Hockey Slovakia has decided to change the head coach of its men’s national team. Out is Canadian Craig Ramsay, who has held the job for the past eight years, and in is Vladimír Országh, a former national team assistant coach who served as interim head coach during the most recent IIHF World Championship.
Ramsay, 74, was at the helm for six World Championships and two Winter Olympics. Under his guidance, the team reached the World Championship quarterfinals three times. Previously, Slovakia hadn’t made the quarters since 2013. His biggest achievement with the team was a bronze-medal victory at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
In his final season behind the Slovak bench, Ramsay helped the team qualify for the upcoming 2026 Olympics by winning a qualifying tournament on home ice in Bratislava. However, less than two months before the 2024 Worlds, Ramsay was stricken with pneumonia, resulting in Országh taking over the reigns.
Ramsay, who hails from Weston, Ont., played 14 years in the NHL for the Buffalo Sabres from 1971 to 1985, winning the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward in his last season.
Ramsay has coached or worked in the front office almost continuously since retiring as a player. Prior to joining the Slovak national team, he worked for several NHL organizations and had head coaching stints with the Philadelphia Flyers and Atlanta Thrashers.
Országh, 48, played professionally for 16 years, which included nearly 300 NHL games for the New York Islanders, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues between 1997 and 2006.
Országh has coached continuously since 2010, when he retired as a player. His coaching career has been entirely within Slovakia and Czechia. At the most recent World Championship, which he took over on short notice, the Slovaks finished sixth in their group, missing the playoffs. He received the most media attention when he made 19-year-old Dalibor Dvorský a healthy scratch for an important game against Latvia.
Országh has been signed to a three-year contract, which would put him behind the Slovak bench for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics and the next three World Championships.
Hockey Slovakia has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday morning, Central European Time, at which time the association is expected to elaborate on the decision.
Photo © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.
