In the past four seasons there was a coach in Hungary that won a gold medal with the team he coached every season, on top of that he did it in three leagues in two different age groups for a grand total of six first place finishes in the four seasons. This season he is facing a new challenge as he would like to add another first place finish to his list in a new league as he is coaching in a senior league for the first time in his young coaching career.
Tyler Dietrich came to Fehérvár during the summer of 2011 when the coach of the Fehérvár EBEL team at the time Kevin Primeau brought him in to be an extra coach that could help out the organization both on and off the ice. “Kevin Primeau was was former teammates and long time friend of Jack Cummings, who is the director of my youth hockey club. Kevin was looking for someone to help here with the club and Jack referred me. When Kevin first called I thought it could be a cool experience for a year, I never guessed it would have turned into what it has.” said Tyler, he also explained how he went from someone who helped out in multiple areas for the team to becoming the full time U18 coach. “Kevin wanted someone to help out with all the off-ice activities and had hockey knowledge to help him out with the EBELl team a bit as well. I would go on the ice with various teams and did all the off-ice programs for the club. During that first few months I think there was sort of a connection with me and that U18 group so midway through the season they kind of altered my job focus to being in charge of the U18s”
During that first season Fehérvár won the 2011-12 Hungarian U18 title beating SC Csíkszereda in the finals. There had already been talk during the 11-12 season that Fehérvár would be joining the U20 league that the EBEL was going to start, under the name Erste Bank Young Stars League (EBYSL). With most of the U18 team moving up to the next level, the logical move was to bring to coach with the team. “The club didn't have a U20 team and that's the year the EBYSL was being talked about and created so they built a plan to build that team and felt I was a good fit for it so working with the U18's for the remainder of the year was perfect timing.” With Tyler being with this particular team from the start instead of joining after the start, it could be said that it was his team and he had his fingerprints all over it. “It was a fun and challenging project and I loved the group of guys. I stuck around for most of that summer actually just trying to get all the ducks in a row. I worked a lot with István Fekti trying to put all the pieces together and trying to build a strong team, we had no real definitive idea of how strong the other teams would be.”
Even though Dietrich and his team were facing different players and teams from different countries the results kept on coming as they went on to win both the EBYSL and the Hungarian U20 when they defeated Znojmo, a Czech team for the EBYSL title after they finished the regular season on top as well and they took care of Újpest to be Hungarian champions. That first year with the U20 team clearly meant a lot for Tyler they he reflects on that squad, “It was a special year, we were so good we just came out of the gates flying. I think the guys all clued in that hard work pays off and they didn't let up. Some guys made huge strides that year towards being great.”
During the third year a clear system was already in place as younger guys came up from the U18 and some of Tyler’s former players debuted in the EBEL team, players such as Csanád Erdély, Dániel Szabó, Tamás Sárpátki and Péter Vincze. Guys still wanted to win and the team did win as they beat MAC Budapest for the Hungarian title however the EBYSL playoffs did not go so smoothly as they made it to the finals to take on Ljubljana but they were upset as the Slovenian team took home the gold. “That year was the Marty Raymond year, it was easy, we had a good structure and a next man up approach. If we lost a guy, everyone shifted up a rung, and if we got a guy back, we adjusted. Guys knew how to play and for the most part if someone got sent back they just brought a higher level of speed and motivation with them from the EBEL experience.”
Last season everything came together as Tyler Dietrich and his crew beat MAC for the Hungarian title and the Austrian hockey factory RedBull Salzburg for the EBYSL title.
EXPECTATIONS
With Fehérvár having a team in the MOL League again this season and the team being built on the guys graduating out of the academy it was only natural that their winning coach stick with them, Tyler Dietrich was promoted to be the head coach of the team, this was his first time being a coach of a pro team. However for the first time Dávid Kiss was not next to him on the bench as his long time assistant took over the U18 and the veteran Lajás Énnekes is his lieutenant this season. A gold medal at the end of this season will be a real challenge for Dietrich as they are new to the league, but he did his homework during the offseason.
“Early on I knew we'd be dependant on the imports, especially for goal scoring production. As the season progresses I think we are becoming (and still a ways to go) a more balanced team. When (Brance) Orbán and (Chris) Bodó went up it got a few guys out of their shell and sort of brought the compete level up. Goals are hard to score and I pay closer attention to who's getting the scoring chances rather than who's getting goals when it comes to young guys. Take Szita for example, he has had a lot of chances with nothing to show for it on the stats sheet, but it means he's doing the right things offensively and it just takes time to learn how to finish those chances off. We're unique to the league in the sense that we have that team above us. Some people might see it as an advantage but there's a lot of elements involved and there's more to it than meets the eye.”
PLAYING CAREER
For being a head coach of a pro team Tyler is very young, because of a series of injuries he had to trade his skates for a whistle. He spent his junior years playing in the WHL where he was linemates with NHL stars such as Joffrey Lupol, who Tyler says was the best player he ever played with. “I messed up my shoulder pretty bad and had surgery after a few attempts at grinding through it. Broken ankle that didn't heal very well and a few bad concussions and broken ribs and broken collar bone 16 and 17 year old year. I had missed so many games from injury that leaving junior I wanted to utilize the scholarship package from the whl. Not many pro teams want to invest much in players on the shelf so the pro offers I had weren't worth giving up my CIS eligibility.” Tyler played college hockey, after which he got into coaching. He had a 
number of great people to learn from when he played in the WHL and CIS. In juniors he played for former NHL head coach Kevin Constantine and former Miskolc head coach Tim Kehler was his couch when he was a youth player.
THE FAMILY
Tyler has a lovely wife, Alex and an adorable two and half year old son Beckett who might be the most famous toddler in Fehérvár. Tyler was asked how his family likes it in Hungary, “They love it it's really become home for us. Alex has her routine here, a social group, and is the biggest fan of the team I know. Beckett goes to a playschool 3 days a week and loves it but still doesn't come close to how excited he gets for coming to the hockey rink. Some kids have a teddy bear, Beckett has a Bauer Vapor kids stick.” The Hungarian language is not exactly one of the easiest to learn but it sounds like the coach might be having the hardest time. “Well Beckett is gonna be the best for sure, my wife is bilingual with English and French and she picks up the Hungarian better than I do. I've tried and I can say I understand a fair bit now when I hear it but I still have a hard time speaking it. Some people think I should be better after this much time here but I like to say if I spent all my time learning Hungarian I wouldn't be learning the coaching world as well.