Peteris Skudra is a famous Latvian hockey player, goalkeeper who has played in several elite NHL clubs. At the end of his playing career, Peteris did not retire from sports, but continued his sports 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-Canada Super Series (1972 and 1974), during which domestic fans first saw professionals from the best NHL league in the world. Young Peteris was brought up in this era, the boy was imbued with a love of hockey from an early age. The sports biography of Peteris began in his native Riga. In this city, the athlete received his first education and skills in playing with the puck.
The beginning of the career of Pēteris Skudra
The first professional ice hockey club at the adult level for Peteris Skudra was RSHVSM-Energo. The team played in the second League of the Union championship. In the 1990-1991 season, the goalkeeper played 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 (since 1995, this team was renamed Dynamo). The Riga team played in the International Hockey League.
Already in the first years of his professional career, Pēteris 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 champion title in the 1993-1994 season. For Pēteris, this trophy was the first and only one as a player. Attention is drawn to the statistics of the goalkeeper's performances. Pēteris finished the 1993-1994 season with the best safety factor.
Career of Peteris Skudra in North America
In 1994, the Latvian goalkeeper decided to travel to North America in order to make his way to 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 the Erie Panthers, Johnstown Chiefs and Hamilton Bulldogs. Although all these teams played in professional American leagues, their level was incomparable with the NHL clubs.
In 1997, the talent of Peteris Skudra, his reliability on the last line of defense, play creativity and thinking contributed to the transition to the famous club from Pittsburgh. In his debut season in the NHL with the Penguins, Skudra played 17 matches in the regular season, in which he conceded 26 goals. In the 1998-1999 season, the penguins' coaching staff's confidence in the Latvian goalkeeper increased. Peteris has already spent half of the regular season at the Pittsburgh goal. He played 37 matches with a reliability indicator of 2.89. In his third season in the NHL, Skudra was able to play for the first time in the Stanley Cup playoffs. True, the goalkeeper managed to play only one match in the decisive stage of the tournament. The goalkeeper played 20 minutes and conceded 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 played 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. First, he defended the gate of the "Blades" from Buffalo, and then moved to the Vancouver Canucks. In the Canadian club he spent the seasons 2001-2002 and 2002-2003.
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 Skudr to Russia
Since the 2003-2004 season, Peteris Skudra has become a player of Ak Bars Kazan. Spent only nine matches for Kazan in the Super League.
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 goal. 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 with CSKA Moscow and Metallurg Novokuznetsk. In 2007 he finished his playing career.
Pēteris Skudra's career in the national team
Since 1991, Peteris Skudra has been involved in the junior team. He played at the European Junior Championships, where he won silver medals. In 1993 and 1994 he took part in the World Championships, though not in the elite division. With the Latvian national team, the goalkeeper first played in League C, then in League B. In 1997, Peteris with the Latvian national team took part in the main international tournament for national teams under the auspices of the IIHF. The Latvians were able to break into the elite division of the world championship. At the end of the tournament, Skudra's team took seventh place.
Coaching career of Peteris Skudra
Skudra's coaching career began with Cherepovets. In the 2011-2012 season, he became the goalkeeper coach of the local Severstal. The next year, the specialist moved to the Novosibirsk "Siberia".
Skudra made a name for himself as a coach, heading Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. It was in this team that his career began as the chief specialist of the KHL team. Since the 2013-2014 season, Peteris has been the head coach of Nizhny Novgorod. In his debut season, the Latvian specialist won 26 matches from 54 matches.
Until the 2017-2018 season, Peteris Skudra headed Torpedo. The team did not achieve significant success, but steadily made its way to the first round of the Gagarin Cup playoffs.
Since 2019, Peteris Skudra has joined the coaching staff of Traktor Chelyabinsk.
Peteris Skudra is a family man. He is married to the charming Julia. In May 2014, the couple had their first child.
