Anvar Gatiyatulin officially named new Traktor head coach

Anvar Gatiyatulin was born on March 21, 1976 in Chelyabinsk, Russia. He is a Traktor hockey school alumnus, coached by Yuri Mogilnikov. Defenseman, Master of Sports. Gatiyatulin played 5 seasons in Traktor (from 1994 to 1999; a total of 217 games, 6 G, 18 A).

Career as a player

In 1993, Gatiyatulin became the Russian League champion as part of U17 team Traktor. That year, he went over the pond to try his fare; there, he played in Detroit Little Caesars. In April 1994, he won silver medals of the European Junior Championship. In January 1995, he became runner-up of the U20 World Championships that took place in Calgary and Edmonton.

His Traktor debut took place on September 13, 1994 in the game against Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk.

Gatiyatulin participated in two Traktor trips to North America in December 1997 and 1998. During this trip, the black-and-white played against several teams from the now defunct WPHL, the league that included hockey teams from small cities in Texas and Louisiana.

Apart from Traktor, Gatiyatulin played in Mechel, Taganay, UralAZ, Neftyanik, Lada, Avangard, CSKA, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, Krylya Sovetov, Gazovik, Zauralye and Molot-Prikamye. During his tenure in Lada, he played two games in the Euroleague against Zug.

During his active career, Gatiyatulin played under the tutelage of famous coaches like Igor Dmitriyev (U20 team Russia), Valeri Belousov (Traktor), Gennadi Tsygurov (Lada), Sergei Grigorkin (Traktor), Viktor Tikhonov (CSKA), Vladimir Vasilyev (Mechel).

Coaching career

After retiring from active play in February 2007, Gatiyatulin began his coaching career in summer of the same year when he was asked to head Traktor’s junior team. He became the head coach of Belye Medvedi on February 17, 2012. Under his stewardship, Medvedi won the bronze medals twice in a row in 2014 and 2015.

In February 2013, he won the Challenge Cup as Team East’s head coach. In the 2014/2015 season, Gatiyatulin was the assistant coach for Valeri Bragin, the head coach of U20 team Russia. In 2015, he helped the national team to win silver medals of the world forum that took place in Canada.

On November 23, 2015 then team’s head coach Andrei Nikolishin was fired, Gatiyatulin was named the interim head coach of Traktor. His debut game took place on November 25, 2015 (vs. Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 1:4). Closer to the end of the regular season, Traktor won 8 out of 11 games, garnering 26 points out of possible 33, and was close to making it to the playoffs, but eventually came up just 3 points short of the coveted eighth spot.

Team stats under Gatiyatulin’s management

26 games
10 regulation wins
3 wins in OT/shootouts
6 losses in OT/shootouts
7 regulation losses
Goal differential – minus 4 (66:70)
42 points out of 78 – 53,8%

Synopsis
Traktor’s performance under Gatiyatulin’s stewardship earned plenty of praise from both hockey experts and fans. Team management also spoke highly of the work that Anvar Rafailovich has done, and all of this predictably led to a new contract that expires in 2018.

Opinion

Sergei Gomolyako, Traktor’s Vice President on hockey operations:
On behalf of the team, I would like to announce that Traktor and Anvar Gatiyatulin have come to an agreement to name the latter the head coach. This has been done due to several reasons. First of all, Gatiyatulin is a Chelyabinsk native, therefore, he knows the specifics of local hockey. Secondly, fans cannot help but notice the way he has changed the team for better. Thirdly, and most importantly, during the second half of the season he was able to find contact with players. Under his management, Traktor performed pretty well and showed some quality play. Team management believes that his work will lead Traktor to success.