The news of the morning is that Ted Nolan, former VP of Hockey Operations for the Rochester Americans, has been named head coach of Team Latvia. Once the Amerks were sold to the Buffalo Sabres there were zero plans for him to remain with the Amerks or even within the Sabres organization, some had thought he would have stuck around in some way. That was never going to happen.

Nolan was hired by Curt Styres in July 2009 and he helped work with Jody Gage to bring in players that summer, including Mike York who he had coached with the New York Islanders.  Nolan arrived in Rochester with a hand shake agreement to work with the team.

From the IIHF web site:

Nolan, a First Nation Canadian who grew up in a reserve near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, was coaching the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League. He won the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year in 1997. In the last two years he has been working for the AHL’s Rochester Americans as Vice-President of Hockey Operations.

“We were looking for a neutral, authoritative coach with lots of experience and good hockey knowledge,” LHF President Kirovs Lipmans said. “This is exactly what we found with Ted Nolan.”

Nolan is also expected to help the U20 national team, which was promoted to the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship in Calgary and Edmonton, Canada, as a consultant.

Good luck to Nolan!