Leonard Soccio (born May 28, 1967) 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 ...

-born German former professional ice hockey player. He is currently the head coach of EC Hannover Indians in Germany.

Playing career

Soccio was born in St. Catharines,

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 ...

. He played his junior hockey with the

North Bay Centennials The North Bay Centennials were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, who played from 1982–2002. The team was based in North Bay, Ontario. History The North Bay Centennials or "Cents" as they were popularly known, were named afte ...

, an

OHL OHL or Ohl may refer to: Initialisms *Latvian Hockey Higher League, known in Latvian as the ''Optibet hokeja līga'' *Oberste Heeresleitung, the Supreme Army Command of Germany in World War I *Obrascón Huarte Lain, a Spanish construction company * ...

team based out of North Bay, ON. In his four years with the Centennials, he scored 114 goals and 190 assists, totaling 304 points. In his final year, Soccio's 135 points was the second highest point total, trailing only

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

draft pick

Andrew Cassels Andrew William Cassels (born July 23, 1969) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played sixteen seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, Hartford Whalers, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue ...

, chosen 17th overall in the NHL draft held earlier that year. Soccio won the

Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy The Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy is awarded each year to the best overage player in the Ontario Hockey League, as selected by the teams' general managers. The trophy was donated by the trainers of the league in memory of Leo Lalonde, former chief s ...

, which is given to the best overage player in the OHL. Soccio started his professional hockey career in the IHL with the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inte ...

, where he played one game in the 1988-89 IHL season. The following year, he played 60 games with the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

Winston-Salem Thunderbirds The Carolina Thunderbirds were a professional ice hockey team located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. The Thunderbirds played their home games at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum before the arena was demolished in 1989. T ...

, where he scored 51 goals and 113 points. He, along with teammate Trent Kaese and

Bill McDougall William Henry McDougall (born August 10, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He is best known for his record-setting scoring performance during the 1992–1993 AHL playoffs, in which he set the AHL records for goals, assis ...

of the

Erie Panthers The Erie Panthers were a professional ice hockey team, and one of the founding members in the ECHL, East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). Based in Erie, Pennsylvania, from 1988 to 1996, they were one of the most prolific teams in the ECHL. The Panther ...

were named the starting forwards of the East Coast Hockey League's all-star team. After several teams in various minor leagues, Soccio signed with the

Hannover Scorpions The Hannover Scorpions are a professional ice hockey team, which plays in the Oberliga, Germany's third tier ice hockey league. They previously played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1996 to 2013. History Founded in 1975 as ESC Wedemark, the ...

of the

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 ...

. Soccio led the Scorpions in scoring five out his eight seasons, and tied for the lead in another (teammate

Gilbert Dionne Gilbert Marc Dionne (born September 19, 1970) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played six seasons in the National Hockey League from 1990–91 until 1995–96. He is the younger brother of Hockey Hall of Famer Marce ...

had the same number of points but scored more goals). On March 7, 2006, Soccio's #20 was raised to the rafters in the form of an oversized jersey.

Coaching career

Following the end of his professional playing career, he opened the Soccio Ice and Event Center in Langenhagen near the city of Hannover. Soccio later returned to the Scorpions as a player-coach and later served as a player-coach for SC Langenhagen, a 3rd division team, where he scored 11 goals and 41 points in the 2008-09 season. In July 2011, Soccio joined the coaching staff of Germany's women's national team as an assistant. In August 2013, Soccio took over as head coach of the

who had withdrawn from Germany's top-tier DEL and made a fresh start in the Oberliga. In May 2016, he was named head coach of fellow Oberliga team ECC Preussen Berlin.

Awards

*1987-88: Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy *1989-90: ECHL All Star *2001-02: DEL All-Star *2003-03: DEL All-Star

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soccio, Len 1967 births Brantford Smoke players Columbus Chill players Fort Wayne Komets players German ice hockey centres Greensboro Monarchs players Hannover Scorpions players Living people Olympic ice hockey players for Germany Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics North Bay Centennials players Ice hockey people from St. Catharines Springfield Indians players St. Thomas Wildcats players Winston-Salem Thunderbirds players Buffalo Stampede players