Lance Nethery (born June 28, 1957) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and coach, and current executive. He played 41 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers 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, working in those roles between 1993 and 2019.

Playing career

Nethery was born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Burlington, Ontario. He attended Cornell University, playing for the Cornell Big Red, and midway through his college career he was selected by the New York Rangers, 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[when?] holds the Cornell records for assists and points in a season, as well as career assists and points.[citation needed] 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 and Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Nethery played 41 National Hockey League games in two seasons, for the New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers. After joining the Oilers in a trade for Eddie Mio, 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 of the Swiss Nationalliga A. Nethery won two championships with Davos, and retired in 1988. In 186 regular season games with HC Davos 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 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 between February 2013 and October 2014.

In January 2015, Nethery was named team principal of German Oberliga side Füchse Duisburg 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

Regular seasonPlayoffs
SeasonTeamLeagueGPGAPtsPIMGPGAPtsPIM
1974–75Burlington MohawksCOJHL405169120
1975–76Cornell UniversityECAC2918274518
1976–77Cornell UniversityECAC2932467818
1977–78Cornell UniversityECAC2623608312
1978–79Cornell UniversityECAC2718476530
1978–79New Haven NighthawksAHL10000
1979–80New Haven NighthawksAHL742339622010312152
1980–81New York RangersNHL3311122312145389
1980–81New Haven NighthawksAHL361830488
1981–82New York RangersNHL50000
1981–82Edmonton OilersNHL30222
1981–82Springfield IndiansAHL955100
1981–82Wichita WindCHL463532672671458
1982–83Wichita WindCHL1075120
1982–83Duisburger SCGER-2427284156
1983–84HC DavosNLA40394382
1984–85HC DavosNLA38423678
1985–86HC DavosNLA364633793852574
1985–86Hershey BearsAHL13561121849132
1986–87HC DavosNLA3623315412787156
1987–88HC DavosNLA3637276466644810
1988–89SC HerisauNLB3635528730
1989–90SC HerisauNLB362649753510671322
NLA totals1861871703571161814163020
NHL totals4111142514145389

Awards and honors

AwardYear
All-ECAC Hockey Second Team1976–77
All-ECAC Hockey First Team1977–78
AHCA East All-American1977–78
All-ECAC Hockey First Team1978–79
AHCA East All-American1978–79

External links

  • Biographical information and career statistics from , or , or , or , or
Awards and achievements
Preceded byDave TaylorECAC Hockey Player of the Year 1977–78Succeeded byRalph Cox