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Canadian coach Hartley confirmed as new head coach of Latvian national hockey team

BC, Riga, 20.12.2016.Print version
Canadian hockey coach Bob Hartley has been confirmed as the head coach of Latvian national hockey team, according to Latvian Hockey Federation reports LETA.

The federation has signed one-year contract with Hartley, with the option of a further year.

Hartley will attend the U-20 World Championship in Canada and may decide to include some of the Latvian U-20 team players into the national team.


Hartley will arrive in Riga in mid-February to see Riga Dinamo play the two last Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) regular season matches.


Hartley said he was very happy to have the opportunity to coach a national team, and grateful to Latvian Hockey Federation for giving him the opportunity. He also said he was looking forward to starting coaching the team for the World Championship in Germany next year.


The 56-year-old Hartley has coached three National Hockey League (NHL) clubs: Colorado Avalanche from 1998 to 2003, Atlanta Thrashers from 2003 to 2008, and Calgari Flames from 2012 to 2015.


In the 2011/2012 season, Hartley was the head coach of the Swiss hockey club Zurich ZSC Lions, helping the club win the Swiss Championship.


With Hartley as the head coach, the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2001.


In June 2015, Hartley won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's coach of the year.


Latvian national team's previous coach Leonids Beresnevs stepped down this past August, and during the Olympic qualification games in September the team was coached by Haralds Vasiljevs.


At the next Hockey World Championship in Germany's Cologne, Latvia will be in one group with Russia, United States, Sweden, Slovakia, Germany, Denmark and Italy.







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