Larry Huras Explained

Birth Date:July 8, 1955
Birth Place:Listowel, Ontario, Canada
Height Ft:6
Height In:3
Weight Lb:205
Position:Defence
Shoots:Left
Played For:New York Rangers
CSG Grenoble
Gap Hockey Club
Rouen Hockey Club
Draft:84th overall
Draft Year:1975
Draft Team:New York Rangers
Wha Draft:115th overall
Wha Draft Year:1975
Wha Draft Team:Indianapolis Racers
Career Start:1975
Career End:1994

Larry Robert Huras, (born July 8, 1955) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and a former player. He played 2 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers during the 1976–77 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1975 to 1994, was mainly spent in the French league. After his playing career Huras turned to coaching, and spent several years in the Nationalliga A, the top league in Switzerland.

Playing career

Huras turned pro in 1975, when he was picked by the New York Rangers in the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft (5th round, 84th overall). He spent time in the International Hockey League (IHL) and American Hockey League (AHL), before his National Hockey League (NHL) debut on February 27, 1977 with the Rangers, for whom he played his only two NHL games. In the following three seasons, he strengthened the roster of Salt Lake Golden Eagles and Dallas Black Hawks of the Central Hockey League (CHL), followed by a stint with the Port Huron Flags in the IHL.

In 1980, Huras signed with Grenoble métropole hockey 38 in France. He spent three years with the club, before heading to another French team, Gap Hockey Club. He transferred to the Dragons de Rouen in 1988 and captured four French national championships in six years with the club, three of them as a player-coach.

Coaching career

After his Rouen player-coach tenure, including three French championships, Huras was named head coach of Zürcher SC of the Swiss elite league NLA in 1994, where he remained at the helm for two years. During the 1996-97 season, he was hired by fellow NLA side HC Ambri-Piotta. Under his guidance, Ambri completed the 1998-99 regular season on top of the table before losing the finals to HC Lugano. He received Switzerland Coach of the Year honors that season. Huras guided the team to semifinal appearances in 1997-98 and 1999-00 and also established the club on the international stage, winning two IIHF Continental Cup titles (1998 and 1999) as well as the 1999 IIHF Super Cup with the team. Ambri and Huras did not come to terms on a new contract in 2000, so he accepted an offer to return to Zürcher SC for a second stint in charge at the club.[1] At ZSC, he added to his title haul, winning the 2001 Swiss national championship and the IIHF Continental Cup. He was sacked in November 2001, after suffering defeat in eleven of 23 games since the beginning of the 2001-02 campaign.[2]

Huras stayed in the Swiss NLA and was appointed head coach of HC Lugano prior to the 2002-03 season. He led the team to the Swiss championship his first year and to the finals in 2003-04. Huras was relieved of his duties during the 2006 playoffs quarterfinals[3] and replaced by Harold Kreis, who went on to win the title with the team.

For a second time in his career, he took over head coaching duties at HC Ambri-Piotta in November 2006. He pulled the team away from the bottom of the National League A and managed to keep Ambri in the league.

After stints with the Stavanger Oilers of Norway (2007–08) and Villacher SV of Austria (2008–09), Huras was back in Switzerland, taking the helm of SC Bern in 2009. He had immediate success, guiding SCB to the NLA title his first year.[4] In his second season, Bern reached the semifinals. Huras was removed from the position in October 2011, his third year at the helm, because the club executives wanted a "more attractive style of ice hockey".[5] Only a couple of days later, he returned for a second spell at HC Lugano.[6] His tenure ended at the end of the 2012-13 season.

In November 2013, Huras joined the coaching staff of EHC München of the German DEL, serving as an assistant to Pierre Pagé. He was named head coach of then reigning German champion ERC Ingolstadt for the 2014-15 season[7] and guided the Panthers to another appearance in the DEL finals, where they fell short to Adler Mannheim.[8]

Huras parted ways with Ingolstadt after one year and took the head coaching job at Modo Hockey in Sweden's SHL. Following a bad start to the 2015-16 season, collecting ten points from the opening 15 games and losing seven straight games, Huras and his staff were sacked in November 2015.[9] In late September 2016, he was named head coach of HC Fribourg-Gottéron of the NLA, replacing Gerd Zenhäusern.[10] Huras guided Fribourg to a semifinal appearance in the Champions Hockey League in the 2016-17 season where they fell short to Frölunda HC.[11] In the NLA, his team did not qualify for the play-offs, Huras and Fribourg parted company after the season.[12]

Private life

Huras is married and has two sons and one daughter. His hobbies are water skiing, skiing, golf, fishing, reading and music.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular seasonPlayoffs
SeasonTeamLeagueGP PIMGP G A Pts PIM
1971–72Elmira Sugar KingsWOHL
1972–73Kitchener RangersOHA60 0 7 7 55
1973–74Kitchener RangersOHA67 4 22 26 83
1974–75Kitchener RangersOMJHL68 4 28 32 166
1975–76Port Huron FlagsIHL17 3 9 12 49
1975–76Providence RedsAHL55 0 12 12 1023 0 1 1 9
1976–77New York RangersNHL2 0 0 0 0
1976–77New Haven NighthawksAHL48 0 6 6 824 0 0 0 0
1977–78Salt Lake Golden EaglesCHL52 5 7 12 551 0 0 0 0
1978–79Salt Lake Golden EaglesCHL32 1 9 10 52
1978–79Dallas Black HawksCHL6 0 1 1 21
1979–80Port Huron FlagsIHL77 3 28 31 10611 1 1 2 27
1980–81CSG GrenobleFRA10 1 8 9
1981–82GrenobleFRA28 5 16 21
1982–83GrenobleFRA27 5 15 20
1983–84Gap Hockey ClubFRA28 6 14 20
1984–85Gap Hockey ClubFRA32 4 14 18
1985–86Gap Hockey ClubFRA24 8 4 12
1986–87Gap Hockey ClubFRA32 8 22 30
1987–88Gap Hockey ClubFRA33 5 13 18 44
1988–89RouenFRA42 2 21 23 48
1989–90RouenFRA27 1 5 6 182 0 0 0 0
1990–91RouenFRA28 1 6 7 189 2 2 4 6
1991–92RouenFRA24 0 4 4 30
1992–93RouenFRA1 0 0 0 0
1993–94RouenFRA9 0 2 2 12
FRA totals345 46 144 190 11 2 2 4 6
NHL totals2 0 0 0 0

Awards and achievements

As player

As coach

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Larry Hurras wird neuer Löwenbändiger beim ZSC. AG. VADIAN.NET. www.eishockey.ch. de. 2016-03-20.
  2. Web site: ZSC: Rautakallio solls richten - SWI swissinfo.ch. SWI swissinfo.ch. 2016-03-20.
  3. Web site: Hockey: Lugano limoge Huras. rts.ch. 2016-03-20.
  4. Web site: Der nächste Coup von Larry Huras. bernerzeitung.ch/. 2016-03-20.
  5. Web site: SC Bern verliert gegen die Lions und entlässt Trainer Larry Huras. bernerzeitung.ch/. 2016-03-20.
  6. Web site: Larry Huras à la tête du HC Lugano. rts.ch. 2016-03-20.
  7. Web site: Larry Huras wird neuer Cheftrainer bei Meister ERC Ingolstadt - 06 - DEL.org. www.del.org. 2016-03-20.
  8. Web site: Coach Larry Huras verlässt Vizemeister Ingolstadt - 04 - DEL.org. www.del.org. 2016-03-20.
  9. Web site: Larry Huras får sparken. Aftonbladet. 2016-03-20.
  10. Web site: LARRY HURAS NOUVEL ENTRAÎNEUR EN CHEF DE FRIBOURG-GOTTERON HC Fribourg-Gottéron. www.gotteron.ch. 2016-09-26.
  11. Web site: Frolunda make third straight final eliminating Fribourg. www.championshockeyleague.net. de. 2017-01-20. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20170120054539/https://www.championshockeyleague.net/news/frolunda-make-third-straight-final-eliminating-fribourg/2801. 2017-01-20.
  12. Web site: LARRY HURAS NE SERA PLUS L'ENTRAÎNEUR DE FRIBOURG-GOTTERON HC Fribourg-Gottéron. www.gotteron.ch. fr-FR. 2017-04-19.