Master chef on ice and off

RIGA - While most North American basketball and ice-hockey players view their time in the Baltics as a short-term fixture as they wait for more lucrative offers to come along, Dinamo Riga goalie Chris Holt is bucking the trend by embracing the local culture and making the most of his time in the Latvian capital.

Since arriving in Latvia in 2010, Holt has quickly become a household name and one of the most sought after autographs from eager children and adults alike when he leaves Arena Riga after every home game. And it is not just for the number 21’s performances on the ice that has left a lasting impression on fans, as it is for what he has been able to achieve away from the rink, learning Latvian, hosting a cooking show and inadvertently becoming a rock star.

Having joined the club at the beginning of the 2010/2011 season following five seasons toiling in the American minor leagues during which time he would make just two appearances in the National Hockey League (NHL), the then 25-year-old Holt was acquired on a two year contract, initially as suitable backup to Swede Mickael Tellqvist.
However as the season progressed Holt was able to establish himself as the first choice goalie, becoming an integral part of the team’s charge to the playoffs, appearing in 33 regular season matches and a further seven in the playoffs, with Tellqvist playing just 20 regular season games and six in the postseason.

Now back for a second season and with a rookie goalie in Maris Jucers as his backup, Holt is shouldering the extra responsibility well, having at the time of writing featured in 17 of Dinamo Riga’s 19 games, recording six losses and seven wins – stats that are even more impressive when one considers that six of those losses came in the maroon and whites first seven games as the team tried to come to terms with the tragedy that claimed the lives of the entire Lokomotiv team, including Latvian national team member Karlis Skrastins who was a close personal friend to so many of the Latvian players.
This is something that Holt acknowledges as playing a major factor in his team’s early season form, telling The Baltic Times, “I think as a team collectively we had a tough month…it really hurt a lot of our players losing Skrastins who they had known and played with for years.”

But as the season has progressed the results have improved for Holt and Dinamo Riga with the team currently sitting in seventh place in the Western Conference, inside the cutoff line to continue playing postseason.
Holt’s good form has not gone unnoticed with the 26-year-old being selected to represent USA at a four team tournament in Germany next week, an opportunity that may also help open some doors for the American who despite his love for Latvia makes no secret of his dream to return the United States and make a fulltime career in the NHL. But if he goes, it will be on his terms.

“I am not going to go back to the States to try and fight through the triple A system and the minors. I am not interested in doing that and it isn’t worth the money or the time to keep getting buried under draft picks and things like that. If I am going to go back it is going to be to a team that wants me to play now.”
Until that goal is realized, Holt is taking pleasure in his time in the Baltic country, believing that the Dinamo Riga setup has given him something that was missing as he slogged his way through the politics of the minor league system in the United States as he waited for his break to come.

“Hockey has become fun. There is still a business side to it but it has become fun again to come to the rink and practice; it has become fun to come to the games and its fun knowing that you are not just playing for Riga or for your teammates. You are playing for a whole country here. Everybody is so in love with Dinamo Riga and they take it so seriously. I have something to play for other than myself.”

Holt acknowledges that is a culture that is perhaps unique to Dinamo Riga amongst Eastern European clubs.
“I don’t think it is like here everywhere in the KHL. I think that if you look at all the other cities and all the other teams, Riga is just so far and away the best place to be. It is the best life, it is the best city, the best people, the best fans, the best arena…everything. When I lose a game I am not just disappointed for my own team, I feel like I have disappointed a whole country and that gives me a lot of motivation.”

Away from the rink, Holt has also inadvertently being doing his own part to contribute to Latvian culture, somewhat unexpectedly becoming a recording artist.
When a local journalist was doing a piece on Holt at his home in late 2010, the journalist noticed a guitar and asked Holt to play a few notes. Unknown to Holt, the journalist was recording the impromptu performance and a day later the hockey star was a youtube sensation for something with very little to do with the trade he has made a name for himself in.
“The next day I see it [the clip] on youtube and it has something like 50 000 hits and then they approached me to collaborate with Dzelz Vilks and to make a Christmas CD for the fan club and I say OK and next thing I am in a studio and I am very intimidated by the people around me because they are professional rock stars and I am just this bum hockey player who knows a few chords and can hit a few notes.”

Despite the fame that may have come to him through his music, Holt was aware of not giving off the wrong impression to fans.
“I had to be very careful not to let people think that is where my mind was and not on winning games. Luckily we were playing well at the time.”
Holt has also found another way to get fans to warm to him, making a concerted effort to pick up Latvian, a feat that provides him with personal pride when trainers, fellow players and fans now approach him speaking in their native tongue rather than reverting to English.

“It was a conscience decision before I came here that I am not just going to come and speak English to everybody – I am going to try and learn something else while I am here other than just playing hockey”, adding, “Americans have a stereotype and I would be lying if I said it isn’t true that we are very ignorant of every other culture in the world. If I brought my in-laws over here they would be going around saying, ‘why isn’t there Bud Light in every bar, why aren’t you speaking English and understand – you should be speaking English’”.
However, being based in Latvia does come with some hardships, namely, his wife and children remaining living in the States. They did spend some time living here with Holt but, given the demands of being a professional ice hockey player, it was not always ideal for all parties.

“They enjoyed it here but the downside of it was that they were kind of alone here. At the time, I was the only American player here and the other players’ wives live so close to here, in Sweden and Germany, that they can go home all the time and come back, so a lot of the time my wife and kids were left here on their own and, when we go on the road for a week, it’s just them by themselves.”

Such is the ambition of the genial Holt that there is no reason not to believe that he will not realize his ambitions to land a regular gig playing in the NHL and be closer to his family, but Dinamo Riga fans can be left assured, should the dream not be realized, there is no place the goalie would rather remain playing hockey.
“When I came here and saw the people here and the fans and how they treat the players and the team – it’s such a warm-hearted country. If I had my way I would stay here for ten years.”
If that were to happen, then he believes his family’s time in Latvia would certainly become something of a more permanent fixture.

“If I were to stay here for ten years, I think they would come here a lot longer and I think they would be happy with that. It is not like playing in some small town in Russia, where it is not a very fun place to be. They like it here and if it came to it and I had the opportunity, I would like to stay.”

Dinamo Riga’s campaign continues throughout the next four months, at which stage they will be hoping to continue their run for a further two months, should they be in a position to make the playoffs. More information about the team and up and coming home games can be found at www.dinamoriga.eu.