Hanlon signs with Belarus
Hanlon signs with Belarus
Coach returns before Worlds on home ice
Hanlon will replace Andrei Skabelka as head coach of the Belarusian national team for the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons. The contract includes an option for an automatic extension to a third year, dependent on the team’s performance.
Under Hanlon the Belarusian national team had its best performances in World Championship history. He coached the team in three years – 2005, 2006 and 2009 – and led it to the quarter-finals twice. The 6th place in Riga 2006 was the best finish for Belarus in a World Championship.
Since leading Belarus to the quarter-finals at the 2009 World Championship in Switzerland, the national team hasn’t achieved a top-8 placing and dropped down to 14th place in the 2013 IIHF World Ranking.
The coach with American and Canadian citizenship coached the Slovak national team for two years but was let go after missing the quarter-finals in 2010 and on home ice in Bratislava in 2011. Most recently he was an assistant coach with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants in the past season.
Hanlon has already worked on a training program in preparation of the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, which the country will host in the capital Minsk.
He will also have a strategic role in developing the U20 and U18 programs.
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