Introducing newest European Raider: Oskars Luks

“My sister was at the same daycare as a coach’s son, and she was like, ‘Hey, I got a brother, you know maybe he’ll be a good hockey player.’ That’s how I started.”

In the four days since arriving from his home city of Liepāja, a city of about 60,000 people on the west edge of Latvia along the Baltic Sea, Luks has been able to spend some time with his soon-to-be teammates, and he’s excited to join the group.

“I feel like we can do something special. Even now before camp, really excited to start things in PA. Really, I feel like we have a really, really good group of skilled guys.”

When it comes to his style of play, he isn’t afraid to jump up into the play with his 6’5, 209 lbs frame, but he knows his job is to shut things down in his own zone. He describes himself as a defensively focused two-way defender.

Last year was the first time Luks had played away from home, as he went to Finland. There, he played with the Jukurit U18 team in the Finnish Mestis League and posted 4G-20A-24P in 39 games. He said that he got to spend lots of time with the U20 team there.

“The thing that’s the most different about Latvia to Finland is how they prepare for games. All the trainings are structured. All the off ice is structured. About the language, I don’t understand the Finnish language, it’s pretty hard, but yeah, I got lucky with my teammates who spoke good English.”

Luks arrived in Prince Albert over the weekend, and is already getting to know the city. He’s billet brothers with the returning Evan Smith, and he already feels like he’s fitting in.

“I feel like I got lucky with my brother, Evan. He showed me around the team, introduced me to the guys, and yeah, they’re pretty cool, friendly. I spoke with them a lot. And yeah, in the city, me and Roger, my billet dad, I think it was two days ago. We drove around PA and showed me the stuff. No stranger to living in smaller cities for me as well.”

Luks speaks fluent English already, and claims to have learned most of the language from watching YouTube videos growing up.

Luks is the second Latvian-born player the Raiders have ever brought over. Kristaps Bazevics played two games for the Raiders during the 2011-12 season.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

Introducing newest European Raider: Oskars Luks

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