Hans Kossmann (born March 14, 1962) is a Canadian-Swiss 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 h ...

coach.

Career

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Kossmann came to Switzerland when he was 22 years of age. During his playing career, he spent time with several Swiss clubs, playing in the second-tier

National League B The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, the ...

(NLB) for

Genève-Servette HC The Genève-Servette HC (also called Servette or GSHC) is a professional ice hockey club based in Geneva, Switzerland and competing in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. The team plays their home games at the ...

, EHC Bülach, SC Rapperswil-Jona and

Lausanne HC , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

. However, Kossmann never played in the Swiss top-flight

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league h ...

(NLA). After putting an end to his playing days, he accepted the head coaching job at HC Ajoie in 1995, where he had spent his final season as a player. Kossmann parted ways with Ajoie in November 1996 and was hired by fellow NLB team SC Luzern in March 1997. He then joined the coaching staff of EHC Biel, serving as assistant coach from 1997 to 1999. In 1999-2000, he had a short assistant coach stint at

HC Fribourg-Gottéron HC Fribourg-Gottéron is a professional ice hockey team based in Fribourg, Switzerland, which competes in the National League (NL). The team is the sixth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2015/16 season with 6,156 spectators. History The ...

and then served as head coach of

HC Sierre 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 ...

for some months. From 2001 to 2008, Kossmann worked as assistant coach to

Chris McSorley Chris McSorley (born March 22, 1962) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and executive. He is currently the head coach of HC Lugano. He is the brother of former NHL player Marty McSorley. Career Born in Hamilton, Ontario, McSorley played professio ...

, helping lift the team from NLB to NLA in 2002. In 2008, McSorley and Kossmann guided Servette to the NLA finals. In 2008-09, Kossmann worked as an assistant coach for the championship-winning

in the NLB, followed by two years in the same position at NLA's SC Bern, where he contributed to winning the Swiss national championship in 2010. In 2011, he was named head coach and general manager of

of the

, guiding the team to the playoff-semifinals his first year and to the NLA finals the following season. In 2013–14, Kossmann coached Fribourg-Gottéron to another semifinal-appearance. He was relieved of his duties in October 2014 having collected just eight points from the eleven opening fixtures of the 2014–15 campaign. Kossmann was named head coach of NLA side

HC Ambrì-Piotta Hockey Club Ambrì-Piotta is a Swiss professional ice hockey club and a member of the National League (NL). The club was founded September 19, 1937, and is also known as "Bianco-Blu" (English: white and blues). Though they have never won the leagu ...

in October 2015. He was sacked on January 30, 2017 after six straight losses and dropping to the bottom of the NLA table. On December 29, 2017, Kossmann took over the head coaching job at

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...

, serving as a caretaker coach for the remainder of the 2017–18 season after the club had parted ways with

Hans Wallson Hans Wallson (born September 20, 1966) is a Swedish ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. He served as head coach of the ZSC Lions of the Swiss top-flight National League A (NLA) until December 29, 2017. Career Wallson ...

. Under Kossmann's guidance, the Lions won the 2018 Swiss championship, defeating Lugano 4-3 in the finals. On October 23, 2018, he took over the head coaching job at Grizzlys Wolfsburg in the German

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 ...

. He parted ways with the team at the end of the 2018–19 season. In late January 2020, Kossmann signed a contract as head coach of SC Bern for the remainder of the 2019–20 season.

Personal life

Born in

, Kossmann grew up in

Smithers Smithers is a surname of English origin. It derives from the Middle English term "smyther", referring to a metalsmith, and is thus related to the common occupational surname Smith. The name Smither is related. People *Alan Smithers (born 1938 ...

. His father had left his home in

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimate ...

, Switzerland to move to Canada as a 23-year-old.

External links

Profile on eliteprospects.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kossmann, Hans Canadian ice hockey coaches Ice hockey people from British Columbia Sportspeople from Vancouver 1962 births Living people