Vladimír Országh will temporarily lead the Slovak national ice hockey team as head coach. He will replace Craig Ramsay, who is ill and it is currently unknown when he will be able to return to the team. In the opening week of the official preparation phase, in which the Slovaks will play a friendly double-header in Switzerland on April 10 and 11, Országh will be assisted by Ivan Feneš and Martin Štrbák. The announcement was made Tuesday by the general manager of the Slovak national team, Miroslav Šatan.
"Unfortunately, we don't have any good news for the fans today. Craig is being treated for pneumonia, so he won't be available for the start of our preparations for the World Championships. The preliminary prognosis from the doctors says that he will need about two to three more weeks to recover. We have agreed with Vlad Országh that he will take over the duties of the head coach of the national team and help us as long as necessary. Now the most important thing is for Craig to recover as soon as possible," Šatan told hockeyslovakia.sk.
The 47-year-old Országh has worked with Ramsay in the past. He has been part of his coaching staff since the summer of 2017, when the experienced Canadian coach arrived in Slovakia. In the 2017/2018 season, he attended the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the World Championships in Denmark with him. He later served as head coach at Slovan Bratislava during their time in the KHL, as well as in Litvínov and as an assistant in Třinec. He returned to Banská Bystrica last season.
Source: TASR
