- Alpo Suhonen
Alpo Suhonen (born
June 17 ,1948 inValkeakoski ,Finland ) was the firstEurope an-born NHLhead coach in 50 years when he took over theChicago Blackhawks onMay 22 ,2000 . Along withIvan Hlinka , they were the first European born head coaches sinceJohnny Gottselig . He would last less than a year as head coach of the Hawks, as he resigned next spring because of heart problems. There was frequent criticism to Suhonen's coaching citing lack of discipline and a country club atmosphere among the players.Suhonen has also coached Finland's national ice hockey team during the years 1982–1986, and coached several teams in Finland and in Europe.
Suhonen also produced a Finnish version of
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and ran for a spot in theEuropean Parliament . At the time he was also the CEO of music festivalPori Jazz , and he has also written several books in Finnish.Currently he is coaching
Ässät inSM-liiga . He took the job onNovember 14 ,2007 .External links
*http://www.hockeyfans.ch/cgi-bin/spielerinfo.pl?spielerID=alpo_suhonen de icon
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