Arturs Irbe

Artūrs Irbe (born February 2, 1967) is a Latvian professional goaltender, currently an unrestricted free agent who played for the San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, and Carolina Hurricanes in the National Hockey League.

Playing career
Artūrs Irbe was drafted in the 10th round, 196th overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. His first professional hockey team was Dinamo Riga of the Soviet Hockey League (from 1987 to 1991). After playing in only 2 games during the 1986–1987 season Irbe got a chance to become Dinamo Riga's number one goaltender during the 1987–1988 season when their starting goaltender and Olympic champion, Vitaliy Samoylov went down with a long term injury. In his only full professional season, Irbe was outstanding in helping Dinamo Riga make it to the finals of the Soviet Hockey League where they eventually lost to perennial Soviet champions CSKA Moscow. During this period he also played for the Soviet Union in the World Championships in 1989 and 1990. The Soviet team won those two championships and Irbe was honoured as the best goalkeeper of the 1990 tournament. He refused to play for the Soviet Union in 1991 because Latvia had proclaimed independence from the Soviet Union on May 4, 1990 and the Soviet government attempted to use military force in January 1991 to stop Latvia's independence.

In the 1988–89 season Irbe travelled to North America with his then club Dinamo Riga to play in a series of exhibition games against NHL teams. The next season (1989–90) he was temporarily added to the CSKA Moscow team during an exhibition tour of North America.

His NHL career began in 1991. His first NHL team was the San Jose Sharks, he played with them from 1991–92 to 1995–96. With Irbe between the pipes, the newly established Sharks made their first playoff appearance in the 1993–94 season and upset the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings. That season Irbe played an NHL record 4412 minutes between the pipes for the Sharks. Irbe, affectionately known as Archie, was nicknamed "The Wall" and became a cult figure in San Jose, a status he enjoys there to this day.

Following an injury (his hand being mauled by his pet dog in the offseason) and a poor 1995–96 season, Irbe was released by the Sharks. For the next two years, he was a backup goaltender for the Dallas Stars and the Vancouver Canucks until he became the starter for the Carolina Hurricanes in the 1998–99. Irbe was picked to be a member of the "World" NHL All-Star team in 1998–1999 season, where he became the first goalie to record an assist in an NHL All-Star game. The highest point of his career with the Hurricanes was 2001–02 when Irbe was instrumental in leading the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals where they fell to the Detroit Red Wings. In June 2004 he was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but never played with the club due to that year's NHL Lockout. After the lockout that cancelled the 2004–2005 season, Arturs played for HK Riga 2000 in Latvia and EC Red Bulls Salzburg in Austria. Recently, he signed with HK Dynamax Nitra playing in the Slovak Ice Hockey Extraliga, but he decided to leave after his unsatisfactory results.

He is notable on the ice for his helmet and padding - he has worn them almost continuously since his NHL debut for the Sharks - which are creased and scuffed with puck marks, stains, and tears. He has earned the nickname "Michelin Man" as a result.

In the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Irbe was Latvia's flag-bearer in the opening ceremonies.

He is divorced from his wife Ilze, and currently lives in Riga, Latvia. Irbe currently works as goalkeeper coach for Dinamo Riga.

Awards & achievements
Arturs Irbe is also a member of board of directors of the Kids First Fund, a non-profit organization based in the United States which raises money for projects assisting abused and abandoned children in Latvia (www.KidsFirstFund.org).
 * 1985- European Junior Championships, best goalie
 * 1988- Soviet League, rookie of the year
 * 1990- World Championships, best goalie
 * 1992- Played in IHL All-Star Game
 * 1992- Recipient of IHL's James Norris Memorial Trophy as best goaltender. (Shared with Wade Flaherty)
 * 1994- Played in NHL All-Star Game
 * 1999- Played in NHL All-Star Game
 * 2002- Starting goalie for Latvia in Salt Lake City Winter Olympics
 * 2002- Made it to NHL Stanley Cup Final. Defeated in five games.
 * 2004- Named to ECHL Eastern Conference All-Star team (did not play)
 * 2006- Starting goalie for Latvia in Torino Winter Olympics
 * 2006- Selected as flag bearer for Latvia in 2006 Winter Olympics.

Career statistics
REGULAR SEASON Year Team GP   Min   W   L   T    GA    GAA   Shots    Sv%   ShO  Pim     S/60    PERS     3STARS 83-84 Riga JJHKL 84-85 Dynamo Riga USSRJr Soviet Union EURO JUNIOR    5    300                 5   1.00                    0 85-86 Dynamo Riga USSRJr 86-87 Dynamo Riga USSRJr Dynamo Riga USSR            2     27                 1   2.22                    0 87-88 Dynamo Riga USSR           34   1870                84   2.70                    0 88-89 Dynamo Riga USSR           40   2460               116   2.85                    0 Dynamo Riga SUPER SERIES    7    425                23   3.25 89-90 Dynamo Riga USSR           48   2880               116   2.42                    0 CSKA Moscow SUPER SERIES    4    240                10   2.50 Soviet Union WORLD          6    315   4   0   1     5   0.95                    1 90-91 Dynamo Riga USSR           46   2713               133   2.94                    0 91-92 Kansas City Blades IHL     32   1955  24   7   1    80   2.46                    0 San Jose Sharks NHL        13    645   2   6   3    48   4.47     365   .868     0 92-93 Kansas City Blades IHL      6    364   3   3   0    20   3.30                    0 San Jose Sharks NHL        36   2074   7  26   0   142   4.11    1250   .886     1 93-94 San Jose Sharks NHL        74   4412  30  28  16   209   2.84    2064   .899     3 94-95 San Jose Sharks NHL        38   2043  14  19   3   111   3.26    1056   .895     4 95-96 San Jose Sharks NHL        22   1111   4  12   4    85   4.59     607   .860     0 Kansas City Blades IHL      4    226   1   2   1    16   4.25                    0 Latvia WORLD-B              4    240   3   0   1     7   1.75                    0 96-97 Dallas Stars NHL           35   1964  17  12   3    88   2.69     825   .893     3 Latvia WORLD                5    300   4   0   1    10   2.00                    1 97-98 Vancouver Canucks NHL      41   1999  14  11   6    91   2.73     982   .907     2 Latvia WORLD                6    358   3   2   1    17   2.85                    1 98-99 Carolina Hurricanes NHL    62   3643  27  20  12   135   2.22    1753   .923     6 Latvia WORLD                4    238                12   3.02      86   .860     0 99-00 Carolina Hurricanes NHL    75   4345  34  28   9   175   2.42    1858   .906     5 Latvia WORLD                5    420   3   1   1    17   2.43     180   .907 00-01 Carolina Hurricanes NHL    77   4406  37  29   9   180   2.45    1947   .908     6 Latvia WORLD                6    360                13   2.17     159   .924 01-02 Carolina Hurricanes NHL    51   2974  20  19  11   126   2.54    1282   .902     3 Latvia OLYMPICS             1     60   0   1   0     4   4.00      29   .862     0 02-03 Carolina Hurricanes NHL    34   1884   7  24   2   100   3.18     816   .877     0 Lowell Lock Monsters AHL    7    426   3   3   1    21   2.95     229   .908     0 04-05 Dinamo Riga                29   1448  19   6   4    74   2.55     637   .902     4 03-04 Johnstown Chiefs ECHL      14    847  10   3   1    30   2.13     411   .927     1 Carolina Hurricanes        10    564   5   2   1    23   2.45     228   .899     0 05-06 Latvia WORLD                6    283   2   2   1     7   1.48     124   .944     2 06-07 Hk Dynamax Oil Nitra (SVK)  6    249   1   2   0    22   5.31      96   .814     0 THIRTEEN (13) NHL SEASONS       568  32066 218 236  79  1513   2.83   15033  0.899    33

International play
Played for Latvia in:
 * 1991 World Ice Hockey Championships
 * 2002 Winter Olympics (Did not advance from preliminaries)
 * 2006 Winter Olympics (Did not advance from preliminaries)