EC VSV

EC Villacher SV
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
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 22, 2016.^[1]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
19	Austria !	Bacher, StefanStefan Bacher	2.0 !D	L	27	2006	Wien, Austria
20	Austria !	Brunner, NicoNico Brunner	2.0 !D	L	24	2012	Villach, Austria
72	Austria !	Herzog, LukasLukas Herzog	1.0 !G	L	23	2012	Zell am See, Austria
51	Canada !	Hunter, EricEric Hunter	4.0 !C	L	30	2014	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
28	Austria !	Jennes, ChristianChristian Jennes	3.0 !F	L	19	2015	Villach, Austria
9	Canada !	Johner, DustinDustin Johner	4.0 !C	R	33	2015	Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada
8	Finland !	Jokela, MikkoMikko Jokela	2.0 !D	R	36	2016	Lappeenranta, Finland
55	Austria !	Kreuter, DavidDavid Kreuter	2.0 !D	R	21	2014	Villach, Austria
37	Austria !	Kromp, ChristofChristof Kromp	6.0 !LW	L	19	2015	Villach, Austria
7	Canada !	Labrecque, SamuelSamuel Labrecque	2.0 !D	L	24	2016	Granby, Quebec, Canada
18	Austria !	Leiler, ValentinValentin Leiler	6.0 !LW	L	21	2012	Villach, Austria
84	Canada !	Locke, CoreyCorey Locke	4.0 !C	L	32	2016	Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
10	Canada !	McBride, BrockBrock McBride	4.0 !C	L	30	2013	Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
93	Canada !	McGrath, EvanEvan McGrath	4.0 !C	L	30	2016	Oakville, Ontario, Canada
77	Austria !	Mühlstein, FlorianFlorian Mühlstein	2.0 !D	L	26	2015	Villach, Austria
16	Austria !	Nageler, DanielDaniel Nageler	7.0 !RW	L	30	2012	St. Veit an der Glan, Austria
21	Austria !	Petrik, BenjaminBenjamin Petrik	7.0 !RW	R	28	2005	Villach, Austria
39	Austria !	Platzer, PatrickPatrick Platzer	4.0 !C	L	24	2009	Villach, Austria
35	Canada !	Roy, OlivierOlivier Roy	1.0 !G	L	25	2016	Causapscal, Quebec, Canada
23	Austria !	Schlacher, MarkusMarkus Schlacher	2.0 !D	R	29	2015	Villach, Austria
26	Slovenia !	Urbas, JanJan Urbas	4.0 !C	L	27	2016	Ljubljana, Slovenia
91	Slovenia !	Verlič, MihaMiha Verlič	4.0 !C	L	25	2015	Maribor, Slovenia
62	United States !	Wehrs, KevinKevin Wehrs	2.0 !D	L	28	2016	Plymouth, Minnesota, United States

Championship teams

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to EC VSV Villach.

• EC Villacher SV Official site