Michael Pelino (born November 13, 1959) 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 ...

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. He has been serving as head coach of

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL) since 2019.

Career

Pelino was born in

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He played varsity ice hockey at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

from 1979 to 1984. He won the 1984

OUAA Ontario University Athletics (OUA; french: Sports universitaires de l'Ontario) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providin ...

and CIAU championship with the Blues, while making the Canadian All-Star team and earning OUAA first team distinction. During his ten-year tenure as head coach of

Brock University Brock University is a public research university in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is the only university in Canada in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, at the centre of Canada's Niagara Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment. The university bear ...

(1987 - 1997), Pelino was named OUA West Division Coach of the Year three times (1988, 1989, 1995). In 1991, as a member of the coaching staff, he helped

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics * Canada at the Paralympics * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at the Pan American Games Canada's national sport teams * Canada me ...

win the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

. Serving as head coach, he guided Canada’s under-18 national team to victory at the 1996 Pacific Cup and was an assistant coach on Canada’s gold-winning squad at the 1997 World Junior Championship. Following his ten-year stint as head coach of Brock University, which ended in 1997, Pelino was appointed assistant coach of the

Spokane Chiefs The Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Canadi ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

. He spent two seasons with the Spokane team. In August 1999, Pelino joined

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

, serving as associate coach and assistant general manager of the men's national team, winning gold at the 2000 Nagano Cup (as assistant coach), the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City (as assistant coach, video) as well as at the 2003 and 2004 World Championships (as assistant coach). As head coach, he guided Canada to victory at the 2000 Father Bauer Cup and the 2002

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss tea ...

. Pelino then moved to the

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), serving as head coach for the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

in 2003-04, before joining the staff of 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 ...

as an assistant in August 2004. After five years with the Rangers, Pelino spent the 2009-10 as assistant coach with the

San Antonio Rampage The San Antonio Rampage were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League based in San Antonio, Texas. The Rampage was primarily owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment throughout the team's existence. In 2020, the franchise was sold ...

of the

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 Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL). He then took over as head coach of

OHL OHL or Ohl may refer to: Initialisms *Latvian Hockey Higher League, known in Latvian as the ''Optibet hokeja līga'' *Oberste Heeresleitung, the Supreme Army Command of Germany in World War I *Obrascón Huarte Lain, a Spanish construction company * ...

’s

Peterborough Petes The Peterborough Petes are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. The team has played at the Peterborough Memorial Centre in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, since 1956, and is the oldest continuously operating team in the league. ...

prior to the 2010-11 campaign. He was sacked by the Petes in December 2012. In May 2013, Pelino put pen to paper on a two-year deal as assistant coach of

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They a ...

of the

(KHL), serving under

Mike Keenan Michael Edward Keenan (born October 21, 1949) is a Canadian professional hockey coach who most recently coached the Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League. Previously, he served as head coach and/or general manager with several NHL teams ...

. He helped guide Metallurg to the

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup (russian: Кубок Гагарина, Kubok Gagarina) is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was ...

as KHL champions his first year and stayed on the job, after Keenan was let go in October 2015 and Ilia Vorobiev was promoted from assistant to head coach. In the 2015-16 season, Pelino won the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg for a second time. He inked a contract extension with the club in June 2016, which will keep him in Magnitogorsk until 2018. In October 2016, he was named to Canada's coaching staff for the

Deutschland Cup The Deutschland Cup is an in-season international ice hockey tournament hosted by the German Ice Hockey Federation which has been contested in most years since 1987. Early years (1987–1997) In 1987, the German Ice Hockey Federation created the ...

, serving as assistant to head coach Dave King.

Honors and achievements

* Ontario University Athletics (West Division) Coach of the Year 1988, 1989, 1995 * Member of the Welland Sports Wall of Fame (inducted in 2013) * Member of the 1983-84 Varsity Blues’ Men’s Hockey Team, which was inducted into the University of Toronto Hall of Fame in 2014 * Gagarin Cup winner 2014, 2016

External links

Mike Pelino at eliteprospects.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelino, Mike 1959 births Living people Canadian ice hockey coaches Ice hockey people from Ontario New York Rangers coaches Peterborough Petes coaches Florida Panthers coaches People from Welland