Peter Russell (born 20 June 1974) is a British

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 former

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. He is currently the head coach of both the

Ravensburg Towerstars The Ravensburg Towerstars, also known as EV Ravensburg, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ravensburg, Germany, and one of the oldest clubs in the country. They currently play in DEL2, the second level of ice hockey in Germany. Prior to ...

in the German

DEL2 DEL2 (also known as DEL II) is the second tier ice hockey league in Germany, below the '' Deutsche Eishockey Liga'' (DEL) and ahead of the '' Oberliga''. Founded in 2013 to replace the defunct '' 2nd Bundesliga'', DEL2 is administered by ESBG, ...

and the

Great Britain men's national ice hockey team The Great Britain men's national ice hockey team (also known as Team GB) is the national ice hockey team that represents the United Kingdom. A founding member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 1908, the team is control ...

. He is the most successful coach in GB history at both senior and junior level, with 11 medals including six gold medals.

Professional career

Playing career

Russell made his debut with the Ayr Raiders during 1990 in the

British Hockey League The British Hockey League was the top-flight ice hockey league in the United Kingdom from 1980 until 1996 (with a short break between 1981 and 1982), when it was replaced by the Ice Hockey Superleague and the British National League. The league r ...

. In 1992, Pete moved to British Division 1, the country's then-second-tier league, playing for the Medway Bears, Dumfries Vikings, Blackburn Hawks,

Slough Jets Slough Jets are an ice hockey team from Slough, Berkshire, England playing in the NIHL South Division 1. The team was founded in 1986 after the construction of the Slough Ice Arena in Montem Lane in Slough and joined the first division of the Br ...

and the

Paisley Pirates The Paisley Pirates were founded in 1946 and are one of the oldest ice hockey clubs in Scotland and the UK (the oldest being the Fife Flyers). The Pirates were the epitome of the game in Scotland during the 1950s. In season 1953–54 they won t ...

. In 1996, Russell played for the Castlereagh Knights followed by a second spell with the Paisley Pirates again. He then played one game for the

Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Their main team sponsor is the Nottingham Building Society. The Nottingham Panthers have won four ...

in the

British Ice Hockey Superleague The British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL, also known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague from 1998 to 1999 for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2003. Devised in 1995, it replaced ...

before retiring at the age of 24.

Coaching career

Russell debuted as Head Coach with the Paisley Cherokees in the 2002–03 season in the Scotland U19 league, before moving to the Cardiff Devils as Director of Player Development. In the 2006–07 season he was made Head Coach of the English Premier League team, the Swindon Wildcats. He had spells with other Premier League teams the

Bracknell Bees The Bees Ice Hockey Club are an ice hockey team from Slough, Berkshire, UK. They compete in the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) National League, the second tier of English Ice Hockey. History Early years The Bracknell Bees were formed in 1 ...

and

, before returning to Swindon as Assistant Coach of the Premier League team and Head Coach of the Okanagan Hockey Academy based in Swindon. On 22 April 2015, Russell was announced as the head coach of the

Milton Keynes Lightning The Milton Keynes Lightning are an ice hockey team founded in 2002 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The Lightning currently play in Britain's second-tier professional league, the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL), since the 2019–20 season. ...

for the 2015–16 season, replacing the previous long-term coach, Nick Poole. He led them to memorable playoff and cup doubles in the 2016–17 season, before leading them in their inaugural season in the Elite League. In February 2018, the Lightning announced that Russell would leave the team at the end of the season. On 8 April 2018, Russell was announced as head coach of the Glasgow Clan, replacing John Tripp. Between 2003 and 2015, he led GB's junior sides to seven medals at World Championship tournaments, including four gold medals. Since taking over for Great Britain Men in 2014–15, Russell led GB to two successive silver medals at the World Championship Division I Group B in his first two seasons in charge of the national team. In 2017, he won gold on home ice and promotion to the second tier. In 2018, he led GB to a memorable gold in Hungary in the World Championship Division I Group A to secure a top-flight World Championship place for 2019. Russell then led Great Britain to a dramatic overtime victory over France at the 2019 IIHF World Championship, which preserved their top-flight status. GB retained their top-level status until relegation in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

. In May 2019, it was announced that Russell had left the Glasgow Clan, and would be joining

EHC Freiburg EHC Freiburg, is a professional ice hockey team based in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. They play in the DEL 2, the second-highest level of ice hockey in Germany. History The club was created as EHC Freiburg in 1984. In 2003, they became cham ...

in the

, taking over from Jan Melichar. In March 2021, it was announced that Russell would leave Freiburg at the end of the current campaign and take over at fellow DEL2 side

ahead of the 2021–22 season. In April 2022, after leading Ravensburg to the

play-offs, Russell was named the new head coach at

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 ...

side

Augsburger Panther The Augsburger Panther are a professional ice hockey team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The team is based in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. They play their home games at the Curt Frenzel Stadion. Founded in 1878, the team's name was Augsburger EV ...

s for the 2022–23 season. However, in December 2022, Augsburger and Russell parted company. In January 2023, Russell returned to Ravensburg Towerstars for a second spell as head coach.https://www.towerstars.de/peter-russell-kehrt-an-die-towerstars-bande-zurueck/

Honours and awards

*2005/06 – IIHF Under 20s World Championships Division 2 Gold with Team GB *2006/07 – IIHF Under 20s World Championships Division 1 Bronze with Team GB *2008/09 – IIHF Under 20s World Championships Division 2 Silver with Team GB *2009/10 – IIHF Under 20s World Championships Division 2 Gold with Team GB *2009/10 – EPIHL Playoff Champions with

*2009/10 – EPIHL Coach of the Season *2010/11 – IIHF Under 20s World Championships Division 1 Bronze with Team GB *2010/11 – EPIHL Cup winners with the Slough Jets *2014/15 – IIHF Under 20s World Championships Division 1B Gold with Team GB *2014/15 – IIHF World Championship Division 1B Silver with Team GB *2015/16 – IIHF World Championship Division 1B Silver with Team GB *2016/17 – EPIHL Playoff Champions with

*2016/17 – IIHF World Championship Division 1B Gold with Team GB *2017/18 – IIHF World Championship Division 1A Gold with Team GB *2019/20 – DEL2 Coach of the Year with

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Peter 1974 births Blackburn Hawks players Great Britain men's national ice hockey team coaches Living people Nottingham Panthers players Paisley Pirates players Scottish ice hockey goaltenders Slough Jets players Sportspeople from Ayr British ice hockey coaches