I have learned a lot from them, starting with discipline, which is important for children, and ending with many little things. Even though I myself do not currently have a coaching education, I have thought all my life that when I stop playing, I will be a coach. Father still trains, mother leads classes as a physiotherapist, works with children, adults, so yes, I follow in their footsteps.
What would you like to achieve as a coach?
It’s hard to say right away. I didn’t know until a year ago that I would stop playing hockey at the age of 27, so I don’t know what will happen next.
I don’t know where this road will take me next. In any case, I do not rule out that at some point I would like to become a slightly more professional hockey coach.
Yes, it would come with more stress, also a change of living place, but I don’t rule that out.
You have a higher education obtained in the USA. what did you study
I got my bachelor’s degree in psychology, I haven’t finished my master’s studies, which was in business studies, there are a few things left. It still needs time.
I am asking this because in order to train in Latvia, you must have a trainer’s certificate. How is the US?
If I work in a private entity, then I can train, but if it is not a private business, then there are things to learn. However, the system is quite different from Latvia’s, as several coaches with different experience are recruited here. Of course, there are self-explanatory things here too, first aid and the like. Now it’s like I’m alone on the ice, but we’re four coaches together.
In your announcement about ending your hockey career, you wrote that it was like a roller coaster – up here, down there. What were the high points, which were the low points?
The lowest point was my first year playing professionally in America. I was thrown into the American Hockey League (AHL) and East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) meat grinder. It was the year of covid, and a lot of guys who would normally play in the NHL were sent to the AHL, so those who claimed the notional last spots in the lineup, say the fifth and sixth defenseman spots, did not get much playing time. That’s why I was sent down from the AHL to the ECHL.
It was a year when I didn’t get much pleasure from hockey. After that, everything went up – there was a season in Riga “Dinamo”, and I once again had the feeling that I was finally in a place where I am allowed to play the way I want and the way that suits me best.
There, the joy of hockey came back. But then the war in Ukraine started, the KHL was no longer an option, and the hockey market also started to decline a little. Hockey players in Europe are now ready to play for a lower salary, the clubs know it and use it. But I was happy about the opportunities in Finland, the Czech Republic and Sweden. The Latvian national team, on the other hand, is a completely different story. It’s hard to even express your feelings when you’re with your friends and you win something.
You mentioned that there were some offers this summer. From what leagues?
From the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the second league of Sweden, maybe, if he had waited, he would have received something from the top league of Sweden as well. But for me, all that league was not so important anymore because, as I mentioned, the quality of family life was more important, and here in the US, we have it much better now. Yes, now I have to work longer hours than when I was a hockey player, but on the other hand, on the day of the game, you are not really with the family either, because you have to follow the routine, the regime, what to eat and when to sleep.
Have you settled in the USA and see your life only there?
Time will tell. For now, we will live in America, but when our daughter grows up, we will see. Let’s not forget Latvia. Parents can also come to us, but it is more difficult for grandmothers, and it is important for me to meet them as well. I really hope that I will be able to get out sometime in the spring to meet all the friends I play with.
You said that you follow hockey now as a fan.
Of course, I look at how my friends in the Czech Republic, Sweden, and other places are doing in Europe, maybe during a game, but I get to watch the NHL more because then I’m at home.
I also watch a lot of American football, which I really like. In America, everyone is a fan of baseball, the grand final just happened, but this is one of those American sports that I don’t really care about.
At Quinnipiac, where I studied, the university only had hockey and basketball teams. Paula Strautmane, who once trained with my dad, played basketball with me at the same time. Along with studies and sports, the university also served as a school of life to get to know Americans and their culture, which is different, if only a sense of humor. Many people from other places find it difficult to fit in here, but I like it. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have an American wife. I met Brooke after college. That is, I was still in my last year of school, but she had graduated a year earlier. We live in a quiet town, almost in the countryside, go outside a little and see horses in the pastures. To work, if there is denser traffic, you sometimes have to drive for an hour, but here you get used to it quickly.
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