Greg Walters
{{Short description|Canadian ice hockey player and coach}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox ice hockey player
|name = Greg Walters
|image =
|caption =
|image_size =
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1970|08|12|mf=y}}
|birth_place = Calgary, Alberta, Canada
|height_ft = 6
|height_in = 1
|weight_lb = 200
|position = Left wing
|shoots = Left
|played_for = Newmarket Saints
St. John's Maple Leafs
Rochester Americans
Fort Wayne Komets
Chicago Wolves
Houston Aeros
|draft = 80th overall
|draft_year = 1990
|draft_team = Toronto Maple Leafs
|career_start= 1990
|career_end = 2002
}}
Greg Walters (born August 12, 1970) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. He was drafted into the National Hockey League in 1990, but spent his career playing in the minor leagues. During 12 seasons, he played 248 games in the American Hockey League, and 241 games in the International Hockey League. Turning to coaching, he won two Ontario Junior Hockey League Coach of the Year awards, and one Canadian Junior Hockey League Coach of the Year award. He was later a head coach in the Ontario Hockey League for the Oshawa Generals and the Owen Sound Attack.
Playing career
Walters played three seasons of junior ice hockey for the Ottawa 67's, after being drafted 65th overall in the 1987 OHL priority draft.{{cite web|url=https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/83534/greg-walters|title=Greg Walters|website=Elite Prospects|access-date=2018-06-12}} In his third season in Ottawa, Walters scored 36 goals, and 90 points, playing for coach Brian Kilrea.{{cite web|url=https://www.insidehalton.com/sports-story/2945900-former-sting-coach-walters-takes-over-as-raiders-boss/|title=Former Sting coach Walters takes over as Raiders' boss|date=2010-03-24|website=InsideHalton.com|publisher=Burlington Post|access-date=2018-06-12}} Walters was drafted in the 4th round, 80th overall, of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs.{{cite web|url=http://ojhl.pointstreaksites.com/view/ojhl/news-21/news_471359|title=Walters named Coach of the Year|date=March 15, 2017|website=Ontario Junior A Hockey League|access-date=2018-06-11}} Walters did not reach the National Hockey League, and spent 12 seasons in the minor leagues. He played 248 games in the American Hockey League for the Newmarket Saints, St. John's Maple Leafs, and the Rochester Americans; and 241 games in the International Hockey League for the Fort Wayne Komets, Chicago Wolves, and the Houston Aeros.{{cite web|url=http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=5628|title=Greg Walters hockey statistics and profile|website=hockeydb.com|access-date=2018-06-12}} Walters played for the Brantford Smoke, and won the Colonial Cup in the 1992–93 season. In the 1993–94 season for Brantford, Walters had his best offensive season, scoring 42 goals, and 104 points. Walters was considered a defensive winger, and played for future NHL coaches Bruce Boudreau, Marc Crawford, Ron Low and John Tortorella.
Coaching career
Walters began his coaching career as a player-coach during his final season play, with the Port Huron Border Cats in the 2001–02 UHL season. He spent eight seasons from 2002–03 OHL season to the 2009–10 OHL season, as an assistant coach for the Sarnia Sting.{{cite web|url=http://sarniasting.com/greg-walters-hired-by-georgetown-raiders|title=Greg Walters Hired By Georgetown Raiders|date=March 31, 2010|website=Sarnia Sting|access-date=2018-06-12}} During this time he worked with head coaches Jeff Perry, Shawn Camp, and Dave MacQueen. Walters chose to leave the Sting to return to the Toronto area, and look for a new challenge.
=Georgetown Raiders=
Walters was the head coach and general manager of the Georgetown Raiders in the Ontario Junior Hockey League for eight seasons, from the 2010–11 season to the 2017–18 season.{{cite web|url=https://www.durhamregion.com/sports-story/8664734-oshawa-generals-hire-greg-walters-from-georgetown-raiders-to-replace-bob-jones-as-coach/|title=Oshawa Generals hire Greg Walters from Georgetown Raiders to replace Bob Jones as coach|last=McNair|first=Brian|date=2018-06-11|website=DurhamRegion.com|access-date=2018-06-12}}{{cite web|url=http://oshawagenerals.com/article/greg-walters-named-head-coach-of-the-oshawa-generals|title=Greg Walters Named Head Coach of the Oshawa Generals|date=2018-06-11|website=Oshawa Generals|access-date=2018-06-11}} In his second season with Georgetown, the Raiders won their division and conference titles, and Walters was named the 2011–12 OJHL Coach of the Year.{{cite web|url=https://www.eliteprospects.com/staff/5802/greg-walters|title=Greg Walters Team Staff Profile|website=Elite Prospects|access-date=2018-06-12}} During his third season with the Raiders, Walters was selected by Hockey Canada in cooperation with the Canadian Junior Hockey League, to be the head coach of Canada East for the 2012 World Junior A Challenge, along with assistant coaches Sheldon Keefe and Jason Nobili.{{cite web|url=https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2012-nr-087-en|title=Greg Walters Named Head Coach of Canada East for 2012 World Junior A Challenge; Sheldon Keefe and Jason Nobili to Serve As Assistant Coaches|date=2012-06-05|website=Hockey Canada|access-date=2018-06-12}} His team finished in fourth place in 2012, but in the 2011 World Junior A Challenge as an assistant coach, his team won the silver medal. In the 2016–17 season, Walters led Georgetown to its best season in team history to date, with a record of 45–5–2–2, finishing first overall in the OJHL with 94 points.{{cite web|url=http://ojhl.pointstreaksites.com/view/ojhl/news-21/news_486048|title=Greg Walters Named CJHL Coach of the Year|date=May 22, 2017|website=Ontario Junior A Hockey League|access-date=2018-06-12}} Walters was named the 2016-17 OJHL Coach of the Year, and the 2016-17 CJHL Coach of the Year. He was also named OJHL Executive of the Year in his role as the team's general manager. During his eight-season tenure with the Raiders, he led the team to a 295–96–16–16 regular season record. While in Georgetown, Walters coached future NHL players Evan Rodrigues,{{cite web|url=https://www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=26391|title=NHL Player Search — Evan Rodrigues|website=Legends Of Hockey|access-date=2018-06-13}} and Scott Wilson.{{cite web|url=https://www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=24923|title=NHL Player Search — Scott Wilson|website=Legends Of Hockey|access-date=2018-06-13}}
=Oshawa Generals=
Walters was named head coach of the Oshawa Generals on June 11, 2018, and assistant coaches Greg Nemisz and Nathan McIver remained with the team. Walters said that his coaching style will be defence-first team, including blocking shots, and a quick counter attack. After two seasons coached, he left the Generals following the cancelled 2020–21 season.{{cite web |url=https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/generals-parting-ways-with-head-coach-greg-walters/n-5706864 |title=Generals Parting Ways with Head Coach Greg Walters |website=OurSports Central |date=2021-06-17}}
=Owen Sound Attack=
Walters was named head coach of the Owen Sound Attack on June 30, 2021.{{cite web |url=https://ontariohockeyleague.com/article/greg-walters-named-attack-head-coach |title=Greg Walters Named Attack Head Coach |website=Ontario Hockey League |date=2021-06-30}} He served parts of three seasons as head coach, and was dismissed on October 16, 2023.{{cite web|title=Attack Announce Changes to Coaching Staff|date=October 16, 2023|website=Owen Sound Attack|url=https://chl.ca/ohl-attack/article/attack-announce-changes-to-coaching-staff-2/|access-date=October 17, 2023}}
Personal life
Playing statistics
Career regular season and playoffs statistics.
| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:75%" | ||||||||||||
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! colspan="5" | Regular Season ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! colspan="5" | Playoffs | ||||||||||||
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Season !! Team !! League !! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM !! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM | ||||||||||||
| ALIGN="center" | Ottawa 67's | OHL | 63 | 11 | 25 | 36 | 52 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | Ottawa 67's | OHL | 28 | 17 | 21 | 38 | 20 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 20 |
| ALIGN="center" | Ottawa 67's | OHL | 63 | 36 | 54 | 90 | 57 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | Newmarket Saints | AHL | 54 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 58 | – | – | – | – | – |
| ALIGN="center" | Raleigh IceCaps | ECHL | 18 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 30 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | St. John's Maple Leafs | AHL | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 20 | – | – | – | – | – |
| ALIGN="center" | Brantford Smoke | CoHL | 26 | 14 | 19 | 33 | 44 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 20 |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | St. John's Maple Leafs | AHL | 27 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 82 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| ALIGN="center" | St. John's Maple Leafs | AHL | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 67 | – | – | – | – | – |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | Brantford Smoke | CoHL | 42 | 42 | 62 | 104 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 8 |
| ALIGN="center" | Fort Wayne Komets | IHL | 44 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 142 | – | – | – | – | – |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
|1994–95 | Chicago Wolves | IHL | 18 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 110 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ALIGN="center" | Chicago Wolves | IHL | 50 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 254 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | Rochester Americans | AHL | 55 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 247 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 20 |
| ALIGN="center" | Rochester Americans | AHL | 33 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 81 | – | – | – | – | – |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | Rochester Americans | AHL | 56 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 200 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 14 |
| ALIGN="center" | Houston Aeros | IHL | 63 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 192 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | Houston Aeros | IHL | 66 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 186 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| ALIGN="center" | Port Huron Border Cats | UHL | 18 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 44 | – | – | – | – | – |
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" | OHL Totals !!154!!64!!100!!164!!129!!32!!8!!8!!16!!42 | ||||||||||||
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" | AHL Totals !!248!!26!!44!!70!!755!!26!!4!!10!!14!!38 | ||||||||||||
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" | IHL Totals !!241!!17!!36!!53!!864!!15!!0!!1!!1!!21 | ||||||||||||
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" | CoHL/UHL Totals !!86!!61!!89!!150!!96!!17!!16!!11!!27!!28 |
Coaching record
Note: GP = games played, W = wins, L = losses, T = ties, OTL = overtime losses, GF = goals for, GA = goals against, Ref = reference (source)
=Ontario Junior Hockey League=
=Ontario Hockey League=
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;" | ||||||||
| rowspan="2"|Team | rowspan="2"|Year | rowspan="2"|League | colspan="7"|Regular Season | colspan="1"|Post Season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | T | OTL | Pts | Finish | Result | |
| Oshawa||2018–19 ||OHL
|68||44||20||4||0||92||2nd in East||Lost in eastern conference finals (Ottawa) | ||||||||
| Oshawa||2019–20 ||OHL
|62||31||20||6||5||73||3rd in East||Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||||
| Owen Sound||2021–22 ||OHL
|68||34||26||5||3||76||3rd in Midwest||Lost in conference quarterfinals (Flint) | ||||||||
| Owen Sound||2022–23 ||OHL
|68||33||28||6||1||73||3rd in Midwest||Lost in conference quarterfinals (London) | ||||||||
| Owen Sound||2023–24 ||OHL
|7||4||2||1||0||9||3rd in Midwest||Fired on October 16, 2023 | ||||||||
| colspan="3"|Oshawa totals | 130 | 75 | 40 | 10 | 5 | 165 | ||
| colspan="3"|Owen Sound totals | 143 | 71 | 56 | 12 | 4 | 158 | ||
| colspan="3"|OHL totals | 273 | 146 | 96 | 22 | 9 | 323 |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Ice hockey stats}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Greg}}
Category:Brantford Smoke players
Category:Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States
Category:Canadian ice hockey coaches
Category:Canadian ice hockey left wingers
Category:Chicago Wolves players
Category:Fort Wayne Komets players
Category:Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players
Category:Ice hockey people from Calgary
Category:Newmarket Saints players
Category:Oshawa Generals coaches
Category:Owen Sound Attack coaches
Category:Port Huron Border Cats players
Category:Raleigh IceCaps players
Category:Rochester Americans players