Doug Shedden is the new Lugano coach

27 Oct 2015Marco Meneghetti»

The Canadian will remain on the shores of Lake Ceresio at least until the end of this season

After many delays, finally HC Lugano has announced the substitute of Patrick Fischer: Doug Shedden, who will remain tón the bench until the end of the 2015-16 season, after which a possible extension of his contract will be discussed.

Who is, then, Doug Shedden? The 54-year-old Canadian has a long history of playing in the NHL, where he remained for eight seasons and earned a total 325 points. He played as a center for, among others, the Pittsburg Penguins, the Detroit Red Wings and the Quebec Nordiques, as well as for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He retired in 1993, after a brief stint in Italy with HC Bozen and many games in the AHL as well.

After some season spent coaching teams in the minor North American leagues, Doug moved to Finland, where he coached HIFK and Jokerit, both Helsinki-based. He then became the head coach of EV Zug of the National League A starting from the 2007-08 season, and was also hired by the Finnish national team, with which he won a bronze medal in 2008; he remained with Zug until 2014, then he sat on the bench of Medvescak Zagreb during the last season.

According to the club, the assistant coach will be chosen in the next few days: tonight Lugano will be anyways still coached by Christian Wohlwend for the Swiss Cup Round of 16 against Rapperswil.