Barry Smith (ice hockey, born 1952)

Barry Smith ( born August 21, 1952 in Buffalo, New York ) is an American ice hockey coach, who was active last until October 2011 when HC Lugano of the National League A.

Career

1972 Barry Smith finished his studies at Ithaca College with a Master of Education with specialization in sports. At college he had played ice hockey and American football.

His coaching career began in 1975 as he then was head coach of the hockey team, the Elmira College. Three times he won with the team the title of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference and once took part in the finals of the NCAA.

After six years at Elmira College, he left North America and trained in the following years teams in Sweden and Norway. At the same time he was assistant coach of the Norwegian national ice hockey team and as a scout team of the NHL Buffalo Sabres responsible for European players.

In 1986, he returned to his homeland and became an assistant to legendary coach Scotty Bowman in Buffalo. There remained, even after the departure of Bowman by the year 1989. For a year he returned to Europe and took over the job as head coach of the Italian Hockey Club Alleghe and the Italian national ice hockey team.

Back in the U.S. he was given the post as assistant coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL under head coach Bob Johnson. The season was very successful and the team won its first Stanley Cup. After the season, put Johnson for cancer, from which he died five months later, his office. Scott Bowman took over the team and Smith was still a member of the team that was able to defend the Stanley Cup.

Together with Bowman Smith left in the summer of 1993, the Pittsburgh Penguins and both switched to the Detroit Red Wings. In 1996, he worked part-time as an assistant for the Swedish national team at the World Cup of Hockey and took over the position as head coach of the Malmö Redhawks of the Swedish Elitserien and remained until the end of the season in Sweden. But he returned in time for the playoffs in the NHL back to Detroit, where he was able to celebrate the Stanley Cup victory in 1997 with the Red Wings. 1998 defended the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup. In between, he served as an assistant coach with the Swedish National Team at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. During the 1998/99 season took Smith and Dave Lewis, then also assistant coach in Detroit, the post of head coach since Bowman complained of health problems.

After Bowman's return, they were able to celebrate a Stanley Cup victory again in 2002. The head coach was then end of his career known and Dave Lewis was his successor. Barry Smith worked another two years on the coaching staff of the Red Wings.

After the failure of the 2004/05 season Smith left after 12 years, the Red Wings and was in August 2005 assistant coach Wayne Gretzky at the Phoenix Coyotes.

After two disappointing years in Phoenix, he left the team to take over as the head coach of SKA St. Petersburg in the Russian Super League. There he worked for three years and reached the playoffs with the team always without achieving particular success. Following Smith worked as a scout for the Chicago Blackhawks. In March 2011, he accepted an offer of HC Lugano to act there as a head coach. On October 22, 2011 Smith joined with immediate effect as head coach of HC Lugano, after the team had suffered a 0:9 defeat in the away game against the Kloten Flyers.

Awards and achievements

As an assistant coach

  • Stanley Cup 1991, 1992 ( with Pittsburgh), 1997, 1998 and 2002 ( with Detroit )
106474
de