beginning in 1980–81, lochead decided to try his luck overseas. he joined the highest ice hockey league in germany, the bundesliga. he joined kolner ec and only played in 17 games before transferring to esv kaufbeuren. he finished out the season with 43 goals in 39 games and contributed 5 points in kaufbeuren's short playoff run. during the off-season, lochead was recognized as a player who knew the game and could excel if given the chance. he transferred to ec bad nauheim for the 1981–82 season and did not disappoint. lochead put up 66 goals and 34 assists in only 42 games. he was far and away the best scorer on the team and the league, but still bad nauheim failed to make the playoffs. lochead would finish as the league leader in both goals and penalty minutes and earn the league mvp award. lochead would transfer in the off-season to mannheimer erc, one of the best teams in the league. he continued to score goals, but at a slower rate as mannheim also featured scorers such as manfred wolf and doug berry and he was voted by the mannheim fans as the team's mvp for 1982-83. lochead stayed with the team until returning to bad nauheim ec for the 1984–85 season. bad nauheim was now in the lower-tiered 2nd bundesliga and lochead once again found his magical scoring touch. he played his last three years of hockey with the team and put up his best numbers to date in the 1985–86 season. in only 45 games, lochead scored 71 goals and 49 assists for 120 points on the season. in the spring of 1986 he was chosen to play for the dave king coached team canada in the pravda cup tournament in leningrad (now st.petersburg, russia). after short stints with chur of the schweizerischer eishockeyverband and the vienna capitals of the austrian hockey league, lochead retired from the ice after the 1987–88 season.