Gregory Holst (born February 21, 1954) is a Canadian-born Austrian ice hockey coach and a former player. He played eleven games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers between 1975 and 1977. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1974 to 1993, was mainly spent in the Austrian Hockey League. A naturalized Austrian citizen, Holst played for the Austrian national team in four World Championships between 1982 and 1986. After retiring he turned to coaching, and worked in the Austrian league and with the Austrian national team.

Greg Holst
Holst in 2016
Born (1954-02-21) February 21, 1954 (age 70)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for New York Rangers
Innsbrucker EV
Wiener EV
EC Salzburg
Villacher SV
EC Graz
National team  Austria
NHL Draft 139th overall, 1974
New York Rangers
WHA Draft 95th overall, 1974
San Diego Mariners
Playing career 1974–1993

Playing career edit

Holst played at the University of New Brunswick until 1973. He is a member of UNB's 1970's "All-Decade" team.[1] He then enjoyed a highly productive 1973-74 season with the Kingston Canadians of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, tallying 33 goals and 47 assists in 62 contests.[2] Holst then continued his scoring pace the following season with 33 goals and 37 assists in 62 games for the Winston-Salem Polar Twins of the Southern Hockey League.

He made his NHL debut with the New York Rangers during the 1975-76 season and mostly spent time with their affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL), the Providence Reds, tallying 37 goals and 44 assists in 69 games that season en route to AHL Rookie of the Year honors. He played nine more NHL contests for the Rangers over the following two years, splitting time between the Rangers and AHL's New Haven Nighthawks.[3]

In 1978 Holst joined Innsbrucker EV of Austria's top division, the Bundesliga. He became one of the most famous Canadian players in Austria and dominated the league while playing for Innsbruck, Wiener EV, Salzburger EC, Villacher SV and EC Graz over the years. Holst received Austrian citizenship and made the Austrian national team, representing the country at four World Championships (Group B). He finished his active career in 1993. Holst played 540 games in the Austrian league, scoring 522 goals. He had his jersey number 14 retired by Innsbrucker EV.[4]

Coaching career edit

After the end of his playing days, Holst returned to his native Canada, where he started a hockey school, and then returned to Austria to pursue his coaching career. He coached second-division side EHC Wattens in 1996-97, before joining the coaching staff of the Austrian ice hockey federation in 1997. Until 2002, he served in various positions, including head coach of the U18 and U20 national teams and assistant coach of the men’s national team.

Holst was named head coach of EC VSV of the Austrian top-tier in 2002. During his six-year tenure, he led the club to the 2006 Austrian championship and to the finals in 2003, 2004, 2007.[5]

He took over the head coaching job at HC TWK Innsbruck in December 2008 and remained in that position until the remainder of the season. Holst served as head coach of Ritten Sport of the Italian Serie A in 2011-12[6] and returned to EC VSV in June 2015 to become director of the club's youth program.[7] In November 2015, he took over the head coaching job.[8]

In November 2018, Holst was named head coach of EK Zell am See of the Alps Hockey League.[9] He coached for one season.

Career statistics edit

Regular season and playoffs edit

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1971–72 University of New Brunswick CIAU 18 7 7 14 38
1972–73 University of New Brunswick CIAU 19 21 11 32 82
1973–74 Kingston Canadians OHA 62 33 47 80 121
1974–75 Winston-Salem Polar Twins SHL 62 33 37 70 112 7 5 6 11 42
1974–75 Port Huron Flags IHL 8 1 0 1 6
1975–76 New York Rangers NHL 2 0 0 0 0
1975–76 Providence Reds AHL 69 37 44 81 77 3 0 0 0 22
1976–77 New York Rangers NHL 5 0 0 0 0
1976–77 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 65 21 25 46 90 6 2 3 5 2
1977–78 New York Rangers NHL 4 0 0 0 0
1977–78 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 65 15 25 40 44 15 6 7 13 6
1978–79 ECS Innsbruck AUT 34 42 26 68
1979–80 ECS Innsbruck AUT 39 37 36 73 63
1980–81 ECS Innsbruck AUT 33 28 48 76 70
1981–82 Wiener EV AUT 38 41 19 60
1982–83 ECS Innsbruck AUT 34 58 41 99
1983–84 ECS Innsbruck AUT 28 36 32 68
1984–85 Innsbrucker EV AUT 39 44 57 101 36
1985–86 Innsbrucker EV AUT 36 27 24 51 83
1986–87 Innsbrucker EV AUT 38 39 36 75 50
1987–88 EC Salzburg AUT 34 31 20 51 24
1988–89 Villacher EV AUT 46 38 41 79
1989–90 Innsbrucker EV AUT 33 36 39 75 55
1990–91 Innsbrucker EV AUT 34 19 22 41 45
1991–92 Innsbrucker EV AUT 42 21 30 51 21
1992–93 EC Graz AUT 25 4 9 13 12
AUT totals 533 501 480 981
NHL totals 11 0 0 0 0

International edit

Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM
1982 Austria WC-B 7 2 3 5 6
1983 Austria WC-B 7 8 8 16 0
1985 Austria WC-B 7 2 1 3 10
1986 Austria WC-B 7 3 3 6 0
Senior totals 28 15 15 30 16

References edit

  1. ^ "UNB Hockey - 1970's All-Decade Team - University of New Brunswick". www.varsityreds.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-01-14. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  2. ^ "1973 Kingston Canadians Roster and Results on JustSportsStats.com". www.justsportsstats.com. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  3. ^ "Greg Holst New York Rangers - 2015-2016 Stats - New York Rangers - All Time Roster". rangers.nhl.com. Archived from the original on 2016-05-07. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  4. ^ "Haifischbecken.at - Offizielle Homepage des HC TWK Innsbruck". www.haifischbecken.at. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  5. ^ KG, Kleine Zeitung GmbH & Co (24 March 2014). "Eishockey-Halbfinale - Greg Holst räumt VSV noch gute Chancen ein". Kleine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  6. ^ "Greg Holst neuer Trainer auf dem Ritten". www.sportnews.bz. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  7. ^ marksoft. "VSV holt Greg Holst nach Villach zurück - hockeyfans.at". www.hockeyfans.at. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  8. ^ "Greg Holst neuer VSV Headcoach! | EC VSV - Der Adlerhorst im Internet". www.ecvsv.at. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  9. ^ "Martedì si riprende a giocare dopo la prima pausa internazionale" (in Italian). 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2018-11-12.

External links edit