Heinz Ehlers

Heinz Ehlers (b. January 25 1966 in Aalborg) is a former Danish professional forward who especially played in the Elitserien and DEL. He is currently the head coach of the Danish National Team.

Player career
One of the best Danish players of his generation, Ehlers was drafted to the National Hockey League 188th overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers. He never however played in North America; he rather moved to the Elitserien in 1984 to join Leksands IF with whom he would spend 5 seasons before leaving for AIK and then Rögle BK. After a 1993-94 season split between his home club Aalborg IK and Swiss EHC Biel, Ehlers moved in 1994 in Austria to join the Klagenfurter AC. In 1997, he joined the Berlin Capitals of the DEL for five seasons; he would come back home in 2002 to play two last seasons with Aalborg IK before retiring.

Heinz Ehlers was a particularly prolific player in international competitions. At the 1990 and 1991 World Championships Pool C, Ehlers tallied respectively 22 and 25 points in merely 8 games each year. His strong showing helped the Danish National Team promote to the Pool B in 1992 where he kept being one of the very best player on the ice. He participated at the 1987, 1990 and 1991 World Championships "Pool C" and at the 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998 and 1999 World Championships "Pool B"

Coach career
After his player career, Ehlers became a coach. He gained his first coach experience being the head coach for AaB Hockey of the Metal Ligaen. He coached the team in 2005-06 season and at the beginning of the 2006-07 season. Then he moved to Switzerland, he ended up this season being the co-coach with Hanspeter Frutiger for SC Altstadt Olten of the 2. Amateur Regio League.

In 2007-2009, Ehlers was the head coach of the EHC Biel-Bienne. After the 2007-08 NLB season, EHC Biel-Bienne was promoted from NLB into the NLA. Ehlers was replaced by Kent Ruhnke in the middle of the 2008-09 NLA season. Replacing Kevin Ryan in the middle of the 2009-10 season, Ehlers began his journey with SC Langenthal of the NLB. He stayed there until 2013. Between 2013 and 2016, Ehlers was the head coach of the Lausanne HC of the NLA.

At the October 3, 2016, Ehlers was hired as the head coach of the SCL Tigers of the NLA and he stayed here until the 2020. Since 2018 World Championship, Ehlers is also the coach of the Danish National Team. He was the assistant coach at the 2018 World Championship and he is the head coach since 2018-19 season, including 2019 World Championship.