EC Graz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
EC Graz
Greatest successes
Club information
history EC Graz (1990–1998)
Location Graz , Austria
league Austrian ice hockey league
Venue Ice rink Graz-Liebenau

The EC Graz was an Austrian ice hockey team from Graz ( Styria , Austria ). Because of the club's logo, the club was nicknamed the elephants . The club emerged in 1990 from the merger of ATSE Graz and UEC Graz and from the 1990/91 season played as EC Graz ATSE in the Austrian Bundesliga, the addition of ATSE was omitted in the following year.

history

In 1988/89 ATSE Graz was second behind KSV in the National League and decided to move up to the Bundesliga. In the same season, the UEC Graz, founded in 1985, made it to the national league. In April 1990 the two clubs merged to form EC Graz. It was decided that the ATSE suffix would temporarily still be used in the 1990/91 season, but would be omitted in the future. The team remaining in the national league (formerly UEC Graz) should be managed as a branch club that is not eligible for promotion. The plan was that the ice hockey championship should go to Graz in two years.

The team experienced the sporting climax under President Hannes Kartnig , who put together a top-class squad thanks to his high investments. Nevertheless, the championship title could never be won - it was enough to three runner-up titles in a row in the seasons 1991/92 , 1992/93 (under coach Mike Daski ) and 1993/94 . Third place in the Alpine League was achieved in 1993/94 .

After financial difficulties and the departure of Hannes Kartnig after the 1995/96 season , Heinz Rothe took over as chairman. After the 1997/98 season , the EC Graz was finally shut down.

For the 1998/99 season , the EHC Graz was re-established as an independent and debt-free successor club with Helmut Bocskay as President and Heinz Rothe as Vice-President. The club went bankrupt in December 1998 with enormous debt and had to stop playing in the Alpine League .

The rescue of ice hockey in Graz was the founding of the Graz 99ers by Jochen Pildner-Steinburg. Pildner-Steinburg, himself a former ice hockey player at the Grazer AK , had often appeared as a sponsor and had the EC Graz with his company (GAW) promoted.

Well-known former players

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.passionhockey.com/hockeyarchives/Autriche1991.htm
  2. ^ Gerd Renner: 50 Years of Ice Hockey in Styria, 1956 - 2006 , ISBN 3950216111
  3. ↑ APA notification APA233 1989-03-05 / 20: 39 0018/0112/0902, "UEC Graz in the ice hockey national league"
  4. ↑ APA notification APA333 1990-04-26 / 15: 46 0024/0176/1408, "ATSE and UEC merged: Graz ice hockey future is called EC Graz"