Rob Wilson (ice hockey)

Robert "Rob" Wilson (born July 18, 1968) is a Canadian-British professional ice hockey coach and a former professional ice hockey defenceman. He is head coach of the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. He is a member of the British ice hockey hall of fame.

Rob Wilson coaching in 2014

Playing career

Born in Toronto, Ontario, the beginning part of Wilson's playing career included a three-year stint with the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL and one year with the Peterborough Petes, before landing his first job in Great Britain. In 1989-90, Wilson played for the Swindon Wildcats, but it would then take until 1994 before he returned to England. In the meantime, he honed his skills in the ECHL, CoHL, SuHL and AHL.

In 1994-95, Wilson signed with the Sheffield Steelers of the British Hockey League, the following season saw him turn out for the Telford Tigers, then skate in the CHL and return to the Steelers.

He split the 1996-97 season between playing in the CHL and in the British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL), again for the Sheffield Steelers. He stayed with the club until 2000 and then transferred to fellow BISL team Newcastle Jesters. Except a short spell in Italy, Wilson would play in England for the remainder of his career, including six years as a player-coach with the Newcastle Vipers. He retired in 2009 and was inducted into the British ice hockey Hall of Fame in 2011.[1]

In the course of his playing career, Wilson represented the British National Team on the international stage on several occasions,[2] including World Championships (Division I, Group B), winning a silver medal in 2001.[3] He won a total of 34 caps for the British National Team[4] and served as a team captain.

Coaching career

Wilson served as player-coach of the Newcastle Vipers from 2003 to 2009 and then focussed on the job behind the bench. In 2005-06, he received EIHL Coach of the Year honors.[5] He also joined the coaching staff of the British National Team as an assistant.

He left Newcastle after the 2009–10 campaign[6] and embarked on a two-year stint as head coach of Italian second-division side AHC Neumarkt Egna Riwega. In 2012, he was hired by Rittner Buam of the Italian Serie A and remained at the helm until 2014. He led the team to winning the 2014 Italian championship and the 2014 Coppa Italia.[7]

He took over head coaching duties at German top-tier club EHC Straubing for the 2014-15 season,[8] but was fired in November 2014 after winning only three games at the start of the season. A couple of weeks later, he was hired as assistant coach of fellow Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) side Nürnberg Ice Tigers.[9] Wilson earned promotion to head coach for the 2015-16 season[10] and guided the team to a playoff-semifinal appearance in his first year in the job.[11] On December 8, 2016, his contract was extended until 2019.[12] He received DEL Regular Season Coach of the Year honors in 2016-17.[13] Like the year before, his team came up short in the 2017 semis, losing to Wolfsburg.[14] For third time in a row, Wilson guided the Ice Tigers to the playoff-semis in the 2017–18 season. In early May 2018, he asked to the club to terminate his contract for personal reasons.[15]

On May 3, 2018, he joined the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League as head coach.[16]

References
  1. "Ice Hockey Journalists UK". www.ihjuk.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  2. Gibson, John (2004-03-23). "Face to face: Rob Wilson". nechronicle. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  3. "Team Roster". www.iihf.com. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  4. "Ice Hockey Journalists UK". www.ihjuk.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  5. "Hockey awards announced (From The Bolton News)". www.theboltonnews.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  6. Ryder, Lee (2010-03-23). "Rob Wilson confirms Newcastle Vipers departure". nechronicle. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  7. "Ritten's Elite". www.iihf.com. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  8. www.jdgmedia.co.uk. "APPOINTED: Wilson joins Straubing Tigers | 9 Hockey Management". www.9hockey.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  9. Germany, idowa, Straubing. "Straubing Tigers: Assistent in Nürnberg: Ex-Tigers-Trainer Rob Wilson hat einen neuen Job - idowa". idowa.de (in German). Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  10. "Trainerduo bleibt: Rob Wilson neuer Cheftrainer | Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Nürnberg". www.icetigers.de. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  11. "1:2 - Eine großartige Saison endet in Spiel 6 | Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Nürnberg". www.icetigers.de. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  12. "Nürnberg Ice Tigers verlängern mit Trainer Wilson bis 2019". BILD.de. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  13. "DEL-Spieler des Jahres: Patrick Reimers 3. Streich". www.telekomeishockey.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  14. Germany, nordbayern.de, Nürnberg. "Alles vorbei! Ice Tigers verlieren Spiel sechs und die Serie - Sport - nordbayern.de". www.nordbayern.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  15. Germany, nordbayern.de, Nürnberg. "Paukenschlag bei den Ice Tigers: Gaudet folgt auf Wilson" (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-03.
  16. "Peterborough Petes hire Rob Wilson as team's new head coach". Kawartha News. 3 May 2018.
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