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	Greg Holst
Captain	Nikolas Petrik
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 November 26, 2017.^[1]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
7001610000000000000♠61		Adis Alagić	C	L	24	2012	Villach, Austria
7001760000000000000♠76		Sam Antonitsch	LW	L	22	2017	Gaaden, Austria
7001190000000000000♠19		Stefan Bacher (A)	D	L	29	2006	Wien, Austria
7001140000000000000♠14		Kyle Beach	RW	R	28	2017	North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
7001200000000000000♠20		Nico Brunner	D	L	26	2012	Villach, Austria
7001100000000000000♠10		Rob Flick	C	L	27	2017	London, Ontario, Canada
7001470000000000000♠47		Ryan Glenn	D	L	38	2017	Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
7001720000000000000♠72		Lukas Herzog	G	L	25	2012	Zell am See, Austria
7001160000000000000♠16		Jordan Hickmott	C	R	28	2017	Mission, British Columbia, Canada
7001970000000000000♠97		Christian Jennes	F	L	21	2015	Villach, Austria
7001310000000000000♠31		David Kickert	G	L	24	2017	Korneuburg, Austria
7001370000000000000♠37		Christof Kromp	LW	L	21	2015	Villach, Austria
7001770000000000000♠77		Samuel Labrecque	D	L	26	2016	Granby, Quebec, Canada
7001420000000000000♠42		Benjamin Lazinger	RW	R	18	2016	Villach, Austria
7001180000000000000♠18		Valentin Leiler	LW	L	23	2012	Villach, Austria
7001210000000000000♠21		Benjamin Petrik	RW	R	29	2005	Villach, Austria
7001120000000000000♠12		Nikolas Petrik (C)	LW	L	34	2017	Villach, Austria
7001390000000000000♠39		Patrick Platzer	C	L	26	2009	Villach, Austria
7001550000000000000♠55		Andrew Sarauer (A)	C	L	33	2017	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
7001230000000000000♠23		Markus Schlacher	D	R	31	2015	Villach, Austria
7000700000000000000♠7		David Shields	D	R	27	2017	Rochester, New York, United States
7001880000000000000♠88		Miha Štebih	D	L	26	2017	Maribor, Slovenia
7001910000000000000♠91		Miha Verlič	C	L	27	2015	Maribor, Slovenia
7001110000000000000♠11		Ben Walter	C	L	34	2017	Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada
7001650000000000000♠65		Thomas Winkler	D	R	20	2016	Villach, Austria
7001750000000000000♠75		Benedikt Wohlfahrt	LW	L	18	2017	Villach, Austria

Championship teams

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to EC VSV Villach.

• EC Villacher SV Official site