Famous Latvian Hockey Coach Passes Away 0 12

According to the LHF, Linkevičs died on Friday evening.

A student of Elmars Baur, remembered on the ice as a technical, fast, and smart player, he began coaching youth at an early age.

At various times, he coached groups of hockey players born in 1972, 1974, and 1979, among whom were Sergejs Žoltoks, Sandis Ozoliņš, Grigorijs Panteļejevs, Kārlis Skrastiņš, Raitis Ivanāns, and Pēteris Skudra — all of whom later played in the National Hockey League (NHL).

While Linkevičs did not coach the 1972 and 1974 groups from the very beginning, the 1979 players grew up under his guidance. Among them were Ivanāns, Arvids Rekis, Aleksandrs Andrejevs, Vladimirs Mamonovs, Andrey Kardash, and Valery Filimonov.

In 1992, Linkevičs became the first head coach of the Latvian U-20 national team, and later was elected chairman of the LHF Coaching Council.

In the mid-1990s, he spent two seasons as an assistant coach for the USHL team Fighting Saints from Dubuque (USA), and then coached young hockey players in the USA.

From 2011 to 2015, he was the head coach of the Zemgale team from Jelgava, also working with Dan Ločmelis, later at the Riga Hockey School, and in recent years at Zibeni from Ozolnieki.

The LHF emphasizes that the teams coached by Linkevičs always stood out for their good technique and high level of skating.