Richard Chernomaz (born September 1, 1963) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and executive as well as former ice hockeyright winger. He was most recently the head coach of the VIU Mariners Hockey team in the BCIHL.
Chernomaz played four seasons of junior hockey in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Saskatoon Blades and Victoria Cougars between 1979 and 1983.[1] He scored 113 points in 1980–81 for the Cougars in the regular season.[2] Chernomaz added 26 more in 15 playoff games, the fifth best total in the WHL, as Victoria defeated the Calgary Wranglers in the league championship final to win the President's Cup.[2] The Colorado Rockies selected him with their second round selection, 26th overall, at the 1981 NHL entry draft, and he made his NHL debut in 1981–82, appearing in two games during a brief recall from Victoria.[1] His NHL debut came on November 11, 1981, against the Montreal Canadiens.[3] Chernomaz' best WHL season came in 1982–83 when he recorded 124 points in 64 games and was named a league all-star.[4]
The Rockies relocated east to become the New Jersey Devils in 1982, and Chernomaz transferred with the team. He appeared in seven games with the Devils in 1983–84 and scored his first two NHL goals. He spent most of the season with the Devils American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Maine Mariners, where he recorded 46 points in 69 games.[2] He appeared in only two playoff games for the Mariners, but was a member of the team as they won the Calder Cup.[5] Chernomaz spent the majority of the following three seasons in the AHL, but he did appear in 25 NHL games with the Devils in 1986–87 and scored six goals to go with four assists.[1]
Allowed to go to free agency, Chernomaz was signed by the Calgary Flames in 1987.[2] He was a member of the Flames organization for seven seasons, but made only sporadic appearances with Calgary and appeared in 11 games over that span, the last of which came in the 1991–92 NHL season.[1] He played with Calgary's International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, where he was a member of the team's Turner Cup championship squad in 1987–88,[6] and was named to the second all-star team in both 1987–88 and 1990–91.[2]
Chernomaz made his lone international appearance at the 1995 World Championship in Austria. He recorded three assists in eight games for Team Canada, which won the bronze medal.[8] Choosing to remain in Europe, he signed with the SERC Wild Wings of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).[7] Chernomaz played his final four seasons with the Wild Wings before retiring in 1999.[1]
Whilst working for the Hungarian federation, Chernomaz also accepted the position as sporting director at Löwen Frankfurt in 2013. In December 2015, he also took over head coaching duties in Frankfurt after the sacking of Tim Kehler.[11] In the 2016-17 season, he handed coaching duties to Paul Gardner and remained in his job as sporting director.[12] In 2017, the Frankfurt team won the DEL2 title. On December 21, 2017, the Löwen Frankfurt organization announced not to extend Chernomaz' contract which expired in April 2018 and to relieve him of his duties with immediate effect to hand over the job to Franz-David Fritzmeier.[13] At that moment, the Löwen team was sitting in second place in the DEL2 standings.[14] In April 2018, Chernomaz was announced as the head coach of the Nottingham Panthers, replacing the outgoing Corey Neilson.[15] Chernomaz was sacked by the Panthers on 16 January 2019. The Nottingham team was third in the Elite League at the time, but had lost four games in a row.[16] On 5 February 2019, he took over the head coaching position with the Ravensburg Towerstars of the German DEL2 league.[17] Chernomaz guided the Towerstars to their second-ever DEL2 championship title, overcoming his former team Frankfurt in the finals in April 2019.[18] He departed Ravensburg in February 2021.[19]
123Podnieks, Andrew (2003). Players: The ultimate A–Z guide of everyone who has ever played in the NHL. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. p.137. ISBN0-385-25999-9.
↑Podnieks, Andrew, ed. (2011). IIHF Guide & Record Book 2012. International Ice Hockey Federation. p.462. ISBN978-0-7710-9598-6.
↑"Kazakhs come back". International Ice Hockey Federation. 2013-04-20. Retrieved 2013-12-11.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
