Jan Alston

Jan Alston
Born	(1969-04-14) April 14, 1969 (age 56) Granby, Quebec, Canada
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	193.6 lb (88 kg; 13 st 12 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Right
Played for	ZSC Lions EHC Biel HC Davos HC La Chaux-de-Fonds HC Lausanne
National team	Canada
NHL draft	Undrafted
Playing career	1990–2011

Jan Alston (born April 14, 1969) is a Canadian-Swiss ice hockey executive, coach and former professional ice hockey centre. He was granted Swiss citizenship in 2002. ^[1]

He became sport director at Swiss side Lausanne HC in 2011. ^[2]

Playing career

A native of Granby, Alston skated at the QMAAA and QMJHL level in his home province of Quebec and then spent his entire pro career in Europe, suiting up in Italy, Germany and Switzerland.

He launched his professional career in Italy in 1990 at third-division side Eppan. Over the years, he would gradually work his way up the ladder and spend 12 years in one of the most competitive leagues in Europe, the Swiss National League A (NLA).

Until 1994, Alston mostly played in Italy and signed with EHC Biel of the NLA for the 1994-95 campaign. He quickly made his scoring presence felt in the Swiss top-flight, tallying 28 goals and 23 assists (36 games) for Biel. After one year each at fellow NLA teams HC Davos and HC La Chaux-de-Fonds, Alston headed to Germany, joining the Berlin Capitals of the country's top-tier division, Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), for the 1997-98 season. He transferred from Berlin to Adler Mannheim after one year and helped the team win the German championship in his first season (1998–99). Alston led the DEL in scoring (55 games: 31 goals, 43 assists) the following year, en route to being named DEL Player of the Year. ^[3] After winning a second German championship with Mannheim in 2000-01, ^[4] he returned to Switzerland, signing with NLA team ZSC Lions. In nine years with the Lions, Alston played a crucial role in their run to the 2008 Swiss championship and in winning the Champions Hockey League in 2009. ^[5] He had two more appearances in the NLA finals with ZSC and also served as an assistant captain for several years.

Alston spent the last season (2010–11) of his playing career at NLB side Lausanne HC, while also serving as playing assistant to head coach John Van Boxmeer. ^[6]

Managing career

In November 2011, Alston put pen to paper on a five-year deal as sport director at Lausanne HC of Switzerland. ^[7] He signed a five-year contract extension in December 2015. ^[8]

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1986–87	Saint-Jean Castors	QMJHL		68	20	32	52	30		8	4	3	7	9
1987–88	Saint-Jean Castors	QMJHL		69	39	38	77	46		7	5	0	5	10
1988–89	Saint-Jean Castors	QMJHL		69	58	86	144	115		4	6	9	15	0
1989–90	Saint-Jean Lynx	QMJHL		65	61	74	135	139		—	—	—	—	—
1990–91	HC Eppan Pirates	ITA III		—	142	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	WSV Sterzing Broncos	ITA II		24	47	36	83	28		—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	Lausanne HC	SUI II		4	8	7	15	2		—	—	—	—	—
1992–93	EV MAK Bruneck	ITA		16	21	15	36	14		3	4	0	4	8
1992–93	EV MAK Bruneck	Alp		—	29	27	56	—		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	HC Varese	ITA		26	27	28	55	26		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	HC Varese	Alp		—	25	25	50	—		—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	EHC Biel-Bienne	NDA		36	28	23	51	48		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	HC Davos	NDA		35	29	21	50	52		5	1	2	3	4
1996–97	HC La Chaux-de-Fonds	NDA		20	9	10	19	36		—	—	—	—	—
1997–98	Berlin Capitals	DEL		38	14	22	36	51		4	2	2	4	0
1998–99	Adler Mannheim	DEL		45	33	20	53	32		12	4	7	11	10
1999–2000	Adler Mannheim	DEL		55	31	43	74	36		5	2	4	6	4
2000–01	Adler Mannheim	DEL		59	26	28	54	32		12	10	15	25	4
2001–02	ZSC Lions	NLA		29	8	9	17	20		17	7	2	9	14
2001–02	GCK Lions	SUI II		3	3	2	5	16		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	ZSC Lions	NLA		43	15	28	43	45		12	5	3	8	16
2003–04	ZSC Lions	NLA		45	22	31	53	36		13	5	4	9	8
2004–05	ZSC Lions	NLA		37	15	24	39	28		15	11	13	24	10
2005–06	ZSC Lions	NLA		37	15	29	44	32		—	—	—	—	—
2006–07	ZSC Lions	NLA		40	11	15	26	64		7	3	3	6	4
2007–08	ZSC Lions	NLA		42	9	19	28	20		17	7	8	15	31
2008–09	ZSC Lions	NLA		50	14	20	34	46		4	0	0	0	2
2009–10	ZSC Lions	NLA		49	21	24	45	48		7	2	4	6	12
2010–11	Lausanne HC	SUI II		45	16	28	44	47		17	1	3	4	4
NDA/NLA totals				463	196	253	449	465		113	45	49	94	139
DEL totals				197	104	113	217	151		33	18	28	46	18

References

1. "Hockey: une claque pour Ralph Krueger - SWI swissinfo.ch". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
2. "Jan Alston | LinkedIn". fr.linkedin.com. Retrieved March 15, 2016.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
3. Diepold, Christian. "DEL Rekordtorschützen". www.eishockey-online.com. Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
4. "DEL - DEL.org". www.del.org. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
5. "Zu Jan Alston". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
6. "Actualité - Lausanne confirme l'arrivée de Jan Alston | Planète Hockey". Planète Hockey. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
7. "Jan Alston (42 ans) a signé un contrat de 5 ans au poste de directeur sportif avec le Lausanne HC". rts.ch. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
8. Vandenbrouck, Von Nicole (December 3, 2015). "Sportchef verlängert um fünf Jahre: Alston bleibt Lausanne treu - Blick" . Retrieved August 27, 2016.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com , or  Eurohockey.com , or  The Internet Hockey Database