Pēteris "Peter" Skudra is a retired Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

n professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 goaltender

Goaltender

In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...

. He played in the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 (NHL) for six seasons with the Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...

, the Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

, the Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...

, and the Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...

.

Career

Originally signed as a free agent by Pittsburgh in 1997, Skudra went on to play 74 games with the Penguins over three years. After the 1999–2000 season, he was signed by the Boston Bruins. After playing for the Bruins in 2000–01 season, he was signed by the Vancouver Canucks as a backup to Dan Cloutier

Dan Cloutier

Dan Cloutier is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey goaltender. In his 10-year National Hockey League career, Cloutier played with the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, and Los Angeles Kings, spending the majority of his career in Vancouver...

. Towards the end of the 2002–03 season, Skudra fell out of favor with coach Marc Crawford

Marc Crawford

Marc Joseph John Crawford is a Canadian professional ice hockey head coach, most recently employed by the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League. He was previously the head coach of three other organizations and won a Stanley Cup in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche...

 who instead decided to have Alex Auld

Alex Auld

Alexander Auld is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League . Auld has also played for the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens and Dallas Stars of the NHL...

 backup Dan Cloutier for that seasons playoffs.

In 2003, Skudra left North America for the Russian League, where he played for Ak Bars Kazan, Khimik Moscow Oblast, CSKA Moscow

HC CSKA Moscow

HC CSKA Moscow is a Russian ice hockey club that plays in the Kontinental Hockey League. It is referred to in the West as "Central Red Army" or the "Red Army Team" for its past affiliation with the Soviet Army, popularly known as the Red Army...

, and Metallurg Novokuznetsk

Metallurg Novokuznetsk

Metallurg Novokuznetsk is a professional ice hockey team from Siberia based in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Chernyshev Division in the Kontinental Hockey League.-History:-Champions:...

. On October 22, 2007, Skudra announced his retirement after 13 professional seasons.

Trivia

Skudra also played one season in the Roller Hockey International

Roller Hockey International

Roller Hockey International was a professional inline hockey league that operated in North America from 1993 to 1999. It was the first major professional league for inline hockey....

 league for the Oklahoma Coyotes.

Pēteris Skudra lists the fellow Latvian goalie Artūrs Irbe

Arturs Irbe

Artūrs Irbe is a former Soviet and Latvian professional ice hockey goaltender. He has played in the National Hockey League for the San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets. He served as the goaltending coach for the Washington Capitals...

 as his hero.

Skudra was mentioned on Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

in an episode that was filmed on March 19, 1999. During a skit that parodied ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

's Sportscenter

SportsCenter

SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...

, Chet Harper (played by guest host Ray Romano

Ray Romano

Raymond Albert "Ray" Romano is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian, best known for his roles on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and in the Ice Age film series. He recently starred in the TNT comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age.-Early life:Romano was born in Queens, New York to Italian...

) says "Okay! Penguins need a win against the Bruins to get to the 500 mark. Yes, they do! But Penguin goalie Peter Skudra says, 'Hey! Try not to shoot that puck up my pooper! Yeah!'

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