Kirk Furey new U20 Head Coach

"I am very pleased to have secured a good and experienced Head Coach in Kirk Furey for this role. I know his qualities and am convinced that he will carry out this role very well. He has already worked as a Head Coach in youth hockey for several years and knows most of the players personally. Our thanks also go to KAC and General Manager Oliver Pilloni, who make and support this dual role possible," said ÖEHV Men's Sporting Director Roger Bader on the "new signing".

This appointment became necessary after Marco Pewal stepped down from his role as U20 Head Coach. "Marco informed me of his plans in mid-August. It came as an enormous surprise, as everything had been discussed with him and his club and we had been planning with him," explains Roger Bader regarding the situation.

Bader subsequently evaluated several candidates, with the decision ultimately falling in favour of Kirk Furey. The now 46-year-old began his career in his native Canada, playing for several years in the Ontario Hockey League before making the step up to the AHL. In 2004, he made his first move to Europe, joining the Kassel Huskies in the DEL. After two years with the Iserlohn Roosters, the defenceman signed for EC KAC in 2007, winning the championship twice with the club, where he ended his playing career in 2015 and joined the coaching staff.

Initially, Kirk Furey served for one season each as an Assistant Coach with the senior team and the Future Team. In 2017, he took charge of a team as Head Coach for the first time, with EC KAC's U18. Since 2018, he has led Klagenfurt's Future Team in the Alps Hockey League. Through his role in the youth set-up of the record champions, Kirk Furey knows all age groups eligible for the U20 and many players personally.

He will be assisted by Mathias Lange as Assistant Coach and Lukas Schluderbacher as Goalkeeper Coach, both of whom were part of the coaching staff at the World Junior Championship 2022 last August. A further Assistant Coach will complete the coaching staff in the coming weeks, with talks already under way.

Kirk Furey will take to the ice in his new role for the first time next November, when he will assess candidates for the upcoming World Junior Championship 2023 in Halifax and Moncton (CAN), 26 December 2022 – 5 January 2023, at a Four Nations tournament.

At the U20 World Championship itself, the team will also be accompanied by Roger Bader as Head of Delegation and in an advisory capacity: "Together with his assistants and myself as an adviser, there will be sufficient know-how for the upcoming U20 World Championship."

Kirk Furey, Head Coach of the U20 national team: "I have lived in Austria with my family for 15 years; both of our children were born here, and this is the centre of our lives, our home. Accordingly, it is a great honour for me to be able to lead the red-white-red U20 national team into the top-tier World Championship. It is not an everyday occurrence for Team Austria to be able to prove themselves among the ten best teams in the world at the World Juniors, so we will approach this tournament with great respect. At the same time, we want to make an impression on the ice, as Austria have never won a game at the top-tier junior World Championship – and we want to change that."

At today's Wednesday "Coaches Meeting", which brings together the Head Coaches of the U20, U18 and U16, the plans and details for the upcoming national team season will be discussed. With this measure, Roger Bader promotes internal exchange and sets out development work within the youth national teams.

2023 IIHF World Junior Championship

26 December 2022 - 05 January 2023, Halifax and Moncton (CAN)

Group A, Halifax: Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Germany, Austria
Group B, Moncton: USA, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia

Schedule
Dates and times refer to our local time zone; the local time is shown in brackets.

Sweden vs. Austria
Mon, 26 December 2022, 19:30 (Mon, 26 December 2022, 14:30 local time)

Austria vs. Czech Republic
Wed, 28 December 2022, 00:30 (Tue, 27 December 2022, 19:30 local time)

Austria vs. Canada
Fri, 30 December 2022, 00:30 (Thu, 29 December 2022, 19:30 local time)

Germany vs. Austria
Fri, 30 December 2022, 22:30 (Fri, 30 December 2022, 17:30 local time)