Former Chicago Blackhawks’ assistant coach Mike Haviland becomes associate coach of Norfolk Admirals
Mike Haviland, who was dismissed as the assistant coach of Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) has now been appointed as the associate coach of Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Haviland was appointed as assistant coach of Chicago Blackhawks back in 2008 and kept his seat for four years before he was removed by head coach of the Blackhawks, Joel Quenneville, earlier in May this year.
During his time with Chicago Blackhawks, they had a lot of success, their biggest achievement being the Stanley Cup back in 2010 when they finished the regular season at eighth place but turned the tables in the playoffs to win the cup.
Blackhawks also reached Stanley Cup playoffs every season he was there and registered a record of 187 wins, 101 losses and 40 over time losses.
It was also in Haviland’s tenure that Chicago won Central Division title in 2009-2010 after finishing as the second best team in the Western Conference with 112 points.
Even though, Chicago, Illinois based team finished 6th in the Western Conference in the 2011-2012 season, the 45-year-old Haviland was sacked on 8th May 2012.
This is not the first time that Haviland would be a part of Norfolk Admirals side as he had previously been head coach of the Admirals club from 2005-2007, after starting his coaching career in East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) with Atlantic City in 2001,
where he won title in 2003 and moved to Trenton in 2004 where he won championship in 2005.
Talking to the tribune, Middletown, New Jersey born Haviland said that it was in summer to find the job and now knows how difficult an NHL job is as he said,
"It has been a tough summer to find something but I finally landed on my feet. (The NHL) is the best league in the world and it opened my eyes a little bit as to how tough it really is to find a job."
Haviland also added that,
"I didn't really look into it like if it was a surprise. (Quenneville) wanted his own staff and I respect that. That's the way this business operates. You have to move on and that's what I did”.
Tags: