Dinamo Riga Goes Through Their Third Coaching Change Of The Season

On Monday, November 29th the council of Dinamo Riga met to review how the team had performed to this point during the regular season and decided that it was unsatisfactory.

Changes had to be made and it was decided that a coaching change at the top level of the coaching staff had to be made. Valerijs Kulibaba – who was the main man since October 29th had his interim tag removed and was replaced by the 71-year-old Vladimir Krikunov.

The Russian hockey specialist moves into a more permanent role as the head coach and once the deal is signed and finalized – it’s expected that he will work in Riga until at least the end of the season.

To this point, it’s unclear what the rest of the coaching staff will be with Krikunov now taking over. Kulibaba’s future is now also uncertain – the man has been the head since October 22nd when his team started off with a 0:2 loss against Severstal Cherepovets. In that time Dinamo played 12 games managing to win only two of those. The Latvian franchise is currently on six games losing streak and sits dead last in the Western Conference standings with 26 points in 32 matches.

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Krikunov is set to arrive in Riga on Tuesday and begin his duties. It’s expected that he will be behind the bench for Dinamo’s Tuesday clash with Severstal side.

”I understand that Dinamo is in a difficult situation. Right now I’m still at home – in Moscow. I know that the team already announced the agreement with me. There is not a lot time, I have to pack my stuff and get to Riga. I’m not afraid to face any hard situations and I believe that together we will be able to step out of the hole. Tomorrow I will fly to Riga. The situation with the assistant coaches is unknown at this point. But there won’t be any issues. I have a house and an apartment in Riga.” said the former Dinamo club legend Krikunov.

For Dinamo this is the third head coach in a 32-game-old season – Sergei Zubov began the season to later cowardly run away from the team, Valerijs Kulibaba was just the second man leading the team and proved to be unsuccessful to now have Krikunov step in and assume the duties.