Happy birthday, Coach!
Anvar Rafailovich, we congratulate you on this festive occasion and wish
you the very best in professional career and personal life. I am sure you can
lead Traktor to success in the future!
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.
On March 10, Gatiyatulin signed a two-year deal and became the 25th head coach
in team’s history.
Photo by Yaroslav Naumkov of Chelyabinsky Obzor
