Giants Name Manny Viveiros Head Coach

Vancouver, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants are incredibly excited to announce the hiring of Manny Viveiros (St. Albert, AB) as the organization’s next Head Coach. He was formally introduced at a press conference at Tsawwassen Springs on Thursday morning, becoming the ninth Head Coach in Giants franchise history.

“Manny is someone we are really excited to get,” Giants General Manager Barclay Parneta said during Thursday’s press conference. “The experience and the level that he has coached at lends well to this. He has been in the NHL; he has been in the AHL; he has been in the WHL. He is a person that has won championships, he is a person that has competed on the national stage and he is a person that has the communication skills that are so important to today’s athlete.”

Viveiros, 57, most recently served as the first ever head coach of the Henderson Silver Knights, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights. He compiled a 74-73-2-7 regular season record over three seasons behind the bench. In his first season, Viveiros guided the club to a first-place finish in the Pacific Division, going 25-13-0-1.

“I’d like to thank Ron Toigo, Pete Toigo, Barclay Parneta, and the entire Vancouver Giants organization for having the faith and the trust to welcome me back to the Western Hockey League,” Viveiros said. “I truly believe [Vancouver] is one of the premier franchises in all of the CHL and I’m really excited to be here.”

In addition to his three years in the AHL, Viveiros’ impressive coaching resume also includes one year as an Assistant Coach with the Edmonton Oilers (2018-19), one year as the Head Coach of the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs (2019-20), two years as the Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel for the Swift Current Broncos (2016-18), and nine seasons coaching professionally in Europe from 2007-2016 (seven seasons in Austria and two in Germany).

In the 2017-18 season, the St. Albert, Alta. native led the Broncos to a WHL Championship and was the recipient of the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as WHL Coach of the Year. Viveiros also already has a prior relationship with Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio, as the two worked together in Spokane.

In his three seasons as a head coach in the WHL, Viveiros regular season record is an impressive 128-58-13-9 (.615 winning percentage). He compiled a record of 87-40-9-8 in his two seasons in Swift Current and 41-18-4-1 in 64 games with Spokane before COVID-19 shut down the 2019-20 season.

Viveiros began his coaching career with Klagenfurter AC in 2007, who compete in the top-tier Austrian league, the ICE Hockey League (formerly known as the EBEL). After serving as Head Coach for five seasons, he then moved on to a role as Sports Manager with the same organization until 2014. For the next two seasons, he coached in the DEL – the top-tier German league – for ERC Ingolstadt: one year as an Assistant Coach and one year as Head Coach.

Internationally, Viveiros has been the Head Coach of Austria at multiple tournaments, including the 2014 Winter Olympics and three straight World Championships from 2012-14. He also obtained Austrian citizenship and played as part of the Austrian national team in 2005.

As a player, Viveiros had a distinguished junior career for the Prince Albert Raiders from 1982-86, where he collected 321 points (60G-261A) in 251 games. He ranks first in career points amongst all defencemen in franchise history and third amongst all skaters. He helped Prince Albert capture a WHL Championship and Memorial Cup in 1985. In 1984, he was a sixth-round selection (106th overall) by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL Draft. 

After his junior career, Viveiros went on to play professionally for over two decades, including 29 games in the NHL with the Minnesota North Stars, 124 games in the AHL, 125 games in the now defunct International Hockey League (IHL) and over 550 games in Europe from 1991-2007, split between Austria, Germany and Italy. He won a Calder Cup championship with the Springfield Indians in 1991.

The Vancouver Giants would like to extend a warm welcome to Manny and his wife Laurie.