Haralds Vasiļjevs (11 February 1952 – 23 October 2024) was a Latvian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

coach and player. He was the head coach of the youth programs for the

Graz 99ers The Moser Medical Graz99ers are an Austrian professional ice hockey team from Graz, Styria. The club was founded in 1999 after the previous club, EHC Graz, folded prior to the 1998–99 season due to financial difficulties. The Graz99ers started ...

. 2 Juli 2009 Weltklasse-Trainer für Nachwuchs-Arbeit in Graz engagiert!
/ref> He was a past national team head coach. He played for

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a D ...

in the USSR Championship.

Coaching career

Vasiļjevs started coaching with an internship with

after completing the Russian hockey coaching school after being deemed to have the highest qualification to coach necessary. He then had an internship with his original coach Viktor Tikhonov. From 1985 to 1990, he was the head coach of RASMS Riga, the Dinamo Riga farm club. In 1990, he took the head coaching job at EHC Dortmund and through 1994 brought the team up from the Landesliga to the 2nd Bundesliga. From 1994 to 2001, Vasiļjevs held various coaching positions in the

Krefeld Pinguine The Krefeld Pinguine (Krefeld Penguins) are an ice hockey team in the DEL2. Their home ice is in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany at the Yayla Arena. Founded in 1936 by entrepreneur Willi Münstermann, the pro team became a limited liab ...

organisation, including head coach of the club's Junior team in the Deutsche Nachwuchs-Liga. In 2000, he received the highest approval from the

Deutscher Eishockey-Bund The German Ice Hockey Federation (), commonly abbreviated as DEB, is the governing federation of German ice hockey associations. It was established on 16 June 1963 in Krefeld. Until 1990 it served only the old Federal Republic of Germany and West ...

and received his Level A Head Coach license. He was the assistant coach of the Krefeld from 1998 to 2001. He was the head coach of the Pinguine until 2004. He was later the head coach of

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 ...

Latvian national team

Vasiļjevs was coach of the

Latvia men's national ice hockey team The Latvian men's national ice hockey team represents Latvia in international ice hockey. The team is ranked 10th in the world by IIHF as of 2023. The team is controlled by the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation. Their best ever finish at the World C ...

from 1999 to 2001 and coached in 34 games. He won two tournaments as the head coach: the 1999

World Cup of Hockey The World Cup of Hockey is an international ice hockey tournament. Inaugurated in 1996 World Cup of Hockey, 1996, it is the successor to the Canada Cup, which was held every three to five years from 1976 Canada Cup, 1976 to 1991 Canada Cup, 1991 ...

qualifier held in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

Qualification that was held in Klagenfurt,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Under his tutelage, the Latvians best finish at the World Championships was 8th place in 2000.

Personal life and death

Vasiļjevs's son, Herberts, was also a professional ice hockey player. Vasiļjevs died on 23 October 2024, at the age of 72.Miris bijušais Latvijas hokeja izlases treneris Haralds Vasiļjevs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vasiljevs, Haralds 1952 births 2024 deaths Dinamo Riga players Latvia men's national ice hockey team coaches Latvian ice hockey coaches Latvian ice hockey forwards Latvian sports coaches National team coaches Soviet ice hockey players Ice hockey people from Riga