Lou Vairo

Louis Joseph Vairo (born February 25, 1945) is an American former ice hockey coach and administrator. He served as head coach of the United States men's junior team at five IIHF World U20 Championships, and the United States men's team at four Ice Hockey World Championships and the 1984 Winter Olympics. He was an advance scout for the United States gold medal team at the 1980 Winter Olympics, and was an assistant coach on the United States silver medal team at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He has also served as head coach of the Netherlands men's team and the Italy men's team at the Ice Hockey World Championships. Vairo has coached in professional hockey leagues in Europe, won a Serie A championship with HC Milano Saima, and served as an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils. In junior ice hockey, he won five Metropolitan Junior Hockey League championships and the New York State junior championship, and coached the Austin Mavericks to two Midwest Junior Hockey League championships and one national championship.

Vairo showed an early interest in the European style of hockey and attended a coaching clinic taught by Anatoly Tarasov of the Soviet Union national team. Vairo introduced European coaching concepts to the United States, and based his coaching style on a blend of Soviet and Canadian coaching methods to fit the culture in America and taught teams to play with speed and not rely on fighting. He served as coaching director of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States, and later as the director of special projects for USA Hockey. He invited players from non-traditional hockey areas to national development camps to give an opportunity to those would not usually get a chance. He implemented coaching education programs and published manuals and articles about coaching hockey. He sat on the International Ice Hockey Federation coaching committee, and served as the technical coordinator of ice hockey for the Italian Ice Sports Federation. Vairo was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for service to American hockey, the Paul Loicq Award for contributions to international hockey, and was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

Early life

Vairo was born on February 25, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York. His family is of Italian descent, and he grew up in the neighborhood of Canarsie. He and his friends played street hockey and roller hockey as a boy since there were no ice hockey rinks in Brooklyn. They used improvised equipment for games, including a roll of tape for a puck, goal posts constructed from wood and fishing net, and goalie pads made from couch cushions and inner tubes. Vairo recalled that they played daily, and sometimes on a frozen a swamp during winter using second-hand ice skates. He later worked as an air conditioner repairman and short-order cook.

Career Early coaching career Vairo began his coaching career when a friend who organized the league he played in asked him to coach a midget-age team. Vairo later stated that he thought the term midget referred to dwarves instead of the minor ice hockey age group for 15-year-olds. He introduced European coaching concepts for training, and put emphasis on puck control, passing and speed.

Vairo's work at the development camp transitioned into him coaching the United States men's national junior ice hockey team in the A-pool at the IIHF World U20 Championships from 1979 to 1982. seventh place in 1980, and sixth place in both 1981 and 1982. He also served as an advance scout for Herb Brooks who coached the United States team which won the gold medal in ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs in either the 1984–85 NHL season or the 1985–86 NHL season.

Coaching in European leagues Vairo began coaching in Europe in 1986, when he moved to the Tilburg Trappers who played in the Eredivisie in the Netherlands. He led the team to a sixth-place finish during the 1986–87 season. He was also head coach of the Netherlands men's national ice hockey team at the 1987 Ice Hockey World Championships, with Ron Berteling as his team captain. The national team placed seventh in Group B, and were relegated to Group C for the next World Championships. Vairo departed for Italy in 1987, and recommended former New Jersey Devils colleague Fred Shero to takeover coaching duties in Tilburg.

Vairo coached five seasons in Italy's Serie A, with the first three seasons in charge of HC Fassa from 1987 to 1990. He led HC Fassa to an improved fourth-place finish in the 1988–89 season, and were finalists in the Serie A playoffs. In the 1989–90 season, his team placed seventh and did not qualify for the playoffs.

From 1990 to 1992, Vairo served as head coach of HC Milano Saima. He returned for the 1991–92 season, and coached the team to third-place finish, and reached the Serie A playoffs finals. He was also an assistant coach of the Italy men's national ice hockey team in Group B at the 1991 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships.

USA Hockey and IIHF director Vairo returned to the United States in 1992 to work for USA Hockey as the director of special projects. He implemented standards for a coaching education program and for player development camps which lead into the national team programs. He also oversaw a task force on diversity which aimed to introduced hockey skills to children in the inner city and minority groups.

Personal life Vairo remained friends with Anatoly Tarasov and said, "I'd later invite Tarasov to Brooklyn and he danced and ate spaghetti and meatballs at my grandmother's house, so it became a great friendship and I learned so much from him". The IIHF named him the Paul Loicq Award recipient in 2010, for contributions to international hockey. In 2014, Vairo was inducted into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame,

Note

One of the two wins by Italy was in overtime. The IIHF calculated standings in 2015 differently than other events in this chart. The overtime win statistic is included in the win column for brevity.