After two years as an assistant, Matt Brassard has been promoted to head coach of the junior A Lloydminster Bobcats.
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Brassard makes the jump to the head-coaching role at the relatively young age of 27. He’ll be 28 in the fall when the Bobcats begin the 2026-27 Alberta Junior Hockey League season with their fourth head coach in as many years.
Coaching is “something that I always wanted to do,” said Brassard, who replaces Eric Labrosse, the Lloyd coach for the Bobcats’ inaugural season at the Cenovus Energy Hub.
“I got into it at a pretty young age — I was 25 when I started — because, unfortunately, I had to retire from playing. When I started two years ago, I was, like, ‘I’m going to do this and get my name out there and build a resume up.’
“I’d be lying if I said that I thought then that two years down the road, I’d be in a head-coaching position. I give a lot of credit to the people I’ve worked with in the past, and the people I still work with. They taught me a lot and they believe in me. They believe I’m ready for this role and I believe I’m ready for this role.
“I’m super-excited going forward. It’s a great opportunity for me, at my age, to be in this position. I know I’m going to work hard and I’m not going to let the people down.”
Brassard, a native of Barrie, Ont., played major junior in the Ontario Hockey League, U Sports hockey at University of Prince Edward Island and minor pro in the East Coast league. “Really bad shoulder problems” factored in an early retirement for Brassard, a seventh-round draft choice of the Vancouver Canucks in 2017.
“Even when I was playing, (I was considering coaching),” Brassard said about his career outlook. “It’s funny, because this morning when the news broke, I was talking with a few guys I used to play with. They were guys that I always said, ‘Maybe one day we can coach together or run a team together.’
“A lot of them are still playing, so I’m kind of the only one ahead of the ball right now.”
The Bobcats were among the AJHL’s best teams for most of the past regular season, but for the second straight year they were swept by the Grande Prairie Storm in the first round of the playoffs.
In making multiple personnel announcements Friday (April 24), the Bobcats also confirmed that Paul-Antoine Deslauriers would return as an assistant coach for a second season in Lloyd. Taylor Mack is coming back for a second year as the team’s athletic therapist.
QUESTION-AND-ANSWER
In an interview with the Lloydminster Meridian Source, Brassard reflected on his hockey influences, as a player and a coach, and his projection for the next edition of the Bobcats:
SOURCE: With snow and cold prevalent in Lloyd the past few days, it’s somewhat appropriate that the Bobcats are in the rink, hosting back-to-back camps for immediate and longer-term prospects.
BRASSARD: “Yeah, I’m heading there right now. We’re looking forward to it. Last week was more of an evaluation camp for guys who were kind of junior-ready. These kids (this weekend), it’s all U15, so 2011-born and 2012-born kids who are heading into those years where they’ll start to be looked at for junior. It’s more of a preparation camp, a development camp, for them. We let them know what to expect heading into those years. We got some really good feedback on it last year. It’s good for the kids and it’s good for the parents, too.”
SOURCE: As for the coming season, how critical will it be to keep your established players on board, especially after key in-season departures this winter impacted the team down the stretch.
BRASSARD: “Like you said, junior hockey, especially nowadays with the landscape of things, you never really know what your roster is going to look like year-in and year-out. I think a big thing for me is I want to create an environment that guys really don’t want to leave. And when they get those opportunities to go somewhere (else), it’s the hardest decision of their life.
“For the guys that are able to come back, I really hope they take that opportunity to really build on what we did (this past) year and want to come back and learn from me and from P-A, who’s also coming back. I’ve already started making the phone calls to a lot of those guys and kind of pitched what we’re trying to do here, and I know a lot of them were excited about the announcement. I’m really hoping that a lot of those guys are able to make the right decision and are able to come back and help us.”
SOURCE: Coaching styles have changed considerably in the past 10 years or more, but it’s still a grey area between what approaches work and don’t work. How do you demand effort and accountability without berating players as people?
BRASSARD: “I think the biggest thing is, you can talk about Xs and Os, and how you’re going to run things as a team, with the players. But at the end of the day, it just comes down to being a good human being and showing the players respect, and they’ll respect you back.
“For me, personally, I think I have a ton of respect in that dressing room already. I know I respect a lot of those players, too, and that’s why I want to get the majority of them back. Respect goes a long way. When the players see that you respect them, they’re going to want to respect you back and they’re going to want to play for you and win for you.
“But I just want to create a culture where it’s not just winning for the people that are in charge. I don’t just want them to win for myself and P-A and Nigel (Dube, the general manager). I want them to win for each other. I want them to create memories that are going to last a lifetime, that they’re going to look back on in 20 to 30 years and still talk to these guys and talk about the days that they had in Lloyd. Hopefully, in those talks, we can bring a championship here and that can be a big focus for them, too.”
SOURCE: Going back to your OHL playing days, beginning with the Barrie Colts under the late Dale Hawerchuk of NHL fame, who have been some of your greatest coaching influences at the junior level or otherwise?
BRASSARD: “Every time I talk to people, I kind of reminisce about my days in junior and guys I’ve played for. Dale Hawerchuk was the first coach I ever played for in junior. I don’t think a lot of kids get to say that — an NHL Hall of Famer and one of the greatest players of all time.
“I was a young kid in those days. I wasn’t necessarily like an impact player. But I was learning how to get into the game and how to make sure I’m staying in the game, how to be a professional, all that stuff.
“Dale was the best teacher for that, because he’d been there at the highest level. He’s obviously someone I really looked up to when I was young, and he really helped me develop into the player that I became. Dale was someone that was really special, for me.
“I played for Bob Jones in Oshawa. He was an amazing human being and an amazing coach. He was such a great motivator, and that was one thing that really stuck out with me about him, was that he could always get the most out of guys and he respected guys that played the game the right way. And if you disappointed him and weren’t going to do that, then you weren’t going to get rewarded.
“It’s very unfortunate because both of those guys (Hawerchuk and Jones) have passed away. Dale and Bob both fought cancer, and then Bob had ALS when he beat cancer. But they’re definitely two guys that I’ve learned from tremendously from my playing years.
“My first year of coaching, (former Bobcats head coach) Jeff Woywitka was huge for me. He brought me in, and he taught me so much. He’s someone who the boys really loved, and I got along with super well, and I really appreciate everything he did for me. He’s someone who I always keep in touch with and I’m never going to forget the opportunity he gave me and kind of the responsibility I had when I coached with him, too.”
SOURCE: Now that you’re the head coach, presumably the goal is to remain the Bobcats’ bench boss for multiple seasons and end a trend of a new coach every season?
BRASSARD: “Absolutely. I know it’s impossible to build a culture, and a program that I want our players to play by, in one year. I know Nigel has done a great job of building this program to a point where it’s the place that guys want to play. Now the thing is, when guys get here, we have to make sure that they recognize their role, they recognize what they bring to the team, and we execute it as well as we can. It’s not something that’s going to be built in one year, so I would love to stay here for multiple years and try to do that. I have some ties here in (my girlfriend’s hometown of) Lloydminster that might keep me here as well.
“But we’ll see. Yeah, it’s something that I would definitely look forward to. And I’ve always said as I’ve gone through coaching, I’ve wanted to really leave my mark on places that I’ve coached. I think I’ve done that so far, but in my terms of that, I want to win everywhere that I go. I want to try to get a championship in whatever league I’m in, before I even think about moving on. That’s not even a thought in my mind right now. All I’m thinking about is doing the best I can right now for this organization and try to develop a culture that makes the guys want to play for each other and win for each other and bring a championship here to Lloyd.”
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