Gregory Classen (born August 24, 1977) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Playing career

Classen played four seasons of junior hockey for the Nipawin Hawks of the SJHL. He then went on to play two seasons of hockey at

Merrimack College Merrimack College is a private Augustinian university in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine with an initial goal to educate World War II veterans. Its campus has grown to a campus with nearly 40 bu ...

competing in the Hockey East Division of the NCAA. While at Merrimack, he earned a spot on the Hockey East All Rookie Team. After going undrafted, Classen signed as a free agent in 1999 with the NHL‘s Nashville Predators . He spent his first five pro seasons in the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

organization, splitting time between the parent club and the

Milwaukee Admirals The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Panther Arena. They are affiliated with the NHL's Nashvil ...

. In 2004 Classen signed with

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

club

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: * HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club ** Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (men's football) ** PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Con ...

. Returning to the Admirals for 2005–6, he played the following season in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes th ...

club, the

Hamburg Freezers The Hamburg Freezers were a German professional men's ice hockey club from Hamburg, Germany that played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The club announced its withdrawal from the DEL and ceased operations on 24 May 2016 when Anschutz Entertainment ...

. On July 3, 2007, it was announced he had signed a contract with the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

. He was then reassigned by the Canucks, and played with their

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

affiliate, the

Manitoba Moose The Manitoba Moose are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and a member of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team plays its home games at Canada Life Centre, the home arena of its parent club, Winnipeg Jets o ...

. He moved to fellow AHL team

Providence Bruins The Providence Bruins are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the primary development team for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). They play at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rh ...

the following season and after 1 game moved onto the

San Antonio Rampage The San Antonio Rampage were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League based in San Antonio, Texas. The Rampage was primarily owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment throughout the team's existence. In 2020, the franchise was sold ...

before leaving for German team,

Iserlohn Roosters The Iserlohn Roosters are a professional ice hockey team based in Iserlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia. They are members of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) since 2000 and play their home games at the Eissporthalle Iserlohn which is also known as '' ...

, where he spent the remainder of the 2008-09 campaign. He started the 2009-10 season with the

Rapperswil-Jona Lakers The SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers are a professional ice hockey club from Rapperswil, Switzerland and are members of the National League. History The Lakers were founded in 1945 and were known as SC Rapperswil-Jona until 2005, when the club changed ...

of the Swiss top flight, before transferring to second-division side EHC Basel Sharks during the season. In January 2010, he moved on to another Swiss team,

HC Sierre-Anniviers HC Sierre is a professional ice hockey team, in Switzerland currently playing in the Swiss League (SL). Sierre has played in each of the top Swiss hockey leagues the National League (NL) and Swiss League (SL). It has also played several years in t ...

. On July 18, 2010, Classen returned to the German DEL and signed a two-year contract with

Kölner Haie The Kölner Haie (English: ''Cologne Sharks'') are an ice hockey club based in Cologne, Germany that plays in the professional Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The team was one of the founding members of the DEL. The ''Kölner Haie'' play their hom ...

. After three seasons with Haie, Classen left as a free agent to sign with

ERC Ingolstadt ERC Ingolstadt (''Eishockey-und-Rollschuh club'', ) is a German professional ice hockey club that plays in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Commonly known as the Panthers, the team plays its home games at the Saturn Arena in Ingolstadt. History ...

. In 2014, he joined German second-division side

Lausitzer Füchse The Lausitzer Füchse (literally ''Lusatian Foxes'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Weißwasser, Saxony. They currently play in DEL2, the second level of ice hockey in Germany. Prior to the 2013–14 season they played in the 2nd Bun ...

on a two-year deal. On March 14, 2015, he was attacked with a knife and severely injured. He was hospitalized for almost a month and returned to game action in September 2015. Classen left the Füchse squad upon the conclusion of the 2015-16 campaign and was signed by fellow

DEL2 DEL2 (also known as DEL II) is the second tier ice hockey league in Germany, below the '' Deutsche Eishockey Liga'' (DEL) and ahead of the '' Oberliga''. Founded in 2013 to replace the defunct '' 2nd Bundesliga'', DEL2 is administered by ESBG, u ...

side

Starbulls Rosenheim Starbulls Rosenheim is a professional ice hockey team based in Rosenheim, Oberbayern, Germany. They currently play in Oberliga. Prior to the 2013–14 season they played in the 2nd Bundesliga. They play their home games at '' Rofa-Stadion'', loc ...

on August 27, 2016. Classen moved on to a Player-Assistant Coach role for two seasons (2017–18 and 2018–19) with the Rostocker EC Piranhas of the German Eishockey-Oberliga.

Personal life

Classen was born in

Nipawin, Saskatchewan Nipawin () is a town in Saskatchewan, Canada, on the Saskatchewan River portion of Tobin Lake. The town lies between Codette Lake, created by the Francois-Finlay Dam (built in 1986) and Tobin Lake, created by the E.B. Campbell Dam built in ...

and was raised in

Aylsham, Saskatchewan Aylsham ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Nipawin No. 487 and Census Division No. 14. The village is approximately northeast of the city of Melfort. History Ayl ...

. Classen's parents Gord and Marjorie were killed by an impaired driver in a head-on collision on

Saskatchewan Highway 41 Highway 41 is a highway in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It runs from Highway 5 in Saskatoon to Highway 3/Highway 6 in Melfort. Highway 41 is about long. Highway 41 also intersects Highway 2. Also along the route, it passes near the ...

between

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on January 23, 2020. Classen's hockey career ended abruptly as a result.'Her time was taken': Sask. drunk driver sentenced to 6 years for fatal crash
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Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Classen, Greg 1977 births Living people Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) players Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian people of German descent Hamburg Freezers players Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan ERC Ingolstadt players Iserlohn Roosters players Kölner Haie players Lausitzer Füchse players Manitoba Moose players Merrimack Warriors men's ice hockey players Milwaukee Admirals players Nashville Predators players People from Nipawin, Saskatchewan Providence Bruins players Rostock Piranhas players SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers players San Antonio Rampage players Starbulls Rosenheim players Undrafted National Hockey League players