Bears' Vlad Rubes 400 career points

Vlad Rubes of the Sydney Bears became the second player in AIHL history to hit 400 career points. Rubes tallied the milestone point with a goal in a 5-2 loss to the Newcastle Northstars on Saturday night.

Rubes, a 46 year-old native of the Czech Republic, came out of retirement this year to rejoin the Sydney Bears – the team he started his AIHL career with 17 years ago.

Image: Rhys Lavender / AIHL

“It really came out of nowhere, I wasn’t thinking about hockey, I was enjoying spending more time with my kids, said Rubes

“But as the season was approaching, talking to guys like Tommy Landa, I felt like it was something I could do. I’m still a competitive guy and I wanted to see how good this league really is.”

This is Rubes 15^th season in the AIHL, he was a member of the 2007 Bears Goodall Cup winning team, however his career was almost cut short in 2013.

“Four years ago, I had a serious neck injury and I had to stop playing right away.  But now I feel good and I thought let’s give it a go,” shared Rubes.

Rubes decided to join the Sydney Bears after talking with Barry Robertson, a Bears Club member in the late 90's.

“At the time, I was organizing hockey camps for Australian kids, we were taking Aussie kids during the school holidays to Czech and Barrys’ boys came with us.

“I was play for Canterbury at the time and he asked me come and play for the Bears, he helped me out with a job, and that’s how I found myself playing for the Sydney Bears.”

In the locker room before the milestone game in Newcastle Rubes received plenty of encouragement from his teammates.

“It was the boys talking about the 400^th point, more than me thinking about the milestone,” chuckled Rubes.

Despite being an away game, the Newcastle crowd was cheering for Rubes and Hunter Ice Skating stadium erupted when he finally scored number 400 in the second period.

“At that stage of the game, we were 3-0 down and I was happy that we got closer to tying the game,” he said.

“When I scored the goal, Tommy Landa and Michael Schlamp grabbed me and they were really happy, it was great feeling,” said Rubes.

With the 400^th point in the bag, Rubes reflected on his milestone after the game and had some words of advice for young players suiting up in the AIHL.

“Don’t take it for granted that you can play in the AIHL, exclaimed Rubes.

“Some guys have talent and they think they should be in the line up, but they don’t stick around, they just play for one season, two season, and take their spot for granted.

“My advice would be to stick around, enjoy playing hockey and don’t take it for granted.”

Rubes joins the ranks of the AIHL’s elite point scorers as only the second player to reach 400 points behind Adelaide Adrenaline forward Greg Oddy. Much like Oddy Rubes has only played for one AIHL team over this career, stating his focus now is on winning a second Goodall Cup for the Sydney Bears in 2017.

Rubes and the Bears return to Macquarie Ice Rink on Sunday 30^th April, when they host the red hot Perth Thunder. The Bears are still searching for their first win of 2017 and can expect strong support from the Sydney crowd.