EC Graz was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n ice hockey team from

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popu ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

, playing in the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria, it currently f ...

and

Alpenliga The Alpenliga was an international professional ice hockey league which existed between 1991 and 1999. It was contested by club teams from Austria, Italy and Slovenia. In 1994-95 and 1995–96, the Alpenliga was part of a larger competition ...

in the 1990s.

History

The EC Graz (also called "the elephants") emerged in 1990 when the UEC Graz and

ATSE Graz ATSE Graz is an ice hockey team in Graz, Austria. They play in the Eliteliga, the third level of ice hockey in Austria. History The club was founded in 1947, and won the Austrian Hockey League in 1975 and 1978. The club was merged with UEC Graz in ...

were merged.

finished 2nd in the Austrian National League and therefore qualified for the

season 1989/90. UEC Graz, which was founded in 1985,* Gerd Renner: ''50 Jahre Eishockey in der Steiermark, 1956 - 2006'', qualified for the Austrian National League the same year. Both clubs united in April 1990, in the following season ATSE was removed from the name. The club experienced its heyday under President Hannes Kartnig, finishing three times the runner-up title in the seasons 1991-92, 1992–93 and 1993–94 despite running at a high financial cost. Accompanying marketing made ice hockey popular in Graz in this period, but in 1998 the club went bankrupt shortly after the departure of its president Hannes Kartnig. The EHC Graz was established in 1998 to rescue ice hockey in Graz, just to become bankrupt the same year. In 1999 Jochen Pildner-Steinburg founded the

Graz 99ers The Moser Medical Graz 99ers are an Austrian professional ice hockey team from Graz, Styria. The club was founded in 1999 after the previous club, EHC Graz, folded prior to the 1998–99 season due to financial difficulties. The Graz99ers starte ...

as the successor club of the EC Graz to offer Hockey League back in the Styrian capital.

Former players

* Neil Belland *

Daniel Berthiaume Daniel J. Berthiaume (born January 26, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played six seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, an ...

* Bill Gardner * Brent Gretzky *

Wayne Groulx Wayne Groulx (born February 2, 1965) is a Canadian born Austrian former ice hockey centre. During the 1984–85 NHL season, he played one game for the Quebec Nordiques. Groulx was drafted 172nd overall by the Nordiques in the 1983 NHL Entry Dr ...

* Don Nachbaur * Kent Nilsson * Todd Reirden * Matthias Trattnig * Martin Ulrich

References

Ice hockey teams in Austria Alpenliga teams Sport in Graz {{Austria-sport-team-stub