体坛英语新闻：Canadian coach Ramsay to lead Slovakia ice hockey team in Olympic Season

BRATISLAVA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Craig Ramsay has become the new coach of the Slovak ice hockey team, local media reported on Thursday.

According to the general manager of the national team Miroslav Satan, the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation has signed a two-year contract with Ramsay with two important events, the winter Olympic games in PyeongChang in 2018 and the 2019 Ice Hockey World Championship due to take place in Slovakia.

"The selection process went on for several days, weeks, but more intensively during this week. I'm glad that such an expert, who has been in the NHL as a player and for many years also as a coach in various posts, is coming here and will help us to reshuffle and redirect ice hockey in Slovakia into a new era," Satan said.

Ramsay, 66, played in the NHL for the Buffalo Sabres between 1971-85. As for his coaching career, he served as main coach for Buffalo, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Atlanta Thrashers. As an assistant at Tampa Bay he won the Stanley Cup in 2004.

As of March 2010, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) ranked the Slovak team as the seventh strongest national team in the world.