Bob Hartley, the head coach of the Latvian national hockey team and the Continental Hockey League (KHL) team Omsk “Avangard”, is applying for the title of the best coach of the KHL season, KHL website announced on Wednesday.
Hartley-led Avangard won the Gagarin Cup this year. During 84 matches this season, the team celebrated 52 victories. Hartley has won the title in the current league, where he has led the team. In the Gagarin Cup final, “Avangard” beat Moscow’s CSKA in a 4-2 series. Andrejs Razins, head coach of Cherepovets “Severstall”, and Igor Nikitin from Moscow CSKA also apply for the title of the best coach. “Severstall”, represented by Razina, won 32 matches in 61 matches.
Razin formed a combat team in Cherepovets, beating Kazan’s Ak Bars, Ekaterinburg’s Avtomobilist, Avangard, Helsinki’s Jokerit and Magnitogorsk’s Metallurg in the main tournament Severstal. The coach had at his disposal the youngest KHL team, with an average age of 25 years and 60 days. For the first time in the last three seasons, the Cherepovs entered the playoffs, where they won their first victory in eight years in the first round of the Gagarin Cup, losing Moscow’s Dynamo in five matches in the series.
Nikitin with Moscow’s CSKA achieved an even better balance than Avangard – 56 wins in 82 games. CSKA, despite losing several leaders, won the main event again, becoming the owner of the Continental Cup. Nikitin took his team to the Gagarin Cup final for the third season in a row. The winners of this award have been Oleg Znarok four times, twice Zinetula Belyletinov, one time Milos Rzhiga, Mike Kinen, Vyacheslav Bikov, Dmitry Kvartalnov and Igor Nikitin The closing ceremony of the KHL season will take place on June 8, 2021.
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