Haxtol, Dave

Haxtol was born and raised in a rural family and was the youngest of three children in the family. His father was a farmer, and also worked in nearby oil fields, while his mother was a teacher ^[2] . David began to study hockey initially in his hometown, but then he moved to the larger Camroz . Upon graduation, Haxtall wanted to go to the University of Alberta and play for student teams at the same time, but in 1986 he received an offer to start a professional career in a club from the city of Red Deer in the Alberta Junior Hockey League ^[3] . In 1989, David, along with teammate Dickson Ward , a future NHL player, received an invitation from the student team of the University of North Dakota , in which only two years later became captain ^[3] .

Due to his participation in the games for the college team in the Alberta Hockey League, the deadline allowed by the rules for Haxtall to play at the NCAA expired before he officially graduated, and he decided to move to the Indianapolis Ice professional club. Three years later, David moved to the freshly created Minnesota Mus team, where in December 1995 he suffered a knee injury complicated by rupture of tendons , which forced Haxtol to end his player’s career ^[4] .

During the rehabilitation period in 1996, Haxtall began working as an assistant to the head coach of Minnesota Mus, and also received a bachelor ’s degree in business administration in ( Eng. Bachelor of Business Administration ) at the University of North Dakota ^[5] . In plans, David was still considering options for continuing his playing career in the European leagues, but received an offer from the new head of the US hockey league, Gino Gasparini, to head as the coach of S-City Masketiers ^[4] . Haxtol signed the contract and began work from October 1996, however, the results of the first season were disappointing: the team lost 43 matches out of 54 meetings and finished last in the league ^[4] . However, the situation was stabilized, and already in the next season, David received a prize for the best coach of the league according to the results of the season, and also brought the club into the playoffs for three years in a row.

In the summer of 2000, Haxtall decided to return his alma mater to the hockey team as assistant coach Dean Blays, where he worked for four seasons as responsible for scouting and attracting new players ^[6] . In 2004, Blays joined the Columbus Blue Jackets coaching staff, and Haxtol was approved as the head coach of the university team ^[5] . In his first season at the helm of Fighting Hawks, he managed to break into the NCAA playoffs and reach the finals, where his team lost to Denver University 1: 4 ^[2] . David led the Fighting Hawks for 11 seasons and in seven of them reached the playoff semi-finals (more often than any other club in the same period), led the club three times to win the regular season and four times in the conference ^[7] . During this time, under his leadership, students such as Jonathan Taves , TJ Oshi , Travis Zadzhek and Matt Green managed to play in the student league. By 2015, Haxtolle became the second most successful coach in the team’s history ^[6] .

On May 18, 2015, David was announced to be the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers NHL club ^[7] . The team’s general manager, Ron Hekstall, was well aware of Haxtall’s activities at the Fighting Hawks, since Hekstall’s son Brett also managed to play on this team, and therefore decided to appoint David immediately as the club’s head coach, which was the third case in the history of the direct transition of the head a coach from a student team directly in the NHL ^[8] . In his first season 2015/2016, he managed to get the team into the playoffs through a wild card , where in the first round the Flyers lost in the Washington Capitals 2-4 ^[9] . The following season, the team took only 11th place in the conference, not making it to the final part of the Stanley Cup, for which Haxtol was criticized by fans and the hockey press: in particular, dissatisfaction was caused by a weak game in the minority and an inconsistent policy on the use of young players ^[10] . In May 2017, Haxtall was involved in the coaching staff of the Canadian national team , as an assistant to John Cooper , to participate in the 2017 World Cup , where he won silver medals with the team ^[11] .

Player Career

• Dave Haxtall - Stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Dave Haxtall - Stats at Eliteprospects.com