Ice Hockeyactuality
FISG
The men's national team focuses on the Canadian coach: the official status of the FISG for a four-year project with a technician of enormous experience. "A special challenge to prepare for the home Olympics with a team to grow".
Friday 14 October 2022 4 minutes reading time
Today, the Italian Ice Sports Federation announced that it has entrusted Canadian Mike Keenan with the technical guide of the national hockey team.
After a long selection process, therefore, the choice fell on a very thick profile. Mike Keenan, a native of Bowmanville (Ontario), is in fact a face of absolute prestige in the world in hockey and, in his curriculum, can boast extraordinary experiences and great successes in the most important international leagues (NHL and KHL, where he won the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup) and internationally with Team Canada.
Alongside him, in the role of associated coach, there will be fellow countryman Mike Pelino, another profile of international standing. The project is clear: to raise the level of the “Blue Team” with a view to Milan Cortina 2026, with the Olympic Games at home as a long-term goal. "I have had many wonderful international experiences, but for me this is both a challenge and a unique opportunity - the first words of Keenan as an Italian coach - I find it exciting to be able to follow a process of building and developing a team in view of an Olympics, more as a host country: this experience will also give me the opportunity to get to know new and different facets of the game.
To start I can say that miracles happen every now and then: the Italian people are passionate about sports and for this reason I want expectations to be high. I am a person who is not afraid to try to break down the odds and adversities. I have coached Team Canada in the past and I am used to setting up competitive teams even though I cannot train them day by day: I want my players to be able to excel, to have a desire for results, to be instilled with the idea of success and to be capable of compete under pressure ".
Stefan Zisser, head of the national hockey teams and president of the FISG South Tyrol Committee: “First of all I want to thank Greg Ireland and his staff for the work done in the last period. When Greg found a job in KHL we had to move to find a replacement for him: we are proud to have brought two characters of great depth to the helm of the Italian national team and we can certainly say that we are ready for this new adventure. With a staff of this caliber, which will be further integrated shortly, we are confident that we will be able to give a big boost in these early stages and then continuity for the next few years, in view of the 2026 Olympics and beyond ”.
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