After Harry Lange’s release, the Moser Medical Graz99ers are facing a new beginning in the gang. According to insider Bernd Freimüller, the search is over and the new head coach has already been appointed.
The list of candidates that were traded in the rumor mill by Bernd Freimüller originally included seven names, but has been shortened by the signatures of Tom Pokel at Löwen Frankfurt and Ted Dent, who was presented as the new head coach in Fehervar. This means that well-known trainers such as Rob Daum, Todd Bjorkstrand, Craig Streu, Yves Sarault and Dan Lacroix remained in focus for the vacant position in Graz.
Three profiles in particular stand out that would be ideally suited to the challenge in the ICE Hockey League:
Rob Daum is considered an “ice hockey professor” and tactical expert who knows the league very well from his long-standing and successful positions at EHC Linz and EC VSV. With the Stahlstadt team he was even crowned champion in 2011/12.
A name with a direct Graz past is Todd Bjorkstrand, who was with the 99ers for two years before being released in 2015. Bjorkstrand is an experienced coach whose greatest successes lie in Denmark, but who also coached teams in Norway and most recently in Slovakia.
Craig Streu is also a candidate with Austrian championship experience. In the past, Streu was the assistant coach of the Vienna Capitals, with whom he won the championship title in 2016/2017, and most recently served as an assistant coach at the Eisbären Berlin, where he also won the DEL championship several times, and then as head coach at the Selber Wölfen in the DEL2.
The remaining coaches on the speculation list, Yves Sarault and Dan Lacroix, are also North American-style coaches with varying degrees of experience in smaller European or North American leagues.
Who will ultimately become the Styrian’s head coach will probably be communicated in the coming days.
Pic: VSV/Krammer
