EC VSV

EC Villacher SV
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City	Villach, Carinthia, Austria
League	Erste Bank Eishockey Liga 1977–
Founded	1923
Home arena	Villacher Stadthalle (Capacity: 4,800)
Colors	Blue, White
Owner(s)	Isep Gilbert
General manager	Widitsch Stefan
Head coach	Hannu Järvenpää
Captain	Gerhard Unterluggauer
Website	EC VSV
Franchise history
1923–	EC VSV
Championships
Austrian Champions	6 (1981, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2006)

EC Villacher SV are an ice hockey team in the Erste Bank Hockey League. They play their home games at Stadthalle (capacity approximately 4500 spectators) in Villach, Austria. The team colors are blue and white. Their mascot is an eagle - Villach's coat of arms represents an eagle's claw.

History

By winning the second divisions title in the 1976–77 season EC VSV gained automatic promotion to Austria's highest league and has tenured since. Following rival team, EC KAC, Villacher is the second oldest club in the EBEL. Although the team finished last in their debut season at the top levl (a primary reason why head coach Karol Havasi was replaced by player-coach Ryan D'Arcy by the end of the season), some of their young players, led by Leo Sivec, already showed good promise. In their second season they took the fifth place, the main problem was the vacant coaching job, which was initially filled by Adalbert and Saint John, by the end of the season by injured Bart Crashley.

After missing the playoffs three times in a row, in the 1980–81 season, Villach finally achieved their league title success. Thanks to the youth training under Hermann Knoll and an increased incorporation of the young players (Sivec the oldest residents at that time was just 23 years of age) the EC VSV finished the regular season up to second place. The Final round against the Wiener EV was won narrowly. The following year, however behind Sivec missed presence due to injury most of the season, Villach finished 5th in both the regular season and playoffs.

EC VSV in Zagreb

During the last decade of the 20th century EC VSV established themselves as a competitive outfit claiming two early Austrian Championships in 1992 and 1993, in a period when VEU Feldkirch dominated the action in the Austrian Hockey. After struggling against local rivals EC KAC in the playoffs. it was not until the 1998–99 season in which Villach could get past Klagenfurt in the finals again and win their fourth title.

Villacher secured its last title success, it sixth, in the 2005–06 , under coach Greg Holst. They won the title after a dominant regular season, alongside EC Red Bull Salzburg. The two teams met each other in the finals as expected with VSV earning 4: 2 series win. A large influence in helping VSV earn the 2006 title were due to Dany Bousquet, who led the club and league in points with 47 goals and 86 points. His greatest success of the season was certainly the decisive goal in the deciding final match against Salzburg in overtime. Goalkeeper Gert Prohaska finished with a save percentage of 92.85%, a clear margin from second place in the league.

In the following season, on 20 February 2007 marked the end of the longest winning streak at 17 between Villach and rivals KAC in the Carinthian Hockey derby. EC KAC had not recorded a win in almost two years over their rivals.

Honours

• Austrian Championships:
  • Winners (6) : 1981, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2006
• Austrian National League:
  • Winners (1) : 1977

Current roster

Updated August 14, 2015.

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
22		Adis Alagić	C	L	29	2012	Villach, Austria
19		Stefan Bacher	D	L	34	2006	Wien, Austria
20		Nico Brunner	D	L	31	2012	Villach, Austria
26		Andy Canzanello	D	L	42	2015	Rochester, Minnesota, United States
8		Ruslan Gelfanov	RW	L	28	2013	St. Petersburg, Russia
72		Lukas Herzog	G	L	31	2012	Zell am See, Austria
51		Eric Hunter	C	L	37	2014	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
9		Dustin Johner	C	R	41	2015	Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada
44		Matt Kelly	D	L	39	2015	Tottenham, Ontario, Canada
55		David Kreuter	D	R	29	2014	Villach, Austria
1		Jean-Philippe Lamoureux	G	L	39	2012	Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States
18		Valentin Leiler	LW	L	29	2012	Villach, Austria
10		Brock McBride	C	L	37	2013	Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
77		Florian Mühlstein	D	L	33	2015	Villach, Austria
16		Daniel Nageler	RW	L	37	2012	St. Veit an der Glan, Austria
13		Žiga Pance	RW	L	35	2015	Ljubljana, Slovenia
21		Benjamin Petrik	RW	R	35	2005	Villach, Austria
39		Patrick Platzer	C	L	32	2009	Villach, Austria
11		Mark Santorelli	W	R	35	2014	Burnaby, British Columbia
23		Markus Schlacher	D	R	36	2015	Villach, Austria
61		Rick Schofield	C	L	36	2015	Pickering, Ontario, Canada
6		Gerhard Unterluggauer (C)	D	L	47	2009	Villach, Austria
91		Miha Verlič	C	L	32	2015	Maribor, Slovenia

Staff
Title	STAFF MEMBER
Head Coach	Hannu Järvenpää
Asst. Coach	Markus Peintner
Goalie Coach	Markus Kerschbaumer

Championship teams

Title winning team of the 1991/92 season
Goaltenders	Gus Morschauser (CAN), Gerhard Thomasser
Defensemen	Jeff Geiger, Herbert Hohenberger, Engelbert Linder, Giuseppe Mion, Emanuel Viveiros, Günther Kilzer,
Forwards	Christian Dolinar, Peter Floriantschitz, Kim Issel (CAN), Manfred Mühr, Günther Lanzinger, Wolfgang Kromp, Edward Lebler Peter Raffl, Helmut Petrik, Robert Wachter, Ken Strong, Alfie Turcotte (USA), Peter Rossbacher
Trainer	Bart Crashley

Title winning team of the 1992/93 season
Goaltenders	Gus Morschauser (CAN), Gerhard Thomasser
Defensemen	Jeff Geiger, Herbert Hohenberger, Engelbert Linder, Giuseppe Mion, Emanuel Viveiros, Gerhard Unterluggauer, Günther Kilzer
Forwards	Peter Floriantschitz, Kim Issel (CAN), Manfred Mühr, Günther Lanzinger, Wolfgang Kromp, Helmut Petrik Peter Raffl, Gerald Rauchenwald, Gerald Ressmann, Ken Strong, Alfie Turcotte (USA), Andreas Köstl
Trainer	Ron Kennedy

Title winning team of the 1998/99 season
Goaltenders	Mike O'Neill (ice hockey) (CAN), Gerhard Thomasser
Defensemen	Gordon Donnelly (CAN), Herbert Hohenberger, Engelbert Linder, Brad Schlegel (CAN), Tom Searle, Gerhard Unterluggauer,
Forwards	Chris Baxter (CAN), Gino Cavallini (CAN), Roland Kowalczyk, Günther Lanzinger, Wolfgang Kromp, Eric Murano (CAN), Marty Murray (CAN), Marco Pewal, Martin Pewal, Ray Podloski, Andreas Pusnik, Jean-Yves Roy (CAN), Kent Salfi, Roland Schurian
Trainer	Ron Kennedy

Title winning team of the 2001/2002 season
Goaltenders	Gert Prohaska, Markus Kerschbaumer
Defensemen	Tom Searle, Mike Stewart, Mario Berger, Rene Wild, Robert Steinwender, Martin Oraze, Patrick Albl, Michael Mana, Stephan Hochenberger Herbert Hohenberger
Forwards	Andreas Pusnik, Wolfgang Kromp, Kent Salfi, Günther Lanzinger, Roland Kaspitz, Stefan Wiedmaier, Rod Hinks (CAN), Winfried Rac, Martin Pewal, Peter Floriantschitz, Nikolas Petrik, Sandro Winkler, Philipp Pinter, Martin Leitner
Trainer	Ron Kennedy

Title winning team of the 2005/2006 season
Goaltenders	Gert Prohaska, Patrick Machreich
Defensemen	Darrel Scoville (CAN), Mike Stewart, Paul Ullrich, David Slivnik, Alexander Neubauer, Martin Oraze, Mickey Elick (CAN), Thomas Pfeffer, Herbert Hohenberger
Forwards	Thomas Raffl, Roland Kaspitz, Stefan Herzog, Daniel Nageler, Marc Brown (CAN), Nikolas Petrik, Günther Lanzinger, Daniel Gauthier (CAN), Wolfgang Kromp, Christoph Sivec, Stephané Roy (CAN, for injured Daniel Gauthier during Playoff), Markus Peintner, Markus Schlacher, Dany Bousquet (CAN), Andreas Judex
Trainer	Greg Holst

External links

• EC Villacher SV Official site