Craig Woodcroft

Craig Woodcroft (born Dezember 3, 1969 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former professional player.

During his playing career, he represented Team Canada internationally and spent nine years playing in Europe. He is currently head coach of HC Dinamo Minsk, a member of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Playing career

He amassed 168 points (73 goals, 95 assists) over his four-year NCAA career at Colgate University. Woodcroft was presented with the Colgate Coaches Award in 1989 and hauled in ECACH Tournament MVP distinction the following year, helping the Raiders capture the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship.[1] As a senior, he was named Colgate's Best Offensive Player and earned All-ECACH Honorable Mention status.[2]

A 1991 gradute of Colgate University, Woodcroft was picked by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1988 NHL Draft (134th overall). Following playing college hockey, he turned pro and signed with the Indianapolis Ice of the International Hockey League, where he stayed from 1991 to 1993, followed by a stint with the Prince Edward Island Senators of the American Hockey League in 1993-94.

Woodcroft made 12 appearances for Finnish Liiga side TuTo Hockey in 1994-95 and then was sent to lower division team Reipas Lahti on loan, where he saw the ice in three contests, before heading back to North America. He finished the season playing a couple of games for IHL’s Cleveland Lumberjacks and strengthening ECHL outfit Columbus Chill in 19 games.

At the beginning of the 1995-96 campaign, he took up an offer to play in Germany: Woodcroft parted ways with Deggendorfer EC after two games, but remained in the country to join fellow German second-division team EV Weiden. At Weiden, he produced 13 goals and 22 assists in 28 contests.

After playing briefly for AHL’s Cornwall Aces and CoHL’s Quad City Mallards, he embarked on a two-year stint with Manchester Storm of the British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL). In England, Woodcroft is particularly remembered for a four-goal showing in a 7-0 European Hockey League home win over Czech powerhouse Sparta Praha in the 1997-98 season.[3] He garnered All-BISL First Team honors in his second year with the Storm.

That drew the interest of a high caliber team from Germany’s top-tier Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Kölner Haie. He signed with the team for the 1998-99 season, followed by stints with three other DEL teams in the following three years, including the Kassel Huskies, Frankfurt Lions and Moskitos Essen.

Woodcroft concluded his professional career playing in Italy (HC Milan)[4] and Sweden (Linköping HC) in 2002-03.

Coaching career

Woodcroft is the founder of the Northern Edge Hockey Academy.[5]

He served as Skill Development Coach for the St. Louis Blues from 2010 to 2012 and was director of the Nashville Predators’ Rookie Development Camp between 2012 and 2014.[6]

In 2014, he put pen to paper on a two-year deal as associate coach of German DEL side Adler Mannheim.[7] In his first year, serving under head coach Geoff Ward, Woodcroft helped guide the Adler squad to the German championship title. In February 2016, he was promoted to Adler Mannheim head coach after Greg Ireland was fired.[8] Woodcraft left Mannheim after the 2015-16 season and was named head coach of HC Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in April 2016.[9]

External links

References

  1. ↑ "ECAC HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS" (PDF). static.psbin.com. Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  2. ↑ "COLGATE ATHLETIC HISTORY" (PDF). gocolgateraiders.com. Colgate University Athletics. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  3. ↑ "Storm Stars - Craig Woodcroft". www.inthecrease.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  4. ↑ "Milanosiamonoi - il sito". www.milanosiamonoi.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  5. ↑ "Hockey School Comes to Rochester". WNY Hockey Report. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  6. ↑ Stefan, Diepold. "Craig Woodcroft". www.eishockey-online.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  7. ↑ "Associate Coach Craig Woodcroft | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  8. ↑ "ADLER Mannheim". www.adler-mannheim.de. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  9. ↑ "Craig Woodcroft appointed head coach of HC Dinamo Minsk". eng.belta.by. 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
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