Július Šupler (born 27 October 1950 in

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) is a Slovak ice-hockey coach. Šupler has been coach of HC Dukla Trenčín and Riga 2000 and was the first coach of Slovakia national team.

Playing career

Šupler began playing ice hockey in his hometown of

and later played in

Liptovský Mikuláš Liptovský Mikuláš (; until 1952 ''Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš'', german: Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus; hu, Liptószentmiklós) is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River, about from Bratislava. It lies in the Liptov region, in Liptov Bas ...

. In 1970–1972 he played for Slovan Bratislava and in 1972–1976 for VSŽ Košice.

Coaching career

He started coaching as the assistant coach in Poprad 1979–1985, as the head coach in 1985–1987. In 1991–92 season he won Czechoslovakia title with

Dukla Trenčín Dukla is a town and an eponymous municipality in southeastern Poland, in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 2,017. The total area of the commune is . Dukla belongs to Lesser Poland, and until the P ...

. Since 1993 he was the head coach of Slovakia national team. He led Slovakia to the A-category of

IIHF World Championship The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide Sport governing body, governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zürich, Zur ...

in the least possible time, by winning the C-category in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and B-category in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. He led the Slovakian team also to sixth place at the 1994 Olympic Tournament in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

. After the 1996 World Championships in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where Slovakia obtained 10th place, his contract with the Slovak national team was not extended. In 1996–2006 he was coaching various teams—the

Portland Winterhawks The Portland Winterhawks are a junior ice hockey team based in Portland, Oregon, playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL), one of three leagues making up the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Prior to the 2021-22 season, the Winterhawks split thei ...

in WHL, Slovan Bratislava, and

HK Riga 2000 HK Riga 2000 was an ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. The team had played in the LHL since it was founded. In 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons the club also iced a team in the Belarusian Hockey League, and in 2005-06 finished 3rd. HK Riga 2000 ...

(

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

). In 2006 he again became the coach of the Slovak national team. He chose

Zdeno Cíger Zdeno Cíger (born 19 October 1969) is a Slovak former professional hockey player, and currently hockey coach. He played for the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Zdeno Cíger w ...

and Miroslav Miklošovič for his assistants, replacing Cíger with Peter Oremus in June 2007. Under his coaching, Slovakia obtained sixth spot at

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

World Championships and 13th place at

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. After the 2008 championship, he was replaced by Ján Filc. He was the head coach of

HC Donbass Hockey Club Donbass ( uk, Хокейний Клуб Донбас; russian: link=no, Хоккейный Клуб Донбасс, '' tr. Hokeinyi Klub Donbas'') is a Ukrainian professional ice hockey team based in Druzhkivka, currently playing in th ...

in 2012-13.sport.sk
Július Šupler trénerom HK Donbass Doneck
in Slovak

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Supler, Julius 1950 births Slovak ice hockey coaches Dinamo Riga coaches Sportspeople from Poprad Living people Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Slovakia men's national ice hockey team coaches Czechoslovak ice hockey forwards Slovak ice hockey forwards Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the United States Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Russia Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Belarus Slovak expatriate ice hockey people Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Czechoslovak ice hockey coaches HK Poprad players HC Košice players