The Canadian defender, but naturalized as French (and part of the national team of France), Olivier Dame-Malka (30 years old) will strengthen the defense of Corona Brașov.
For the French national team, Olivier has played in two World Championships “elite group” and in 38 friendly games.
In total, he wore the French jersey 52 times.
The Montreal-born defender trained in North American hockey (including QMJHL, ECHL and AHL) and is a highly titled player who has won the French championship, the French Cup and the Continental Cup, the World Championships and played as well in the League of European Champions.
Last season he played for Nice, in the first French league, being the team captain and the second scorer in terms of points, with 27 points in 38 games (8 goals and 19 assists).
Olivier made his debut in the French championship in the 2014/2015 season, for the Dijon team.
Two seasons followed in Rouen, where he managed – in the 2015/2016 season – to become champion of France, to win the French Cup and to win the Continental Cup.
For Rouen, he also played in the Champions Hockey League, in the 2016/2017 season.
After the second season in Rouen, he was selected in the French national team, debuting in 2017 at the World Championship, playing in 7 matches (against Canada, Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia and Belarus).
He managed to score an exceptional goal in the goal of Canada, a goal that was chosen “goal of day 7” of the World Championship.
At the beginning of the 2017/2018 season, he transferred to the HC Banska Bystrica team in the first Slovak league (for which he also played in the Champions Hockey League) and in the second part of the season he returned to the French first league (in Grenoble).
The 2018/2019 season started in the North American ECHL league with the Florida Everblades but for the end of the season it returned to the first French league (in Nice).
In 2019, he represented France for the second time at the World Championship, playing in Group A (Kosice – Slovakia), entering the ice against Canada, Finland, the United States, Slovakia, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom.
At this World Cup he managed to score a new goal, surprising the Danish goalkeeper from the middle of the field (not a coincidence, Olivier scoring goals from this distance at other times, including in the European Champions League).
We are glad that such a player, highly titrated in European hockey and with a huge experience at a high level, could be convinced to wear the “wolves” jersey for the 2020/2021 season.
Welcome, Olivier!