Šimon Hrubec

Šimon Hrubec (born on June 30, 1991 in Vimperk) is a Czech professional ice hockey goaltender. He is currently playing with the Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

Club career
Hrubec began his junior career with the HC Český Krumlov organisation and in 2007 he moved to the HC České Budějovice organisation.

Hrubec made his senior debut in the 2009-10 season in which he played 30 games with the junior team of the HC České Budějovice, 4 games with the HC České Budějovice of the O2 Extraliga, 5 games on loan with the HC Tábor of the 1. Liga and 4 regular season games, 5 play-off games and 4 1. Liga qualification games on loan with the IHC Písek of the 2. Liga which was promoted into the 1. Liga for the next season.

In the 2010-11 season, Hrubec played 20 regular season games and 4 relegation games with the junior team of the HC České Budějovice. He played 1 regular season game and was a second goalie in a few play-off games with the HC České Budějovice of the Tipsport Extraliga (formerly O2 Extraliga) and also played 16 regular season games and 1 1. Liga qualification game on loan with the IHC Písek of the 1. Liga.

Hrubec played the whole 2011-12 season on loan with the SK Horácká Slavia Třebíč of the 1. Liga and was a second goalie in some games with the HC České Budějovice of the Tipsport Extraliga. In this season, he was the goalie who had most shutouts (5) in the 1. Liga.

He joined the HC Oceláři Třinec of the Tipsport Extraliga in 2012 and stayed there until the end of the 2018-19 season. In the 2015-16 season, he also played 4 games on loan with the AZ Havířov of the WSM Liga (formerly 1. Liga) besides 33 games played with the HC Oceláři Třinec. In the 2014-15 season, he had the best goals against average (2.00) in the Tipsport Extraliga. In the 2016-17 season, he had most shutouts (7) and most wins (28) in the Tipsport Extraliga. In the 2017-18 season, he was named the CHL MVP. In the 2018-19 season, he won with the HC Oceláři Třinec the Tipsport Extraliga title and Hrubec was named the Tipsport Extraliga play-offs MVP.

After 8 seasons with the HC Oceláři Třinec, Hrubec left the Czech Republic as a free agent. On June 14, 2019, he opted to sign a one-year contract with Chinese club, the Kunlun Red Star of the KHL. He played there throughout the 2019-20 season and was named the KHL Goaltender of the Week on December 10, 2019. He decided to continue with the Kunlun Red Star in the next season. After 10 games played with the Kunlun Red Star in the 2020-21 season, Hrubec received an offer from the Avangard Omsk of the KHL for the remainder of the season which he signed. He played 19 regular season games and 18 play-off games with the Avangard Omsk in this season and became the KHL Gagarin Cup champion. After the 2020-21 season, Hrubec extended his contract with the Avangard Omsk of the KHL for another 2 seasons.

International career
Hrubec was the third goalie of the Czech National Team at the 2019 World Championship. He played 2 games at the tournament, the first one was in the group stage against Norway which the Czech Republic won 7-2 and the second one was the battle for the 3rd place against Russia which was very surprising considering Hrubec was the third goalie. The Czech Republic suffered big upset as they lost the game 3-4 after shootouts.