Danny Meyers: How building an ice rink led retired hockey star to the Winter Youth Olympics

Danny Meyers played in the Elite Ice Hockey League with Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers

When former Great Britain ice hockey international Danny Meyers' trophy-laden playing career came to an end, he felt lost and questioned his self-worth.

So the 40-year-old built an ice rink and invested all he had - and more - into helping nurture the next generation of British prospects.

Almost three years after opening the doors to the venue in the Berkshire town of Bracknell, this week he is leading Team GB's Under-16 side at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in South Korea.

"This is my calling," Meyers told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"I get an immense amount of pride and satisfaction from working with the players and I have no problem saying I'm happy to drive this bus."

His exploits as a player earned him a place in Ice Hockey UK's Hall of Fame in 2023.

He played 59 times for Britain and spent much of his top-flight career with the Nottingham Panthers, where he won the Challenge Cup four times and the Elite Ice Hockey League play-off championship on three occasions.

Meyers tries to avoid getting "too dark" when talking about his mental health after he hung up the skates to "get a normal job" in construction, but his struggles prompted the former defenceman to create a venue dedicated to junior development.

"I wasn't feeling great about myself," he said.

"I retired from hockey and found myself unfulfilled, and I'm sure many former sports people would attest to feeling the same.

"I went from the heights of playing hockey, playing for the Nottingham Panthers and the national team and then when I retired, I felt myself wondering about life and not getting that same self-satisfaction or even self-worth.

"All I'd known since the age of four was being a hockey player."

'You should build an ice rink'

While Meyers had already moved into junior coaching, he found time on the ice to work with players limited as he organised sessions around schedules at public arenas.

He couldn't hide his frustrations.

"It was actually my wife in the end who said 'the only time I ever see you happy is when you are out there coaching kids, and you should build an ice rink'," Meyers said.

He laughed off the initial suggestion, but the idea would not go away.

And so he researched what it would take to get a venue built in his home town, and what it would mean to recommit himself to a life of ice hockey.

"I went to 151 people and they said 'no' to me for finance and the 152nd person said 'yes'," Meyers said.

"I guarantored my house and I guarantored my parents' house, rolled the dice and found a warehouse.

"What was a pipe dream, with pure stubbornness, passion and desire to make a difference here in the British game, I now find myself the owner of an ice rink - which I never thought I'd say."

'This is where I'm supposed to be'

He looked to North America when working on plans for the rink and how to try help take junior development forward in Britain.

He found the way to go was downsizing to a three-on-three sized rink and trying to capitalise on the emerging popularity of it.

While the format remains little known, the Team GB side he is leading in South Korea will be playing a three-on-three tournament.

It is in Gangwon that Meyers now wants his players to embrace what the game can give them.

"What I have enjoyed about this whole journey, especially with this Under-16s team, is being able to talk about GB and what it means and what it meant to me," he said.

"I just get excited about what this can do for the players and what it can mean to them. They are right on the brink of what could be really exciting futures.

"I feel this is where I'm supposed to be. I actually feel like my playing career has led me to this moment."