Daniel Paul Ratushny (born October 29, 1970) is a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

coach, lawyer and sports arbitrator. A former professional

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

, he last served as head coach of

Lausanne HC , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

of the Swiss top-flight

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league ha ...

(NLA).

Playing career

Ratushny was selected 25th overall in the

1989 NHL Entry Draft The 1989 NHL Entry Draft was the 27th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 17 at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Detroit Red Wings' 1989 draft has been noted as exceptionally successful, with 5,955 total NHL games played by the pla ...

by the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

following his freshman season at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. He spent two more seasons at Cornell and was named

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

and ECAC first-team all-star in both 1990 and 1991. He would also represent Canada at the 1990

IIHF World U20 Championship The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

, winning a gold medal. Ratushny left college hockey after his junior year to join the Canadian National Team with the goal of participating at the 1992 Olympics (at the time, the national team was stocked with amateur players, as professional participation at the Olympics was prohibited). He spent the conclusion of the 1990–91 and the entire 1991–92 seasons with the national team, winning a silver medal at the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

in Albertville, France. Ratushny finished the 1991–92 season in Switzerland with

EHC Olten EHC Olten is a Swiss professional ice hockey team based in Olten, Switzerland. It plays in the Swiss League, the second tier ice hockey league in Switzerland. It has claimed two Swiss League Championships, gaining promotion to the National League ...

before signing with the IHL

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inte ...

for the 1992-93 season. He was dealt to the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

at the NHL trade deadline in 1993, but only played one game for the Canucks. From 1993 until 1999, Ratushny played in the AHL and IHL before continuing his career abroad in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Ratushny made a brief appearance in an episode of the Scottish sitcom ''Still Game''.

Education and legal work

Daniel received his B.Sc. in Economics from Cornell in 1997. He earned his M.B.A. from Strathclyde Business School in 2003 and his LL.B. from the

University of Ottawa Faculty of Law The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (''French: Faculté de droit de l'Université d'Ottawa)'' is the law school at the University of Ottawa, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1953, the Faculty is today divided into Civil Law a ...

in 2006. From 2006 until 2009, Ratushny worked as a lawyer in the corporate department of the international law firm

Stikeman Elliott Stikeman Elliott LLP is a Canadian business law firm founded in 1952 by H. Heward Stikeman and Fraser Elliott. The firm has offices located in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver, New York, London and Sydney. Since 2021, the firm's cha ...

. In 2015 he earned his Executive Master in International Sports Law fro
ISDE
in Madrid, Spain and is currently a sports arbitrator.

Coaching career

He served as assistant coach at the University of Ottawa in 2004-05. From 2009 until 2011, Ratushny was the head coach of the Swiss

National League B The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, the ...

team

. In 2011, he became head coach of the

Straubing Tigers The Straubing Tigers are a professional men's ice hockey team, based in Straubing, Germany, that competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Straubing plays its home games at the Eisstadion am Pulverturm, which has a capacity of 5,800 spectators. ...

of the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called "PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga") (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a German professional ice hockey league and the highest division in German ice hockey. Founded in ...

(DEL) for three seasons. In the 2011-12 season, he led the Tigers to the DEL playoff-semifinals and was named DEL Coach of the Year. He signed with

EC Red Bull Salzburg EC Red Bull Salzburg is a professional ice hockey team based in Salzburg, Austria, that currently plays in the ICE Hockey League. The club play their home games at the Eisarena Salzburg. History The history of ice hockey in Salzburg at the highe ...

of the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria, it currently f ...

(EBEL) in 2014 and was named head coach of the Austrian national team. Ratushny guided Salzburg to the championship his first year, repeating this success the following season (2015–16). In April 2016, he was named head coach of

of the Swiss top-flight

(NLA). In May 2016, he stepped down from his position as head coach of the Austrian national team to focus on his job in Lausanne. He guided the team to a fourth-place finish in the 2016-17 regular season, while being named NLA Regular Season Coach of the Year. Ratushny was sacked on October 11, 2017, after LHC had garnered twelve points from the first ten games of the 2017-18 season.

Awards and honors

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratushny, Dan 1970 births Albany River Rats players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Carolina Monarchs players Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players Fort Wayne Komets players Hamilton Canucks players HPK players Ice hockey people from Ottawa Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Living people Kansas City Blades players Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Nepean Raiders players Olympic ice hockey players for Canada Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Canada Peoria Rivermen (IHL) players Quebec Rafales players Vancouver Canucks players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) draft picks Canadian ice hockey coaches University of Ottawa Faculty of Law alumni AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans