Stefan Ionescu as player for Steaua Bucharest.
Short in stature like historical Romanian king Stefan the Great, but a giant in Romanian ice hockey. Former Romania head coach and national team defender Stefan Ionescu passes away at the age of 87.
Romania defeating USA at the 1977 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship happened at a time when they were ranked among the top-six national teams in Europe. The mastermind behind lifting the Southeastern Europeans to such heady heights was Ionescu, head coach of the Romanian national team between 1974-1980.
Born in Bucharest on 17 February 1935, Ionescu made his debut as a player in 1951 with Club Steagul Rosu in Brasov. His player career took off following a return to Bucharest and a move to the club of the Romanian armed forces, CCA (later renamed to Steaua) in 1954.
That same year Ionescu received his first call-up to represent Romania´s national team. The right-shooting defender embarked upon a long and distinguished playing career for his country between 1959 to 1968. Playing over 150 games for Romania, highlights included skating at nine World Championships and two Winter Olympics, Innsbruck in 1964 and four years later in Grenoble.
A nine-time national champion, Ionescu retired as a player in 1968. Then aged 33, he didn’t dwell too long on his next challenge. Having graduated as a professor of physical education in 1964, Ionescu took over as head coach of Romania’s national junior team in 1969. The following year he tasted success when guiding the next generation of Romanian players to first place at the World Championship B-Pool in 1970.
An avid student of the game, Ionescu travelled far and wide to develop his coaching methods in the USA, Canada and the former Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. His work ethic and hunger for knowledge soon paid dividends. In 1974 he was promoted to head coach of Romania’s men’s senior national team.
With a backbone of players he worked with at junior national team level, Ionescu lifted Romania to unprecedented heights with scant resources between 1974-80.
Under his leadership, Romania won the World Championship Pool B in 1976 played in Biel, Switzerland, promoting Romania to the top division.
Their solitary top division appearance at the World Championship included a memorable 5-4 victory against USA on 5 May 1977 in Vienna’s Stadthalle. Ionescu himself later labelled this win as "Romania’s Miracle on Ice" at a time when they were ranked as the sixth-best European national team.
During his fruitful stint as national team coach Ionescu also guided Romania to qualification for two Winter Olympics in 1976 and 1980. In Innsbruck 1976 Romania ended up seventh out of a dozen teams. Four years later, in Lake Placid 1980, they secured eighth place out of twelve participating teams.
Shortly after arriving back in Bucharest from the 1980 Winter Olympics, Ionescu was ordered to take on a coaching job in Galati, an industrial and port town in Eastern Romania. Instead, he decided to head in the opposite direction. Leaping across the Iron Curtain, Ionescu coached in Spain at HC Bizcaya Bilbao where he twice won the national title in 1981 and 1982. He then moved on to Switzerland, coaching at Forward Morges (1982-1984), at EHC Biel from Nationalliga A (1984-1988), and EHC Arosa in the first amateur league (1988-1989).
Having resided between Switzerland and Romania at the time of his death, Ionescu is survived by his wife and daughter. The funeral will be today in Romania.
Romania defeating USA at the 1977 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship happened at a time when they were ranked among the top-six national teams in Europe. The mastermind behind lifting the Southeastern Europeans to such heady heights was Ionescu, head coach of the Romanian national team between 1974-1980.
Born in Bucharest on 17 February 1935, Ionescu made his debut as a player in 1951 with Club Steagul Rosu in Brasov. His player career took off following a return to Bucharest and a move to the club of the Romanian armed forces, CCA (later renamed to Steaua) in 1954.
That same year Ionescu received his first call-up to represent Romania´s national team. The right-shooting defender embarked upon a long and distinguished playing career for his country between 1959 to 1968. Playing over 150 games for Romania, highlights included skating at nine World Championships and two Winter Olympics, Innsbruck in 1964 and four years later in Grenoble.
A nine-time national champion, Ionescu retired as a player in 1968. Then aged 33, he didn’t dwell too long on his next challenge. Having graduated as a professor of physical education in 1964, Ionescu took over as head coach of Romania’s national junior team in 1969. The following year he tasted success when guiding the next generation of Romanian players to first place at the World Championship B-Pool in 1970.
An avid student of the game, Ionescu travelled far and wide to develop his coaching methods in the USA, Canada and the former Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. His work ethic and hunger for knowledge soon paid dividends. In 1974 he was promoted to head coach of Romania’s men’s senior national team.
With a backbone of players he worked with at junior national team level, Ionescu lifted Romania to unprecedented heights with scant resources between 1974-80.
Under his leadership, Romania won the World Championship Pool B in 1976 played in Biel, Switzerland, promoting Romania to the top division.
Their solitary top division appearance at the World Championship included a memorable 5-4 victory against USA on 5 May 1977 in Vienna’s Stadthalle. Ionescu himself later labelled this win as "Romania’s Miracle on Ice" at a time when they were ranked as the sixth-best European national team.
During his fruitful stint as national team coach Ionescu also guided Romania to qualification for two Winter Olympics in 1976 and 1980. In Innsbruck 1976 Romania ended up seventh out of a dozen teams. Four years later, in Lake Placid 1980, they secured eighth place out of twelve participating teams.
Shortly after arriving back in Bucharest from the 1980 Winter Olympics, Ionescu was ordered to take on a coaching job in Galati, an industrial and port town in Eastern Romania. Instead, he decided to head in the opposite direction. Leaping across the Iron Curtain, Ionescu coached in Spain at HC Bizcaya Bilbao where he twice won the national title in 1981 and 1982. He then moved on to Switzerland, coaching at Forward Morges (1982-1984), at EHC Biel from Nationalliga A (1984-1988), and EHC Arosa in the first amateur league (1988-1989).
Having resided between Switzerland and Romania at the time of his death, Ionescu is survived by his wife and daughter. The funeral will be today in Romania.