Dave Lewis Removed From The Post of Head Coach of the Belarusian National Ice Hockey Team

Siarhei Pushkou will fulfil duties of head coach.

Canadian specialist Dave Lewis is leaving the post of head coach of the national ice hockey team of Belarus. The website of the Federation of Ice Hockey of Belarus informs. Until the end of the world championship, Sergei Pushkov will fulfill duties of the head coach.

"After a failing start at the Ice Hockey World Championship, the Belarusian Hockey Federation and head coach Dave Lewis made a joint decision that another specialist should head the Belarusian team. Dave Lewis believes that changes in the coaching staff can give the team the necessary impetus to play better; therefore, he leaves," the message of the Hockey Federation says.

The Hockey Federation expresses gratitude for cooperation.

The Belarusian team lost three games in a row at the World Championship in Denmark. The team was defeated by Sweden (0:5), France (2:6), and on May 7 the score with Russia was 0:6.

Dave Lewis first arrived in Belarus in 2009. He worked as assistant to Glen Halton in the national team, and then in Dinamo Minsk. In 2010 he was assistant of Mikhail Zakharau at the Olympics. Later he worked with him in Ukraine. At the end of 2014 he was appointed head coach of the national team of Belarus.

At the World Championship 2015 held in the Czech Republic, Belarusian hockey players took the 7th position, defeating the US team (5: 2) for the first time. That championship was one of the most successful, but at the world championships in 2016 and 2017 the team performed unsuccessfully, and took the 12th and 13th position correspondingly. Moreover, each time the team was about to leave the league.

In September 2016 the national team could not qualify for the Olympics losing to Slovenia in Minsk.

On the eve of the 2018 World Championship it became known about the conflict between Lewis and Andrei Stepanov, who had been twice ignored despite good indicators at previous tournaments and in games for Dinamo.

After the defeat against France (2:6), Dave Lewis assumed that Belarus might be out of the top division.

Dave Lewis used to work in the NHL for many years. In 1997, 1998 and 2002 he won the the Stanley Cup with "Detroit". Later he headed "Detroit", then "Boston", but he did not achieve success.

Sergei Pushkov is the head coach of Hrodna "Neman". The team headed by the Russian specialist wins the Belarus Championship for two years in a row.

In 2017 Pushkov was called the best coach of Belarus. During this World Championship he was assistant to Dave Lewis.