Peter Laviolette
Peter Laviolette Jr. ( born December 7, 1964 in Franklin, Massachusetts ) is a retired American professional ice hockey player and current coach. Until October 2013 he was head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League. Laviolette is the U.S. coach with the most wins in the NHL.
- 2.1 As a coach
Career
As a player
Laviolette started his career in hockey as a defender in the North American College Hockey. He then spent 11 seasons in the American Hockey League and the International Hockey League. It was used 12 times in the NHL by the New York Rangers.
1988 and 1994 he was a member of the American national team at the Olympic Winter Games, where he took over the captain's position, in the second part.
As a coach
In his career as an active player Laviolette joined a career as a coach. First experience was gained in the East Coast Hockey League. Here reached his team, the Wheeling Nailers the play-offs and secreted only into the third round. This success qualified Laviolette as head coach of the Providence Bruins, the farm team of the Boston Bruins in the AHL. In his first season in 1998/99 in Providence, he led the team to win the AHL championship, the Calder Cup. This earned him the award for best coach of the AHL season. In the following season, the Providence Bruins could again reach the play -offs under his direction and failed only in the semi-finals. 2000/ 01 accompanied Laviolette the Boston Bruins as assistant coach. In the following two seasons, he was the New York Islanders lead in the play-offs in the NHL, where they but never got past the first round. During the current season 2003/ 04 Laviolette Paul Maurice replaced a desolate Carolina Hurricanes. 2005/ 06 after the lockout, the Hurricanes with Laviolette could deliver the best regular time on points in the 34 years of the history of the franchise and also win the Stanley Cup. Laviolette made it among the finalists for the Jack Adams Award for best coach in the NHL, which, however, went to Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres. Laviolette got a contract for five more years with the Hurricanes.
Despite the Stanley Cup victory Laviolette missed in the following two seasons with the Hurricanes playoff qualification. However, due to the previous events, the management maintained its position. Only in December 2008, after a series of defeats, Laviolette was fired and replaced by his predecessor Paul Maurice. Previously, Laviolette had set a record during the season, when he was the U.S. head coach with the most wins in the NHL.
2006 Laviolette was appointed coach of the American national ice hockey team at the Olympic Winter Games in Turin. In 2004 and 2005 he was the coach of the USA at the World Ice Hockey Championships. In 2004 he was an assistant coach of the team at the World Cup of Hockey. Since December 2009 he has been head coach for the Philadelphia Flyers, where he replaced John Stevens. In the 2009/10 season, he reached the finals the Flyers to the Stanley Cup, but lost in six games against the Chicago Blackhawks. After his team had lost the first three games of the 2013/14 season, he was on leave in October 2013 by the Flyers.