvian ice hockey goaltender. He is currently playing with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.[1] Gudļevskis was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 5th round (124th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.[2]

Gudlevskis is the only player to have played in the ECHL, AHL, NHL, Olympic Games and IIHF World Championships in the same season.[3]

Playing career

Europe

Gudļevskis started his professional career in the 2009–10 season playing for HK Ogre of the Latvian Hockey League. In the next season, he moved on to play for Dinamo Riga affiliate HK Riga of the MHL.[4] He played for three seasons with HK Riga. Throughout the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons he made the Dinamo Riga roster several times as a healthy scratch. On October 5, 2012, he finally made his debut during a 2–1 overtime win against Vityaz, replacing injured Mikael Tellqvist after the second period tied at 0–0.[5] Later in the season he played his first full game as starter in a 2–0 loss against Sibir.[6]

Tampa Bay Lightning

Gudļevskis is only the second (after Artūrs Irbe) and highest-ranked Latvian goaltender ever selected in NHL entry draft.[7] Dinamo Riga agreed to release Gudļevskis from the final year of his contract; he later signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League.[8]

Following the Lightning's 2013 pre-season camp, he was reassigned to their ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades.[9] While attending pre-season training camp with the Everblades, Gudļevskis was recalled to join the Lightning.[10] He was later reassigned to the Everblades without making the Lightning roster, and made his official North American debut with 20 saves in a 4–1 win over the Orlando Solar Bears.[11]

Gudļevskis was recalled to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL on October 24, 2013[12] due to an injury to Riku Helenius.[13] He made his AHL debut on October 26, 2013 with a shutout against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.[14] Gudlevskis became the fifth goaltender in Crunch history to post a shutout upon debut.[15] After four games with the Crunch, Gudļevskis once again was reassigned to the Everblades.[16]

On December 7, 2013 Gudļevskis was promoted to the Syracuse Crunch in order to give him more AHL ice time.[17] Gudļevskis cemented his place on the Crunch roster posting 10 wins in 21 games. On January 15, 2014 Gudlevskis was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week.[18]

On January 31, 2014, due to injuries of Ben Bishop and Anders Lindback, Gudlevskis received an emergency call-up to the Lightning along with Cedrick Desjardins.[19] Kristers made his first NHL start on April 11, 2014 in a game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Columbus Blue Jackets, he stopped 36 shots in a 3–2 win for Tampa. He made his NHL Playoff debut after replacing Anders Lindback mid-game on April 18, 2014 against the Montreal Canadiens in the second game of the first round. He replaced Lindback in game four of the series as well.

International play

Gudļevskis became the starting goaltender for Team Latvia in the 2013 IIHF World Championship after original starter Edgars Masaļskis could not recover game form coming from injury. He registered 2–2 win-loss record and was named one of three best players for Team Latvia in the tournament.[20]

On January 7, 2014, Gudļevskis was named to the Latvian national team roster for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.[21]

Latvia entered the qualification playoff stage ranked as one of the lowest seeds (ahead of only Norway), amassing no points in group play. In the second round, Gudļevskis got the start in the matchup against reigning Olympic champions Canada, despite the Latvian team upsetting Switzerland earlier with goalie Edgars Masaļskis.

In what was expected to be a routine victory for the Canadian squad, the Latvian team responded with an early equalizer and managed to stay alive behind Gudļevskis' goaltending (saving 55 of 57 shots he faced) until late into the third period, eventually falling in a 2–1 loss. Gudļevskis was praised, especially in Canadian media and sports commentary, for his performance in the quarter-final against the Canadian national team.[22]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T/OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2009-10 HK Ogre LHL 9 — — — — — — 6.12 — — — — — — — — —
2010-11 HK Riga MHL 49 26 16 2 2760 101 7 2.20 .920 3 0 3 187 13 0 4.16 .862
2011-12 HK Riga MHL 40 16 16 5 2285 91 1 2.39 .918 4 1 3 257 15 0 3.50 .896
2012-13 HK Riga MHL 56 27 18 11 3190 111 3 2.09 .927 3 0 3 153 19 0 7.42 .747
2012-13 Dinamo Riga KHL 2 1 1 0 82 3 0 2.18 .921 — — — — — — — —
2013-14 Florida Everblades ECHL 11 7 4 0 656 20 2 1.83 .925 — — — — — — — —
2013-14 Syracuse Crunch AHL 34 18 11 4 1901 85 5 2.68 .901 — — — — — — — —
2013-14 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 1 1 0 0 60 2 0 2.00 .947 2 0 1 40 2 0 3.00 .900
2014-15 Syracuse Crunch AHL 42 24 12 3 2429 109 2 2.69 .905 3 0 3 145 12 0 4.96 .833
KHL totals 2 1 1 0 82 3 0 2.18 .921 — — — — — — — —
NHL totals 1 1 0 0 60 2 0 2.00 .947 2 0 1 40 2 0 3.00 .900

International

Year Team Event GP W L OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2010 Latvia WJC18 6 0 4 0 339 29 0 5.13 .856
2011 Latvia WJC-D1 1 1 0 0 60 1 0 1.00 .941
2012 Latvia WJC 5 1 4 0 279 24 0 5.15 .865
2013 Latvia WC 4 2 2 0 243 9 0 2.22 .925
2014 Latvia OG 2 0 2 0 119 7 0 3.50 .919
WC totals 4 2 2 0 243 9 0 2.22 .925
OG totals 2 0 2 0 119 7 0 3.50 .919

[23] [24]

References

  1. ↑ Lindsay Kramer (October 14, 2013). "Syracuse Crunch returns goalie Kristers Gudlevskis to Florida of ECHL". syracuse.com. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  2. ↑ "2013 NHL entry draft 5th round selections". NHL. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  3. ↑ http://lightning.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2013021207
  4. ↑ "MHL Player profile" (in Russian). mhl.khl.ru. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Vityaz vs. Dinamo – rooster" (in Russian). khl.ru. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Sibir vs. Dinamo – game report" (in Russian). khl.ru. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Gudļevskis kļūst par otro latviešu vārtsargu, kuru izvēlas NHL draftā" (in Latvian). DELFI.lv. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Lightning Sign Kristers Gudlevskis to Entry-Level Contract". nhlnewslightning.com. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  9. ↑ Tampa Bay Lightning (September 29, 2013). "Lightning announce roster cuts". nhl.com. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  10. ↑ Tampa Bay Lightning (October 11, 2013). "Bolts Recall Gudlevskis". nhl.com. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  11. ↑ floridaeverblades.com (October 24, 2013). "Goaltender Gudlevskis Recalled to AHL Syracuse". floridaeverblades.com. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  12. ↑ Tampa Bay Lightning (October 11, 2013). "Goaltender Gudlevskis Recalled to AHL Syracuse". nhl.com. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  13. ↑ Lindsay Kramer (October 24, 2013). "Injury will keep Syracuse Crunch goalie Riku Helenius sidelined at least two weeks". www.syracuse.com. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ Jeremy Houghtaling (October 26, 2013). "Gudlevskis, big second period lift Syracuse Crunch over Sound Tigers, 5–0". auburnpub.com/. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  15. ↑ Jeremy Houghtaling (October 30, 2013). "Superstitious Gudlevskis Making Most of Opportunities". boltprospects.com. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  16. ↑ floridaeverblades.com (November 11, 2013). "Gudlevskis Reassigned to Everblades". floridaeverblades.com. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  17. ↑ Damian Cristodero (December 5, 2013). "Gudlevskis shakes up Lightning's organizational depth in net". tampabay.com. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  18. ↑ http://theahl.com/gudlevskis-named-ccm-ahl-player-of-the-week-p189791
  19. ↑ "Lightning recall goalies Desjardins and Gudlevskis". Tampa Bay Lightning. 2014-01-31. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
  20. ↑ "Best players of each team selected by coaches" (PDF). IIHF. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  21. ↑ LHF (January 7, 2014). "Nolans nosauc sastāvu Olimpiskajām spēlēm" (in Latvian). lhf.lv. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  22. ↑ Andrew Podnieks (February 19, 2014). "Canada avoids upset in 2–1 win". iihf.com. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  23. ↑ "KHL Player profile" (in Russian). khl.ru. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  24. ↑ "IIHF Player stats" (PDF). iihf.com. Retrieved August 2, 2013.

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