Rubes, Vlad

BORN SEPTEMBER 8TH, 1970 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, he played forward in the Major Junior League and the 2nd Division, then graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport. In Florida USA, he played six games for the West Palm Beach Blaze during the 1993-94 season then the Daytona Beach Sun Devils of the same league (SuHL). In the Central Hockey League he scored 44 points in 56 games with the Memphis RiverKings.

On arrival in Australia in 1996, he joined the Macquarie Bears in the NSW Super League and won the league's regular season MVP. The next year he was appointed playing coach, remaining in the role until the end of the 2012 season. He was runner-up with the Bears in the first AIHL season, then won Goodall Cups in 2002 and 2007. He was five-times alternate captain, captain once, and retired on a total of 399 points, an average of 1.67 points per game. He spent three more seasons as Head Coach of the Bears, 2013 to 2015, before his appointment to the same role at the Sydney Ice Dogs in the AIHL in 2016. He is the longest-serving coach in AIHL history, well ahead of both John Botterill and Don Champagne, each of whom had given the League ten seasons before retiring.

He represented Australia eight times in Division 2 of the World Championships — 2000 and 2001, then from 2004 until 2009 inclusive. In that time, he won two bronze medals, two silver and a gold, and he was the Best Forward and Top Point Scorer in the 2004 tournament. He was Assistant Coach of the National Youth Team (U18) for two years in 2001 and 2002, then Head Coach from 2003 until 2006. As Head Coach of the National Men's Team for a three-year stint (2011 to 2013), he oversaw Australia's second promotion to Division 1 in Melbourne in 2011. He lives in Sydney with his wife, Martina, and two children. This year is the twentieth anniversary of the arrival in Australia of Vladimir Rubes.