Release from 23.11.2021

Raimo Summanen leads first training in Linz

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New head coach Raimo Summanen conducted his first training session with the Steinbach Black Wings Linz on Tuesday. The 59-year-old Finn has been Finnish champion twice and also coached in the KHL for a couple of seasons. On Friday, Summanen will make his debut in the home game against league leader HK SZ Olimpija.

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Raimo Summanen has twice been able to form a championship team in Finland's top league - in 2004 he was voted Finland's coach of the year. Summanen also caused a sensation in Switzerland's top league with Rapperswil-Jona before the coach received a call from the Russian KHL, where he spent a total of five interrupted seasons behind the boards for Avangard Omsk. In the previous season, the member of the "Hockey Hall of Fame" of his home country won the championship title in the Alps Hockey League with HK SZ Olimpija and organized various training camps for the current Finnish NHL players over the summer.


Raimo Summanen during the first training session with the Black Wings.

Summanen's playing career has also been marked by countless major triumphs. In 1984, he won the Stanley Cup alongside Wayne Gretzky for the Edmonton Oilers, and in 1995 the forward captured the gold medal for his home country at the World Championship in Sweden.

New forward for Linz
And there was also a change to the Steinbach Black Wings Linz squad. The 28-year-old German-Canadian Colin Smith comes to Upper Austria from the Swedish Allsvenskan. The forward played 15 games for Södertälje in the current season, scoring five goals and recording five assists. Prior to that, Smith played in Germany for Berlin, Ingolstadt and Cologne, among others. The speedy offensive player also played one NHL game for the Colorado Avalanche.

No longer part of the Linz team is forward Dragan Umicevic. The Swede wore the Black Wings jersey a total of 174 times.