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Pack's new official bench boss puts nose to grindstone

Last week, Dave Matsos signed on the dotted line as the Sudbury Wolves announced he would be the team’s bench boss for the upcoming season.
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Burlington native David Matsos will join the Sudbury Wolves as the club's new associate coach. Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images.
Last week, Dave Matsos signed on the dotted line as the Sudbury Wolves announced he would be the team’s bench boss for the upcoming season.

Now that the contract is out of the way, Matsos and his staff can get down to business, building a game plan for a roster that is going to be a young one.

“The fact that it has been handed to me, I’m so grateful,” Matsos said. “I’m excited, I think the players are excited. I think it’s onwards and upwards, we are just really excited moving forward.

“Now that management and ownership has given me the keys, we’re all in. We’re going to start building, we’re going to start having fun with our style of play and our foundation.”

Matsos took over midway through last season after the firing of former coach Paul Fixter. He gained support from the players and ultimately management, which brought him the new three-year deal and the promotion.

He faced a few months of uncertainty after the season as the Wolves made a decision on the head coach position, but understood it was part of the process.

“I understand what management was doing, there were some really good candidates out there,” he said. “But do you take experience over work ethic? At the end of the day, I think they took the work ethic side of it.”

Now Matsos can begin to develop his playbooks and build a style of play for next season. He is excited to grow with the young team that has been brought in.

“I think what people can expect is, year one we’re still going to be very young, so our style of play may change from year one to year two,” he said.

“I think what we are going to see is our team evolve in the next three years. We might change our style for sure, but at the end of the day, I think our scouts as well as Blaine Smith and his guys have done a great job. I think we have the tools to make some noise and make a big splash.”

One thing that will remain the same is his focus on defense.

“I think you have to change based on your skill set, but I will never change as far as surrounding yourself by quality people, first of all,” he said. “I am also a believer that every single guy on our team has to figure out how to play defensively first. That part of me won’t change. “The Levin’s and Sokolov’s have to learn how to play defensively first, it’s only going to make them more money down the road.”

And to help out with the defensive side of the game, the Wolves have brought in Drake Berehowsky, a former NHL defenceman of 12 seasons to be one of his assistant coaches.

Berehowsky will bring a wealth of NHL experience to the Wolves younger players, including defenceman Kyle Capobianco who was recently drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the third round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

“I think it’s my responsibility,” Berehowsky said. “I have learned from so many coaches and so many players, it’s my job to pass that along to these young kids and make it easier for them.”

Berehowsky was drafted tenth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1990 and played with Toronto, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Phoenix, Nashville and the Edmonton Oilers.

He played his OHL career with the Kingston Frontenacs then the North Bay Centennials. In the 1991-1992 season his North Bay team eliminated Sudbury in the second round and went on to lose in the OHL finals against Sault Ste. Marie.

So he is well aware of both the Sudbury style and the northern rivalries.

Berehowsky also recently spent time as an assistant coach for the Barrie Colts and North Bay Battalion.

Wolves president and general manager Blaine Smith said the two first met when they attended the OHL Gold Cup.

Berehowsky shares similar philosophies as Matsos on the defensive side, but doesn’t want to take anything away from the offensive games of the Wolves.

“You always want a player to play 200 feet, but saying that, you have to be really aware at not taking away that offensive prowess that those guys have,” he said. “So while you want them to be responsible, you don’t want to take away their creativity.”

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