EC KAC

Klagenfurt AC
City	Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria
League	Erste Bank Eishockey Liga
Founded	1909
Home arena	Stadthalle Klagenfurt (Capacity: 5,500)
Colors	Red, White
Owner(s)	Dr. Will Schasche
General manager	Oliver Pilloni
Head coach	Doug Mason
Captain	Johannes Reichel
Website	EC KAC
Franchise history
1909–	EC KAC
Championships
Austrian Champions	30 (1934, 1935, 1952, 1955, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2013)

EC KAC, or the Klagenfurt Athletic Sports Club, is a professional ice hockey team in the Austrian Erste Bank Hockey League. The team plays their home games in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria at Stadthalle Klagenfurt. EC KAC has won the most Austrian ice hockey Championships, a total of 30 times including 11 consecutive titles from 1964 to 1974, and four consecutive from 1985 to 1988. Most recently they won it in 2013

History

The Klagenfurt Athletics Sports Club was founded on 18 September 1909 as an association.^[1] In 1919 the first attempts to makeup a Hockey sector were trialled with an initial two-year apprenticeship from 1923 to 1925, before Hockey as a fully fledged association was established in 1926.^[2]

In 1926 EC KAC joined the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation. At that time there were no uniforms, and hockey was played in gym shorts, soccer socks, football jerseys, and as skates were called 'Friesen' which used shoes made of wood with a metal bar as a runner, which were laced with leather straps on the feet. The puck was initially made from two nailed together soles of women's shoes. Much depended more on the ingenuity and dedication of the players, and the preparation of the playing surface snow at the Kreuzberglteich.

In the 1933–34 season, EC KAC won their first league title and thus stopped the almost uninterrupted dominance of the Vienna Ice Skating Association. It marked the first time the title had not been awarded to a team from Vienna. The Second World War interrupted play abruptly and post-war it took a long time to get the league back functioning properly. However, many stars from the KAC's first league title success could again be counted to be the nucleus and further accelerated the rise of EC KAC well into the 1950s.

Between 1952 and 1960, KAC managed three further League titles, in a period in which Innsbruck EV were prominent in the Austrian Championship. With games still played outdoors and susceptible to inclement weather, on 22 November 1959, the Stadthalle Klagenfurt complex opened, which after several modifications is still in use today as the venue of EC KAC.

At the turn of the 1960s with the influx of influential players such as Dieter Kalt Snr and Sepp Puschnig, KAC started the seed in dominating the Austrian Championship from 1964 to 1980, in which the title went fifteen times to Klagenfurt. The only competitor in that time was ATSE Graz, which broke up title championships in 1975 and 1978.

During this time, the EC KAC also partook in several European Cups. They first played in the 1965–66 season, and in the following 1966–67 season, the team reached the semi-finals and had to compete, as in the following season, against ZLK Brno. In the 1969–70 season, EC KAC played as beaten finalists against HC CSKA Moscow. Overall, EC KAC participated nineteen times in the tournament, only two participations fewer than the record holder CSKA Moscow.

Current roster

Updated September 9, 2015.^[3]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
11		Ban, DanielDaniel Ban	RW	L	22	2013	Klagenfurt, Austria
32		Brückler, BerndBernd Brückler	G	L	34	2015	Graz, Austria
69		Cirtek, PhilippPhilipp Cirtek	F	L	21	2011	Klagenfurt, Austria
5		DeSantis, JasonJason DeSantis	D	R	29	2014	Oxford, Michigan, United States
17		Ganahl, ManuelManuel Ganahl	RW	L	25	2015	Bludenz, Austria
21		Geier, ManuelManuel Geier	W	R	27	2008	Judenburg, Austria
19		Geier, StefanStefan Geier	W	L	27	2008	Judenburg, Austria
16		Harand, PatrickPatrick Harand	F	L	31	2012	Wien, Austria
27		Hundertpfund, ThomasThomas Hundertpfund	F	L	26	2014	Klagenfurt, Austria
39		Jacques, Jean-FrançoisJean-François Jacques (A)	LW	L	30	2014	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
51		Kapstad, KevinKevin Kapstad	D	L	29	2015	Boxborough, Massachusetts, United States
18		Koch, ThomasThomas Koch	C	L	32	2011	Klagenfurt, Austria
71		Kurath, FlorianFlorian Kurath	LW	L	20	2013	Klagenfurt, Austria
74		Lundmark, JamieJamie Lundmark	C	R	34	2012	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
10		Nordqvist, JonasJonas Nordqvist	C	L	33	2015	Leksand, Sweden
92		Pöck, MarkusMarkus Pöck	LW	L	23	2015	Klagenfurt, Austria
22		Pöck, ThomasThomas Pöck	D	L	34	2013	Klagenfurt, Austria
4		Popovic, MarkMark Popovic	D	L	33	2015	Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
14		Reichel, JohannesJohannes Reichel (C)	D	L	33	2007	Klagenfurt, Austria
28		Schumnig, MartinMartin Schumnig	D	R	26	2006	Klagenfurt, Austria
91		Setzinger, OliverOliver Setzinger	W	L	32	2014	Horn, Austria
23		Siklenka, MikeMike Siklenka	D	R	36	2011	Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada
24		Strong, StevenSteven Strong	D	L	22	2015	Villach, Austria
30		Swette, RenéRené Swette	G	L	27	2008	Lustenau, Austria
83		Tuokkola, PekkaPekka Tuokkola	G	L	32	2014	Alavus, Finland
12		Vallant, ThomasThomas Vallant	D	R	20	2011	Klagenfurt, Austria
47		Witting, MarcelMarcel Witting	F	L	20	2012	Zirl, Austria

Staff
Title	STAFF MEMBER
Head Coach	Doug Mason
Asst. Coach	Kirk Furey
Goalie Coach	Reinhard Divis
Development Coach	Christoph Brandner
Development Coach	Alexander Mellitzer
Dir. of Player Development	Dieter Kalt

References

1. St. Johann Metz, Hane Witek and Thomas Zeloth, ed. (2008). Nach Spielzeit. National Archives.
2. 75 Years of KAC, 1909-1984. EC KAC. 1984. p. 33.
3. "EC KAC - Team -Roster". EC KAC. 2014-08-15. Retrieved 2014-08-15.

External links

• EC KAC Official Website