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Ralfs Freibergs (born 17 May 1991) is a Latvian professional ice hockey defencemen, who currently plays for Dinamo Riga of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Playing career
After first playing professionally in his native Latvia, Freibergs moved to North America as a junior and played collegaite hockey with the Bowling Green State University in NCAA league. Freibergs was a member of Latvia men's national ice hockey team and he has played in 2013 IIHF World Championship as well as the 2014 Winter Olympics.
On 8 August 2014, Freibergs signed his first North American professional contract in agreeing to a one-year American Hockey League deal with the St. John's IceCaps. Freibergs appeared in 5 games with the IceCaps, however was reassigned to ECHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign for the majority of the campaign.
Leading into the 2015–16 season, Freibergs accepted an invitation to the Grand Rapids Griffins training camp on 28 September 2015. He was later reassigned and signed an ECHL contract with affiliate, the Toledo Walleye on October 6, 2015.
On July 15, 2016, Freibergs returned to his native Latvia as a free agent from North America, signing a contract with Dinamo Riga of the KHL.
International play
Freibergs competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics being the only active NCAA hockey player to compete in the men's tournament. His first appearance was in the third game when he logged 4:56 of ice time. Freibergs also competed in the elimination round games against Switzerland and Canada.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on 25 April 2014, that Freibergs was excluded from the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Freibergs provided a urine sample on 22 February whose A and B samples indicated the presence of dehydrochloromethyl-testosterone metabolite 18-nor-17b-hydroxymethyl-17a-methyl-4- chloro-5b-androst-13-en-3a-ol.