Inexperienced candidates, let alone native coaches, are rarely hired for Head coaching positions in the Elite Leagues. The win-at-all-costs mentality has its role to play in that regard, and you cannot blame any individual club for this.
Following the appointment of Paul Thompson as Cardiff Devils head coach, Matthew Myers found himself surplus to requirements after a single season behind the bench alongside Peter Russell.
The Elite League stalwart and Great Britain legend decided it was time for a new challenge elsewhere. That challenge has presented itself in Romania.
CSM Corona Brasov has hired Myers as an associate Head Coach, working alongside Romanian native Hunor Strenk.
The latter has held a few roles for Brasov. These include Assistant GM, but after a spell as interim Head Coach last season, is set to run the team alongside Myers.
Brasov competes in Erste Liga and is coming off a fairly successful 2024-25 campaign. After qualifying for the playoff with a fourth-place league finish, their season ended in the semi-final with a defeat to the eventual champions, Gyergyói Hockey Club.
The majority of the roster Myers will be coaching are native, with some dual nationalities. A handful of North Americans make up the roster, including another dual-national in David Levin.
Myers will be familiar with Levin as the 25-year-old spent one season in Nottingham. The forward is entering his second season with the club after finishing second in scoring last year.
Five players from the UK have suited up in Erste Liga, all former teammates of Myers. If my research is correct, no coach from the UK has ever stood behind the bench, so Myers is likely breaking new ground in that regard.
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