Derek Holmes

Born in Kemptville in 1939, Derek played his minor hockey in this area and, at 15 years of age, joined the Kemptville Royals helping the team win the Citizen Shield. The next year he moved to Ottawa to play junior hockey with the Ottawa Shamrocks, and then to Toronto where he joined St. Michaels, a major Junior A team. Derek’s international playing career included captaining Canada’s Eastern National Team. He also played overseas with Great Britain’s Webley Lions, Kitbuhl in Austria and in Switzerland with LaChaux-de-Fonds, Zug and Ambri-Piotta.He was awarded tournament best player honours in the 1965 Spengler Cup and won a Swiss National Championship title. A the age of 21, Derek was head coach for the Finish National team at the 1961 IIHF World Championship. He later coached Switzerland during the 1972 IIHF World Championship in Prague and 1972 Olympic Winter Games in Sapporo. At the 1977 and 1978 IIHF World Championships, he was Team Canada’s manager. Derek served as technical Director of Hockey Canada from 1974 until 1980 and performed numerous tasks for our national program at international events. In 1999 Derek was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.