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(Windsor) Windsor Spitfires Vice-President and General Manager Warren Rychel is proud to announce that David Matsos will join the Spitfires as the team’s new Assistant Coach. Matsos, a native of Burlington, ON, has signed a two-year deal with the Spitfires and previously worked as Head Coach of the Sheffield Steelers Hockey Club in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) for four seasons from 2006-2010 and led the team to back to back league playoff championships in the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons as well as the EIHL’s regular season title in 2008-2009. He earned the EIHL’s Coach of the Year award in the 2008-2009 season. Additionally, Matsos served as the Senior Assistant Coach of Great Britain’s National Team from 2008-2010 and was part of the team’s bronze medal performance in Pool B of the 2009 World Hockey Championships.
“With the changes that our coaching staff has undergone in the past few weeks, this created the opportunity for David to join us as the new Assistant Coach of the Windsor Spitfires. The search to fill this position was a long process as many people applied for the job, but David’s name rose to the top, as he served as Head Coach with Sheffield of the EIHL and was also part of the coaching staff on the British National Team. We look forward to having him join our staff and believe his skills will complement those of Bob Jones and D.J. Smith,” said Warren Rychel.
David offered the following on joining the Spitfires, “I’m walking into a great situation as the new Assistant Coach of the two-time defending MasterCard Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires organization. I’ve known Bob Boughner, Warren Rychel, Peter Dobrich, Bob Jones and D.J. Smith for many years and greatly respect all of their accomplishments. It’s great to be part of a team which has so many great hockey minds and I share their passion for hockey. Throughout my coaching and playing career, I’ve always been motivated to the best I could be on the ice and behind the bench. It is truly an honour to be part of the Windsor Spitfires coaching staff and I thank Bob, Warren and Peter for the offering me with the opportunity to work in Windsor.”
Prior to his coaching career, Matsos played left-wing as a member of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 1990-1993 and played alongside Spitfires President Bob Boughner from 1989-1991 and also with Spitfires Head Coach Bob Jones in the 1989-1990 season. In the 1990-1991 campaign, Matsos and Boughner won an OHL Championship with the Greyhounds, the first of three consecutive OHL titles that Matsos earned while in Sault Ste. Marie. He was also part of the Greyhounds 1991-1992 and 1992-1993 OHL championship squads and participated in the Memorial Cup tournament with Sault Ste. Marie in 1991 and 1992 before achieving the pinnacle of Canadian junior hockey success as a member of Greyhound’s 1993 Memorial Cup championship team. In his four seasons with the Greyhounds, Matsos scored 66 goals and registered 137 points in 229 games.
Following his junior hockey days, Matsos played one season with the University of Western Ontario and won a Queen’s Cup championship in the 1994-1995 season as well as one full season in 1995-1996 with the Canadian National Team. He won a silver medal as part of Team Canada at the 1996 World Hockey Championships, a season during which he scored 18 goals and 33 points in 43 games. He also played three seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL), two with the Adirondack Red Wings from 1996-1998 and his final AHL campaign with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 1999, scoring 44 goals and 78 points in 174 games during his AHL career.
Matsos moved on to play two seasons (1999-2001) with Bad Nauheim EC of the German Premier League, scoring 39 goals and 94 points before joining the Belfast Giants of the British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL) for two seasons (2001-2003) and was a member of the Giants BISL regular season championship team in 2001-2002 and the team’s playoff championship squad in 2002-2003. He concluded his playing career, as he joined the Bracknell Bees of the British National League (BNL) in 2003-2004, scoring 11 goals and 27 points in 28 games before participating in his final two seasons of professional hockey with the Cardiff Devils of the EIHL, registering 22 goals and 61 points in 71 games.
