Ice hockey: DEL: Tirkkonen to be the big successor in Wolfsburg

German ice hockey runner-up Grizzlys Wolfsburg has found a successor for outgoing head coach Pavel Gross.

As announced by Lower Saxony on Friday, the former Finnish international Pekka Tirkkonen will be behind the gang starting next season. The 49-year-old receives a one-year contract.

Tirkkonen most recently worked for the five-time Swiss champion Kloten Flyers. As a player he was active in Germany among others with the Star Bulls Rosenheim and the Augsburg Panthers.

“Pekka has always been at the top of my list. He is a very ambitious and meticulously working coach who brings a lot of what we need here in Wolfsburg,”said sports director Karl-Heinz Fliegauf.

In January it became known that Gross was moving to league rival Adler Mannheim. Under Gross, Wolfsburg had been runner-up three times.