George Kingston (ice hockey)

George Kingston (born August 20, 1939 in Biggar, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian ice hockey coach. He is best known as the long-time coach of the University of Calgary hockey team, as well as coaching the Canadian national team at the 1994 Ice Hockey World Championships and being the first head coach of the San Jose Sharks.

Kingston started his coaching career at the University of Calgary in 1968. He coached at the school for 16 years over thee stints (the first lasting from 1968 to 1976, the second from 1978 to 1983 and the third from 1984 to 1988), posting a 245–128 record and leading Calgary to two Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championships. His success at the University of Calgary led Kingston to offers as an assistant coach in the National Hockey League, where he served as an assistant for the Calgary Flames from 1980 to 1982 and the Minnesota North Stars during the 1988–89 NHL season. In 1989, Kingston was appointed to become the head coach of the Norwegian national team.

After two unsuccessful years in Norway, Kingston was named as the coach for the expansion San Jose Sharks. The Sharks under Kingston, however, performed poorly; the Sharks posted a 28–129–7 in two seasons under Kingston's watch, and he was released following the 1992–93 NHL season. Following his dismissal, Kingston was hired to coach the Canadian national team at the 1994 Ice Hockey World Championship, where he led Team Canada to the gold medal in the tournament. The success at the World Champions did not go unnoticed; following the tournament, Kingston became coach of the German national team, where he served until 1998. In 1999, Kingston was hired by another NHL expansion team, this time becoming an assistant coach for the Atlanta Thrashers. After two years in Atlanta, he joined the Florida Panthers as an assistant in 2001.

He currently lives in Norway where he is assistant coach to the men's national team, and head coach of the women's national team as well as being a special consultant to the Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation and Olympiatoppen, the Norwegian Olympic Programme.

NHL coaching statistics

External links

• George Kingston's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database