Former SPHL goalie named to Olympic roster

KNOXVILLE, TENN – With 2010 being an Olympic year, every pro player across the planet hopes to be named to their country’s roster for the games in Vancouver two months from now. Tuesday afternoon, the Knoxville Ice Bears and the SPHL found out that they will have a link to the competition north of the border as former Ice Bears’ goalie Ervins Mustukovs found out that he was one of three goalies named to the Latvian Olympic Hockey team. “It’s a great honor for him I’m sure,” Knoxville General Manager Mike Murray said when informed of the selection. “He’s kicked around down here obviously. We saw some things in him enough to bring him back again. I can definitely see him getting that opportunity.” Mustukovs, a 25 year old native of Riga, Latvia, had two stints with Knoxville. His first came in his rookie season of 2006-2007 when he posted a 7-5-1 record with a 3.43 goals against average and .900 save percentage. It was good enough to get him noticed for a call-up to the Toledo Storm of the ECHL. In 16 games with Toledo, he went 8-6-1 with a 2.85 goals against and two shutouts. The following year,  2007-2008, he was back in Knoxville and once again he had success between the pipes for the Ice Bears. In 19 games played, Mustukovs went 10-5-1 with an outstanding 2.94 goals against average and .904 save percentage. Those numbers again brought a call from the ECHL, this time from the Elmira Jackals. Mustukovs was once again up for the challenge, going 7-3-2 with a 2.66 goals against average and .913 save percentage. “His departure from here was more or less just trying to hang tough at the next level,” Murray said. “When he did get called up the first time from here to go to Toledo, he stood on his head and got two shutouts. He was outstanding.” Last year, he appeared in two games for the Riga Dynamo team in the KHL, Eastern Europe and Russia’s version of the NHL, with an 0-1 record. According to HockeyDB.com, Mustukovs was listed with Riga Dynamo again this season but shows no record and is notated as being “no longer on the active roster”. Having a player named to an Olympic squad is a feather in any league’s cap, especially for a single-A developmental level circuit like the SPHL. Reached via phone, commissioner Jim Combs was thrilled with the news. “We’re proud that he was a member of the SPHL. It shows the quality of the players that come out of our league,” Combs said. “It’s a great step for us.” Murray, who has been associated with hockey in Knoxville for many years, said that having a former player named to such a prestigious spot just adds to the reputation that the SPHL has built over its six years of existence. “It says a tremendous amount about the caliber of players that come through our league. I can assure you just by talking to some of the guys in the summertime that have played at the CHL level who were on the bubble there that it is a pretty eye-opening experience when they step on the ice in the SPHL,” Murray said. “Its not terribly different from what they’re used to. We’ve got some quality players in this league and the more quality players we get, the stronger our league continues to grow. For Erv to be at that level, it says a lot about our league and how he’s grown as a person and a goaltender.”  The Latvian team, which is made up primarily of players from the Riga Dynamo team, begins pool play on Tuesday, February 16 against Russia, followed by games against the Czech Republic on February 19 and Slovakia on February 20. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com