Former NHL head coach Kingston to Salzburg

21 Jul 2012 | Dennis Mende

The Canadian veteran was chosen as assistant for long time Red Bulls head coach Pierre Pagé

On Wednesday the Salzburg based EBEL team Red Bulls made public the signing of 72 year old George Kingston to complete their coaching staff. Salzburg, winner of the Austrian championship in four of the last six seasons, added another coach with NHL experience to their team after Ken Strong returned to the club last month - also as an assistant.

With George Kingston the Red Bulls get an assistant coach with a very exciting career behind the bench. Not only was he in charge of the University of Calgary's men's team for two decades, but also did he work as an assistant coach (Minnesota North Stars, Atlanta Thrashers and most recently Florida Panthers) and as a head coach (during the first two seasons of the San Jose Sharks from 1991-1993) in the National Hockey League. He was head coach of the national teams of Norway (he returned in 2007 to coach the country's women's team), Canada (with whom he won WC gold and Olympic silver, both in 1994) and Germany. In the year 2012 he chose the rather exotic job to help with the development of the Mexican ice hockey.

George Kingston also was chosen because he already worked as assistant for Pierre Pagé in the 1988-89 season when both of them reached the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with Minnesota.