Sudbury native gets coaching gig with Greyhounds

Local pro hockey product Drew Bannister says there were only two places in the OHL where he wished to tackle the role of head coach: Sault Ste Marie and Owen Sound.

On July 10, the Greyhounds named Bannister, a four-year veteran with the Soo as a player (1990-1994), to replace Sheldon Keefe, who had been hired by the Toronto Marlies roughly one month earlier.

Ironically, less than two weeks later, Owen Sound Attack head coach Greg Ireland would resign, accepting a head coaching position in the German Elite League.

"I wasn't really looking to make any moves," said Bannister, spending some time recently in Sudbury, his home through a good part of his youth.

"I was happy in the position where I was. But I have no doubt, in my mind, that I am ready for the opportunity."

It was the summer of 2012 when the former Memorial Cup champion made his first significant jump in the coaching ranks, hired by Dale DeGray and the Attack to work alongside Ireland.

"I don't think you look at it as a 'when am I ready to be a head coach' type of thing," said Bannister. "It's more of a process."

Bannister was at the helm of Team Ontario at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C., returning home with gold medals in hand thanks to a 3-1 win over Team Alberta in the finals.

"You build confidence around those things, and the successes and failures, and what you learn from them," said Bannister.

Though there was a definite comfort with the situation in Sault Ste Marie, dating back, to some extent, to his playing days, the decision to uproot again was not an easy one.

"Quite honestly, when the job was offered to me, I had to think about it, because of how comfortable I felt in my situation in Owen Sound," Bannister, a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992, said.

"They were really good with me. But in the same sense, there's only 20 of these positions available."

Bannister had a lengthy pro hockey career. He played 164 NHL games, before closing out his playing days with a decade or so overseas.

Known as a student of the game, Bannister takes a great deal of pride in his ability to connect with the young hockey player of today.

"I think that's what set me apart was my communication skills with teenagers, and how I've been able to be successful with 15 and 16 year olds in a short-term competition," he said.

While a head coaching position, by its very nature, requires a certain decisiveness, Bannister is not above creating a team approach when it comes to sharing ideas behind the bench.

"I don't want 'yes men' working for me," he said. "I want people who will help makes us better as a team."

Coming off a season in which the Greyhounds reached the Western Conference final means he has building blocks of success to work with, but it also means challenges.

"Having success breeds success. The kids that were there the past few years understand what it takes to win," he said. "But as good as they were, they weren't good enough to win it all.

"That will be our challenge."

One that Drew Bannister feels more than prepared to tackle, head on.