Larry Robert Huras, (born July 8, 1955) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
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 h ...
coach and a former player. He most recently served as head coach of
HC Fribourg-Gottéron
HC Fribourg-Gottéron is a professional ice hockey team based in Fribourg, Switzerland, which competes in the National League (NL). The team is the sixth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2015/16 season with 6,156 spectators.
History
The ...
of the Swiss top-flight
NLA.
Playing career
Huras turned pro in 1975, when he was picked by the
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...
in the NHL draft (5th round, 84th overall). He spent some time in the
International Hockey League (IHL) and
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...
(AHL), before his
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL) debut on February 27, 1977 with the Rangers, for whom he played his only two NHL games. In the following three seasons, he strengthened the roster of
Salt Lake Golden Eagles
The Salt Lake Golden Eagles were a minor professional hockey team based in Salt Lake City from 1969 to 1994.
History
They played in the Western Hockey League from 1969 to 1974, the Central Hockey League from 1974 to 1984 and the International H ...
and
Dallas Black Hawks of the
Central Hockey League
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...
(CHL), followed by a stint with the
Port Huron Flags
The Port Huron Flags were a minor league professional ice hockey team located in Port Huron, Michigan. The Flags competed in the International Hockey League between 1962 and 1981. For three of those seasons from 1971 to 1974, Port Huron was a fa ...
in the IHL.
In 1980, Huras signed with
Grenoble métropole hockey 38
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
in France. He spent three years with the club, before heading to another French team,
Gap Hockey Club. He transferred to the
Dragons de Rouen in 1988 and captured four French national championships in six years with the club, three of them as a player-coach.
Coaching career
After his Rouen player-coach tenure, including three French championships, Huras was named head coach of
Zürcher SC of the Swiss elite league
NLA in 1994, where he remained at the helm for two years. During the 1996-97 season, he was hired by fellow NLA side
HC Ambri-Piotta. Under his guidance, Ambri completed the 1998-99 regular season on top of the table before losing the finals to
HC Lugano
Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships.
History
The founding of HC Lugano took ...
. He received Switzerland Coach of the Year honors that season. Huras guided the team to semifinal appearances in 1997-98 and 1999-00 and also established the club on the international stage, winning two
IIHF Continental Cup
The Continental Cup is a second-level ice hockey tournament for European clubs (behind Champions Hockey League), begun in 1997 after the discontinuing of the European Cup. It was intended for teams from countries without representatives in the E ...
titles (1998 and 1999) as well as the 1999
IIHF Super Cup with the team. Ambri and Huras did not come to terms on a new contract in 2000, so he accepted an offer to return to Zürcher SC for a second stint in charge at the club. At ZSC, he added to his title haul, winning the 2001 Swiss national championship and the
IIHF Continental Cup
The Continental Cup is a second-level ice hockey tournament for European clubs (behind Champions Hockey League), begun in 1997 after the discontinuing of the European Cup. It was intended for teams from countries without representatives in the E ...
. He was sacked in November 2001, after suffering defeat in eleven of 23 games since the beginning of the 2001-02 campaign.
Huras stayed in the Swiss NLA and was appointed head coach of HC Lugano prior to the 2002-03 season. He led the team to the Swiss championship his first year and to the finals in 2003-04. Huras was relieved of his duties during the 2006 playoffs quarterfinals and replaced by
Harold Kreis, who went on to win the title with the team.
For a second time in his career, he took over head coaching duties at HC Ambri-Piotta in November 2006. He pulled the team away from the bottom of the
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 h ...
and managed to keep Ambri in the league.
After stints with the
Stavanger Oilers of Norway (2007–08) and
Villacher SV
EC Grand Immo VSV are an ice hockey team in the ICE Hockey League. They play their home games at Stadthalle (Villach), Stadthalle (capacity approximately 4500 spectators) in Villach, Austria. The team colors are blue and white. Their mascot is an ...
of Austria (2008–09), Huras was back in Switzerland, taking the helm of
SC Bern
Schlittschuh Club Bern ('' Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English) is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. For the 18th year in a row, the club is the mos ...
in 2009. He had immediate success, guiding SCB to the NLA title his first year. In his second season, Bern reached the semifinals. Huras was removed from the position in October 2011, his third year at the helm, because the club executives wanted a "more attractive style of ice hockey". Only a couple of days later, he returned for a second spell at HC Lugano. His tenure ended at the end of the 2012-13 season.
In November 2013, Huras joined the coaching staff of
EHC München EHC may refer to:
* Eastern Harbour Crossing, a transport tunnel in Hong Kong
* EHC Hoensbroek, a Dutch football club
* The Electric Hellfire Club, an American industrial metal band
* Encompass Health, an American healthcare provider
* Environm ...
of the German
DEL
Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...
, serving as an assistant to
Pierre Pagé. He was named head coach of then reigning German champion
ERC Ingolstadt
ERC Ingolstadt (''Eishockey-und-Rollschuh club'', ) is a German professional ice hockey club that plays in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Commonly known as the Panthers, the team plays its home games at the Saturn Arena in Ingolstadt.
History ...
for the 2014-15 season and guided the Panthers to another appearance in the DEL finals, where they fell short to
Adler Mannheim.
Huras parted ways with Ingolstadt after one year and took the head coaching job at
Modo Hockey
Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...
in Sweden's
SHL. Following a bad start to the 2015-16 season, collecting ten points from the opening 15 games and losing seven straight games, Huras and his staff were sacked in November 2015. In late September 2016, he was named head coach of
HC Fribourg-Gottéron
HC Fribourg-Gottéron is a professional ice hockey team based in Fribourg, Switzerland, which competes in the National League (NL). The team is the sixth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2015/16 season with 6,156 spectators.
History
The ...
of the NLA, replacing
Gerd Zenhäusern. Huras guided Fribourg to a semifinal appearance in the
Champions Hockey League
The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe.
Backgrou ...
in the 2016-17 season where they fell short to
Frölunda HC. In the NLA, his team did not qualify for the play-offs, Huras and Fribourg parted company after the season.
Private life
Huras is married and has two sons and one daughter. His hobbies are water skiing, skiing, golf, fishing, reading and music.
Career statistics
Successes
As player
* France Championship: 1981, 1982 (Grenoble), 1990 (Rouen)
As coach
* France Championship: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 (Rouen) (player-coach)
* Switzerland Coach of Year: 1998–99 (
HC Ambri-Piotta)
* Winner of the
Continental Cup and the Super Cup with Hockey Club Ambrì Piotta in 2000
* Switzerland Championship: 2001 (
ZSC Lions
The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...
), 2003 (
HC Lugano
Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships.
History
The founding of HC Lugano took ...
), 2010 (
SC Bern
Schlittschuh Club Bern ('' Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English) is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. For the 18th year in a row, the club is the mos ...
) (as head coach)
References
External links
Hockeydraftcentral.com*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huras, Larry
1955 births
Living people
Brûleurs de Loups players
Canadian ice hockey coaches
Dallas Black Hawks players
Kitchener Rangers players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
Indianapolis Racers draft picks
New Haven Nighthawks players
New York Rangers draft picks
New York Rangers players
People from Perth County, Ontario
Port Huron Flags (IHL) players
Providence Reds players
Rapaces de Gap players
Rouen HE 76 players
Salt Lake Golden Eagles (CHL) players
SC Bern coaches
Canadian ice hockey defencemen