47-year-old Frölunda Indians Head Coach Roger Rönnberg started his coaching career in his hometown of Luleå in 2000 taking over the under-20 team of Luleå HF. After three seasons with the youth team he made the jump to the men’s team and was appointed assistant head coach for the 2006/07 season. The following season Rönnberg was appointed co-head coach with Roger Kyrö, lasting as a coaching duo for the following three years. 

After leaving Luleå, Rönnberg took up a position with the Swedish national team working as the Head Coach for the under-20 junior team and as an assistant coach for the men’s team. He was praised for his work with young players and lead the team that won the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships for the first time in 31 years. The following year they finished second and Rönnberg left for an opportunity to return to managing an SHL club.

The club that were willing to give Rönnberg a chance were Frölunda. They were looking for someone to rejuvenate their squad by giving more ice time to academy players instead of paying big for stars and that’s exactly what he did best. Over the course of the next few seasons, he introduced young talented players that he had worked with before in the National team, whilst keeping experienced leaders like Joel Lundqvist to help guide and mentor the rising stars.

It didn’t take long for success to come and by the end of his third season at the club, Rönnberg had won the SHL Championship and had lifted the European Trophy, establishing Frölunda as one of the top teams in Europe in the process. His European success has been unpresented – under Rönnberg’s guidance, Frölunda have made it to the CHL finals on five occasions, winning the competition a record three times. Can he add is fourth title this season?

Tomáš Martinec and Vladimír Růžička

Head Coach Tomáš Martinec is devoted to Mountfield HK. The 46-year-old ex-forward started his professional career as a player in his hometown Hradec Králové in 1991 before returning to the club to coach the youth teams some 21 years later. Over the course of six seasons, the Czech native spent time working with the under-16, under-18 and men’s teams of Mountfield before being named head coach for the 2018/19 season.

In his first season as head coach, Martinec led the team to a fourth-place regular-season finish in the Czech Extraliga before unexpectedly dropping out of the playoffs in the Quarter-Finals.

One month into the 2019/20 Czech Extraliga season it was announced that Czech ice hockey legend Vladimír Růžička would be joining Martinec as co-Head Coach hoping to add experience and knowledge to the team’s staff.

As a player, Růžička is regarded as one of the country’s biggest names in ice hockey and comes from a generation of players like Jaromír Jágr, Martin Ručínský, etc. He spent five seasons in the NHL playing for the Edmonton Oilers, the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators before returning to his native Czech Republic to play for HC Slavia Praha. He is most known for captaining the Czech National team at the 1998 Olympic Games which the Czech Republic won after beating Russia in a very intense final. To this day this is regarded as “the miracle of Nagano” and is one of the country’s greatest sporting achievements.

In 2000, Růžička transitioned into coaching and was appointed head coach of HC Slavia Praha where he stayed as Head Coach and General Manager for 14 years guiding the club to two Czech Extraliga championships. During his time at Slavia, Růžička also managed to be head coach of the Czech National Team for six seasons winning the 2005 and 2010 Ice Hockey World Championships.

Before being appointed Mountfield co-head coach, the Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame member spent four seasons as Head Coach of Piráti Chomutov.

The partnership of Tomáš Martinec and Vladimír Růžička has proved to be extremely successful so far. Mountfield’s form has drastically improved and their CHL performances have rightly earned them a place in the Finals. But do they have what it takes to go all the way and lift the trophy?