Waterloo Ducks’ EHL winning coach Xavier de Greve has decided to step back from coaching the club after 11 seasons, including five as men’s head coach, at the end of the season.

De Greve has been a club member with the WatDucks since he was eight. As a player, he reached the playoffs seven times between 2002 and 2009 and won Belgian Championships in 2006 and 2009 before moving into coaching.

He first trained the women’s first team for six season, combining the role as T2 to two of the greatest coaches in Belgian hockey history, Pascal Kina and Shane McLeod.

During this period, the side became men’s champion three times from 2012 to 2014. De Greve took over the head coach role in 2015, culminating in a run to the Euro Hockey League title in 2019 in Eindhoven.

De Greve has combined his job for two years as French assistant coach, aiding their spectacular rise. He has also been the club’s youth school director since 2014.

The club have thanked him “for all these seasons of beautiful emotions and shared joys and wish him a lot of success in his future projects. By winning the EHL, you managed the unthinkable.”