Oleg Snarok

Oleg Snarok
Date of birth	2nd January 1963
place of birth	Ust-Kataw , Russian SFSR
size	183 cm
Weight	91 kg
position	wing
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
until 1983	HK tractor Chelyabinsk
1983-1991	Dinamo Riga
1991-1992	Maine Mariners
1992-1995	EV Landsberg
1995-2000	EHC Freiburg
2000-2002	Heilbronn EC

Oleg Znarok ( Russian Олег Валерьевич Знарок Oleg Valeryevich Snarok , Latvian Oļegs Znaroks ; * 2. January 1963 in Ust-Katav , Russian SFSR , Soviet Union ) is a retired Russian ice hockey player with German nationality, in Germany for the EV Landsberg , EHC Freiburg and Heilbronner EC was on the ice. From 1996 to 2001 he was a Latvian citizen. Since the end of his career, he has worked as a coach in the Continental Hockey League and was the head coach of the Russian national ice hockey team from 2014 to the 2018 Olympic tournament .

Career

As a player

Olegs Snarok began his career with his hometown club HK Traktor Chelyabinsk , for whose first team he also played in the Vysschaya League , the highest Soviet ice hockey league , from 1982 . In 1983 he moved to Dinamo Riga , where he was active for the next seven years.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Snarok decided like many former Eastern Bloc players to move to North America, where he played a few games for the Maine Mariners in the American Hockey League . However, due to a lack of prospects, the striker soon returned to Riga. For the 1992/93 season , the left-handed shooter signed a contract with the German upper division EV Landsberg , with whom he was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga the following year . After two more seasons in Bavaria, Snarok moved to league rivals EHC Freiburg in 1995 , for whom he was on the ice until the end of the 1999/00 season . In his last season with the "Wolves", the then Latvian was top scorer of the 2nd Bundesliga with 84 points . Then Snarok spent two seasons at Heilbronn EC , the first of which he was officially elected “Player of the Year” in 2001. After the 2000/01 season , the attacker ended his active career.

International

With the Soviet U20 national team , Oleg Snarok won the bronze medal at the Junior World Cup in 1981 and was also elected to the tournament's All-Star team. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the attacker played for Latvia , which he represented at four world championships from 1995 to 1999 .

As a trainer

Oleg Snarok
Coaching stations
2002-2011	National team of Latvia
2004-2008	SK LSPA / Riga
2008-2010	HK MWD Balashikha
2010-2014	HK Dynamo Moscow
2014-2018	National team Russia
2016-2018	SKA Saint Petersburg
since 2019	HK Spartak Moscow

Since his retirement from competitive sports, Snarok has worked as an ice hockey coach. From 2006 he initially looked after the Latvian national team as head coach. In the 2007/08 season he was the head coach of the U20 national team, which took part in the first Latvian league as SK LSPA / Riga . In the summer of 2008 he took over the coaching position at HK MWD Balaschicha , where he was assisted by another Latvian, Harijs Vītoliņš . In the 2009/10 season he was with the HK MWD runner-up in the KHL. After this success, the HK MWD merged with the HK Dynamo Moscow to form the OHK Dynamo , where Snarok continued to work as head coach.

On April 25, 2012, he led the team in the decisive seventh game of the final series with a 1-0 win over HK Awangard Omsk to win the Gagarin Cup . After the end of the season, Snarok was named the best coach of the KHL season. A year later he repeated this success with Dynamo and was then again named the best coach of the KHL.

Between March 2014 and April 2018 he was the national coach of the Russian national team and led them to the world title in 2014 . In addition, he was (initially) still available as a consultant to HK Dynamo Moscow.

From the 2016/17 season, Snarok was head coach of SKA Saint Petersburg in addition to his job as national coach . With SKA he won the Gagarin Cup in 2017 .

At the 2018 Winter Olympics , he led the Sbornaja to the gold medal under a neutral flag and then gave up this role. A few weeks later, he also resigned from his position at SKA.

At the end of April 2019, he and Harijs Vītoliņš were signed by HK Spartak Moscow .

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1983/84	Dinamo Riga	Vysschaya League		30th	0	3	3	8th
1984/85	Dinamo Riga	Vysschaya League		52	14th	13	27	34
1985/86	Dinamo Riga	Vysschaya League		36	12	7th	19th	26th
1986/87	Dinamo Riga	Vysschaya League		40	13	12	25th	34
1987/88	Dinamo Riga	Vysschaya League		49	12	20th	32	43
1988/89	Dinamo Riga	Vysschaya League		37	10	10	20th	22nd
1989/90	Dinamo Riga	Vysschaya League		48	15th	27	42	60
1990/91	Dinamo Riga	Vysschaya League		44	24	27	51	58
1991/92	Maine Mariners	AHL		6th	3	1	4th	11		-	-	-	-	-
1991/92	Stars Riga	Vysschaya League		3	0	1	1	6th
1992/93	EV Landsberg	OIL		66	77	143	220	0
1993/94	HC Vítkovice	Extra league		3	1	1	2	0
1993/94	EV Landsberg	2nd BL		56	66	122	188	0
1994/95	EV Landsberg	1. Lg		44	45	55	100	56
1995/96	EHC Freiburg	1. Lg		52	60	102	162	108
1997/98	EHC Freiburg	1. Lg		57	46	61	107	70
1998/99	EHC Freiburg	BL		61	36	70	106	43
1999/00	EHC Freiburg	2nd BL		45	30th	57	87	56		6th	6th	8th	14th	8th
2000/01	Heilbronn EC	2nd BL		44	23	46	69	22nd		10	2	10	12	10
2001/02	Heilbronn EC	2nd BL		45	16	47	63	28		6th	1	6th	7th	2
Wysschaja League overall				339	100	120	220	291
2. Bundesliga 2 overall				410	328	568	896	389		22nd	9	24	33	20th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation ) ² including previous leagues (1st division, Bundesliga)

citizenship

The Russian-born Snaroks received his Latvian citizenship in 1996 due to his sporting achievements, which was deleted when he accepted German in 2001.

Web links

• Oleg Snarok at hockeydb.com (English)
• Oleg Snarok at eurohockey.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ sportacentrs.com (accessed May 25, 2014)
2. ↑ Author: Oleg Znarok is the new trainer of SKA St. Petersburg - KHL Blog. In: khlblog.de. June 1, 2016, accessed November 3, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Sport1.de: After Olympic triumph: Russia's coach Oleg Snarok resigns. In: sport1.de. April 12, 2018. Retrieved June 20, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Oleg Znarok, Harijs Vitolins and Vladimir Fedosov are leaving SKA. In: ska.ru. May 31, 2018, accessed June 20, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Oficiāli: Znaroks un Vītoliņš pārņem Maskavas "Spartak" grožus. In: tvnet.lv. April 29, 2019, accessed May 3, 2019 (Latvian). 
6. ↑ delfi.lv (accessed on May 25, 2014)