GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Playing for your Country at the Winter Games is the ultimate stage for many athletes, and one of them is coming from right here in Grand Rapids.
“This is a big dream for everybody," Grand Rapids Forward Eduards Tralmaks told me.
And it's a dream that the left winger will be living when he skates for his home country of Latvia at the Winter Games, and I think you can guess how he feels about that.
“I'm very excited, eager to showcase myself and our country, so we'll see how good we can do,” Tralmks told me after a Griffin's practice.
The answer to that question is probably pretty good because Eduards is on the team for a reason.
“He's played for Latvia in the World Championships against good teams. He led their team in scoring," Griffins Head Coach Dan Watson told me. "He's top-line minutes powerplay. So he's going to be counted on heavily for the team Latvia.”
And even though playing for his home country is important, Eduards said playing in front of family for the first time in a long time might mean even more.
“I think the biggest thing for me is to just enjoy every second of it, as much as I can, you know. It could be once in a lifetime experience,” said Eduards.
And win or lose, he’ll be coming back here to his second home in West Michigan.
“He's a really good guy off the ice, and he has been all that a locker and the guys love him,” said Watson.
“An official announcement came out, and the boys were all over me, excited for me," said Eduards. "So you know, couldn't ask for a better group of guys to be happy.”
If you want to catch Tralmaks in action, he and his Latvia team will be playing on Feb 12, facing off against his second home and Team USA.
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