Oleg Znarok

Oleg Znarok in 2014
Born	(1963-01-02) 2 January 1963 Ust-Katav, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Soviet Union
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Left
Played for	Dinamo Riga Vítkovice EV Landsberg EHC Freiburg Heilbronner Falken
National team	Soviet Union and  Latvia
Playing career	1979–2002

Oleg Valerievich Znarok (Russian: Олег Валерьевич Знарок, born 2 January 1963) is a Soviet-Latvian-German professional ice hockey player and coach who represented the USSR and Latvia, internationally, and currently represents Russia.^[1]

A 3-time Coach of the Year in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), he is currently the head coach of SKA Saint Petersburg as well as the Russian national team.^[2]

Internationally, he guided Russia to gold, silver, two bronze performances in the 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 IIHF World Championships, respectively, and to a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.^[3] Znarok coached the Latvian national team at five IIHF World Championships, two IIHF World U-20 Championships and one IIHF World U-18 Championship.^[4]

He had coached Dynamo Moscow to back to back Gagarin Cup championships, in the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons, and a Continental Cup in 2013–14 season. As well taking HC MVD to an appearance in the Gagarin Cup final of the 2009–10 season, losing in seven games.^[5]

Early and personal life

Oleg Znarok was born 2 January 1963 in Ust-Katav in the Soviet Union, presently in the Russian Federation. His father, Valeri Znarok, was a football (soccer) player at the time, who would himself go on to have a long coaching career. A young Oleg was introduced to hockey, when his grandfather brought him and his younger brother to a local skating rink.

Znarok would have a successful and long career as a player, before moving on to coaching. Playing for 23 years, across several leagues: Soviet, German, as well as a several games in the Czech Extraliga and the AHL of North America.

One of Znarok's youth team mates from Traktor Chelyabinsk was Vyachislav Bykov, who would go on to play for CSKA Moscow and the Soviet National Team. Bykov, after a successful playing career, would go on to coach the Russian National Team to back to back gold medals in 2008 and 2009 at the IIHF World Championships. He'd be replaced (after finishing 6th at the 2010 Winter Olympics and 4th at the 2011 IIHF WC) in favor of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, a former star player of rival Dynamo Moscow, who would go on to coach the Russian team to a gold medal in 2012, posting an undefeated record of 10-0. In turn, he too would be replaced (after finishing 5th at the 2014 Winter Olympics): this time in favor of Znarok himself. Znarok would go on to coach Russia to a gold medal in 2014, also going 10-0, winning silver in 2015 and two bronze medals in 2016 and 2017. He also led Russia to a 4th place finish at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Oleg is married. He and his wife Ilona, have two daughters, Valeria and Alisa. Valeria is in marketing and Alisa is a model.

Oleg first saw his wife in the stands at a hockey game. She was not a sports fan, but came out to support her friends. Seeing her again at a post match celebration, at a local restaurant, Oleg worked up the courage to approach her. They have been together ever since.

In the attic of their house, Ilona has put together something of a museum of hockey memorabilia. Among other items, it holds Znarok's ever growing collection of medals, awards and jerseys. One such item is an NHL contract that Oleg was given to sign by the Boston Bruins, untranslated. As Oleg did not speak English and had no one nearby to translate it for him, he turned it down when he thought the dollar amount was too low. It would only be a decade later, that he would find out that the numbers written down, the only thing he could understand of what was written, were for a monthly salary and not a yearly one.

Playing career

Znarok started his ice hockey career at Traktor Chelyabinsk, making his debut in the 1979–80 season. Over the next few years he would intermittently make appearances with the top team, and would go on to play 18 games during the 1981–82 season. Although not productive at the senior level as a teenager, his first career goal came against the legendary Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.

From 1983 until 1991, he represented Dinamo Riga, where he would become a top level player and an all-time club legend. The 1984–85 season would see Znarok's break out with 27 points in 52 games. He scored 14 goals and 13 assists, after putting up only 3 assists in 30 games, the previous season. In 1987–88 season, he led his team to a second-place finish in the Soviet Championship League's playoffs, losing 3–1 to CSKA Moscow in the final. The 1990–91 season was Znarok's best individual season, putting up 51 points in 44 games scoring 24 goals, 27 assists. In total, he would amass 221 points over 361 games, in the Soviet league. Scoring 101 goals and 120 assists.

In the 1991–92 season he played 6 games with the Maine Mariners of the American Hockey League (AHL), scoring 3 goals and 1 assist.

Znarok had a two-game (1 goal, 1 assist) outing in the Czech Extraliga during the 1993–94 playoffs, for Vítkovice.

Between the 1992–93 and 2001–02 seasons, he would represent various clubs in Germany. In the 1992–93 season, he would help EV Landsberg earn a promotion from the Oberliga to the 2nd Bundesliga, on the strength of his astonishing 220 points in just 66 games, scoring 77 goals and 143 assists.

At the age of 30, he would begin his 9-year-long participation in the 2nd Bundesliga. He would be a highly dominant player for the rest of his playing career, representing EV Landsberg, EHC Freiburg and Heilbronner EC. Scoring 1,069 points in 461 games in the regular season, on the strength of 388 goals and 681 assists. Also, adding 33 points (9 goals, 24 assists) over 22 playoff games. After the 2001–02 season, Znarok retired as a player. That season, he had put up 63 points (16 goals, 47 assists) over 45 games and added another 7 points (1 goal, 6 assists) in 6 playoff games.^[6]

International play

Career statistics

International

Year	Team	Comp	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	Result
1981	Soviet Union	EJC	5	8	8	16	7
1995	Latvia	WC-B	6	4	4	8	18	2nd (Div-B)
1996	Latvia	WC-B	6	6	2	8	18	Promoted
1997	Latvia	WC	8	3	7	10	6	7th
1998	Latvia	WC	6	5	3	8	2	9th
1999	Latvia	WC	6	0	1	1	8	11th
Totals			32	18	17	35	52

Coaching career

After finishing his playing career, Znarok turned to coaching.

In 2002–03, he was an assistant coach for the Latvian national team, while in 2003–04, Znarok was the head coach of the under-18 national team, as well as the head for Prizma Riga of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. From 2004 to 2006, he was the head coach of the under-20 national team and the head coach of SK Riga 20 of the Latvian Hockey Higher League, and an assistant coach, with the Latvian national team at two World Championships, 2006 Olympic qualifiers and 2006 Olympics. From 2006 to 2011, Znarok coached the Latvian national team at five World Championships and at 2010 Olympics as well as coaching SK Riga 20 through the 2007–08 season.

From 2008 to 2014, Znarok was the head coach of MVD of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) for two seasons, before its merger with Dynamo Moscow and continued head coaching for the next four seasons. On 26 March 2014, Znarok joined the Russian national team, and coached them at 3 World Championships, various stages of EHT and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Znarok achieved a flawless record with Russia during his first year as coach at the 2014 IIHF World Championship,^[7] although he has yet to beat the 29 World Championship game winning streak established by Vyacheslav Bykov.^[8] On 1 June 2016, he was named head coach of SKA Saint Petersburg, in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with whom he won the 2016–17 Gagarin Cup.

International record

Team	Year	Type	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	Result
Latvia	2007	WC	6	2	0	1	3	13th
	2008	WC	6	2	0	0	4	11th
	2009	WC	7	2	2	0	3	7th
	2010	OG	4	0	0	1	3	12th
	2010	WC	6	2	0	0	4	11th
	2011	WC	6	2	0	2	2	13th
Total:	10 won, 19 lost, 2 OT won, 2 OT lost
Russia	2014	WC	10	10	0	0	0	Gold
	2015	WC	10	6	1	1	2	Silver
	2016	WC	10	8	0	0	2	Bronze
	2016	WCH	4	2	0	0	2	Semi-finals
	2017	WC	10	7	1	0	2	Bronze
2018	OG	6	4	1	0	1	Gold
Total:	37 won, 9 lost, 3 OT won, 1 OT lost

Awards and achievements

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oļegs Znaroks.

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
• Heilbronner Falken: Einbürgerung perfekt