Lance Nethery (born June 28, 1957) is a Canadian 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 and coach, and current executive. He played 41 games in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
with the
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...
and
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
during the
1980–81 and
1981–82 seasons. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1979 to 1990, was split between the minor leagues and then in Europe, mainly in the Swiss
Nationalliga A. After his playing career Nethrey became a coach and manager in the
Deutsche Eishockey Liga
The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called "PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga") (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a German professional ice hockey league and the highest division in German ice hockey. Founded in ...
, working in those roles between 1993 and 2019.
Playing career
Nethery was born in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, and raised in
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...
. He attended
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, playing for the
Cornell Big Red
The Cornell Big Red is the informal name of the sports teams, and other competitive teams, that represent Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York. The university sponsors 37 varsity sports, as well as numerous intramural and club team ...
, and midway through his college career he was selected by the
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...
, 131st overall, in the eighth round of the
1977 NHL amateur draft. The same year he was named to the ECAC Second All-Star team, and the following two seasons he was named to both the
ECAC First All-Star Team and the NCAA East First All-American Team. He was also named
ECAC Player of the Year in 1978.
Nethery still holds the Cornell records for assists and points in a season, as well as career assists and points. His scoring touch stayed with him as a professional player, and he averaged over a point per game in parts of three seasons with the
New Haven Nighthawks
The New Haven Nighthawks were a professional ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League from 1972 to 1992. They had affiliations with the Minnesota North Stars (1972–1977), New York Islanders (1972–1973), New York Rangers (19 ...
and
Springfield Indians
The Springfield Indians were a minor professional ice hockey franchise, originally based in West Springfield, Massachusetts and later Springfield, Massachusetts. The Indians were founding members of the American Hockey League. They were in existen ...
of the
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 ...
(AHL).
Nethery played 41 National Hockey League games in two seasons, for the
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...
and
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
. After joining the Oilers in a trade for
Eddie Mio
Edward Dario Mio (born January 31, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers between 1977 and 1979, and in the National Hockey Le ...
, Nethery played only three more NHL games, despite putting up two points.
In 1982, Nethery left North America, signing with
Duisburger SC in Germany.
He played dominantly in the minor leagues before signing a contract with
HC Davos
Hockey Club Davos is a professional Swiss ice hockey club based in Davos, Switzerland. Davos plays in the National League (NL). The team is usually a strong force in the league and often bolster their roster with Swiss national team players and ...
of the
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
Nationalliga A. Nethery won two championships with Davos, and retired in 1988. In 186 regular season games with
HC Davos
Hockey Club Davos is a professional Swiss ice hockey club based in Davos, Switzerland. Davos plays in the National League (NL). The team is usually a strong force in the league and often bolster their roster with Swiss national team players and ...
he averaged 1.92 points per game.
Coaching and managing career
Nethery was named the head coach of Davos for the 1990–91 season, and was fired midway through. In 1993 he joined German hockey club Landshut as an assistant coach, and then became the head coach of Mannheim from 1994 to 1999, during which time his team won the league championship three times. In 1999 he became the head coach of Cologne, as well as general manager in 2000, until January 2002. During this time he also served as an assistant coach with Team Canada for the 2001 Deutschland Cup. He joined the
Frankfurt Lions
The Frankfurt Lions were a German professional men's ice hockey club from Frankfurt, Germany that played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The club ceased operations in 2010 due to financial difficulty.
History
The hockey team was founded as a se ...
as head coach on April 11, 2002, and was subsequently elevated to general manager on February 5, 2003, leading the team to its first championship. He was hired as the GM of the
DEG Metro Stars prior to the 2005–06 season. His contract, set to expire in 2008, was extended through 2012. Nethery and the Metro Stars parted ways by mutual consent in January 2012.
He then served as chief executive officer of Düsseldorf's rival
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 ...
between February 2013 and October 2014.
In January 2015, Nethery was named team principal of German Oberliga side
Füchse Duisburg
The ''Füchse Duisburg'' are a German 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 h ...
and also took over head coaching duties beginning with the 2016-17 campaign. He was released on February 12, 2017, but returned to the Füchse team on May 1, 2018 as sporting director.
Personal
Nethery and his wife Elizabeth have a daughter, Meredith. Meredith graduated from Cornell University in 2009.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
Awards and honors
References
External links
*
Lance Nethery's biography at Hockey Draft CentralLance Nethery's biography at the New York Rangers websiteCornell hockey records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nethery, Lance
1957 births
Living people
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans
Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland
Canadian ice hockey centres
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Edmonton Oilers players
Füchse Duisburg players
HC Davos players
Hershey Bears players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
New Haven Nighthawks players
New York Rangers draft picks
New York Rangers players
SC Herisau players
Sportspeople from Burlington, Ontario
Sportspeople from Toronto
Springfield Indians players
Wichita Wind players