Jim Koleff
Canadian ice hockey player
James Arthur Christopher Koleff (July 14, 1953 – November 2, 2008) was a Canadian hockey player and coach who spent three decades playing hockey and coaching and managing hockey teams in Europe.
Koleff played for three seasons, from 1971 to 1973, with the junior hockey Hamilton Red Wings from 1971 to 1973. He was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1973, but never played in the National Hockey League. He followed with four seasons at mid-level minor hockey teams, including the Flint Generals of the International Hockey League.
Dave Chambers, just hired as coach of the HC Gherdëina of the Serie A Italian hockey league, invited Koleff to play for the team, and Koleff led the league in scoring that season. He was signed by Hockey Club Lugano of the Swiss National League A. He played for HC Lugano until 1992 when he took up the head coaching position for EV Zug.
During the 1992 season, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which was in remission for a period until it metastasized two years later into a stomach tumor. With chemotherapy, the cancer went into remission. He returned to coaching and led EV Zug to its first-ever league championship series. He returned to coach Lugano to a victory in the 1999 Swiss championship, the team's first win in nine seasons.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6196185. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 2008, 1971 and 1973.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jim Koleff” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.