Ted Sator Ted Sator ( born November 18 , 1949 in New Hartford , New York ) is an American professional coach who is currently coaching KHL Medvescak of the EBEL . Playing career . Ted Sator played for parts of two seasons ( 1969 – 70 and 1971 – 72 ) for Bowling Green State University . During the 1971 – 72 campaign for the NCAA team Sator played 27 games , where he tallied 5 goals and assisted on 6 others . He also racked up 45 penalty minutes during the season . During his senior year at Bowling Green he was selected to play with the U . S . World Team in Lake Placid . Sator ' s playing career came to an end the following year due to a knee injury when he played 3 games for the Long Island Ducks of the EHL . North American professional coaching career . Sator began his NHL coaching career in 1983 with the Philadelphia Flyers . After working with Mike Keenan during the 1984 – 85 season , Sator was named head coach of the New York Rangers taking them to the Conference Finals in his first year and lost to the Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens . The following season , General Manager Craig Patrick was replaced by Phil Esposito and after only 19 games into the season Sator was replaced by Tom Webster . His time away from behind the bench was short lived , as he was named head coach of the Buffalo Sabres the following year . In his first full season with the Buffalo Sabres they achieved the biggest point improvement in the NHL . He coached them to two third - place finishes but was unable to get the team past the Stanley Cup finalist Boston Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs , and was relieved of his coaching duties in 1989 . Over the next 10 years , Sator was an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins , St . Louis Blues , Hartford Whalers , and Vancouver Canucks ( where he split time between Vancouver and the Canucks American Hockey League farm team , the Syracuse Crunch . Beginning in 1997 , Sator began a successful 5 - year coaching stint with the New Orleans Brass , where he was also Director of Player Personnel in which the team never failed to qualify for the playoffs and never had a losing season . Coaching statistics ( North America ) . " Note : Sator was fired after 19 games in the 1986 – 87 season , and replaced by Tom Webster . " USA Hockey and coaching in Europe . Ted Sator served as Bob Johnson ' s assistant coach on 2 Canada Cup teams and has sat on the Executive Board of USA Hockey . In addition , Sator has put his B . S . and M . Ed . degrees to use for over 30 years as an instructor at Huron Hockey School and is also an instructor with EHK Sports Hockey Camps . Sator not only has coaching experience in North America , but has spent time coaching in Italy , Sweden and Finland . In his first year coaching in the Italian Elite League , Sator ' s team went undefeated on its way to back - to - back championships . He was Assistant Coach with Team USA in Vienna for the 1996 World Championships where the team took its first medal in 36 years . He has 9 years combined coaching experience in the Finnish and Swedish Elite League , most recently as head coach of Espoo Blues in the SM - liiga . Sator was until recently the head coach of the Slovenian national ice hockey team , bringing them back into the A Pool . He now serves as Head Coach of the Hungarian Austrian Hockey League team Alba Volán Székesfehérvár .