EDMONTON (Reuters) - Ralph Krueger, who guided the Swiss national team for 13 years and three Olympics, joined the Edmonton Oilers as an assistant coach, the National Hockey League team said Friday.
"Ralph possesses a vast array of hockey knowledge and certainly will be invaluable to our team," Edmonton general manager Steve Tambellini said in a statement.
"We know that his motivational skills and positive outlook will be instrumental in the future success of our hockey club."
During Krueger's time in charge of the Swiss program the tiny alpine nation moved from 15th to 7th in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) world rankings.
He guided Switzerland to a sixth-place finish at the 2006 Olympics and eighth place at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, losing to the United States in the quarter-finals.
The Winnipeg native played professional hockey in Germany from 1979-1989 and was a member of the German national team, playing in two world championships.
(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto, Editing by Steve Ginsburg)
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