Brandon Prust is taking everything he’s learned from legendary coaches and passing it on to his London Nationals players.
“You take a page out of everybody’s book,” said Prust, in his first year behind the bench. “What helped you succeed or helped your successful teams be successful.”
From Dale Hunter in junior hockey with the London Knights, to Wayne Gretzky, Brent Sutter, and John Tortorella in the NHL, he’s been around some great hockey minds.
“I know how I’d like to kind of be treated,” said Prust of his current coaching style. “I think one big thing is honesty. I loved coaches that were just honest with you and just give it to you straight. That’s what I do here. I’m honest with these guys, I tell them what they need to work on, what they need to do to get better, and what their strengths are.”
He’s even taking some of the drills he used in the pros and bringing them to the bench.
Joining the Nationals has also been a reunion with his long-time friend and Memorial Cup champion teammate Rob Drummond. Drummond is his assistant coach.
“He’s got that NHL experience, which is great, and the boys love him,” said Drummond of Prust. “I played with him with the Nationals a long time ago, that’s where I met ‘Prusty’. So, to come full circle and be coaching now together, it’s been a lot of fun.”
Drummond was coaching AAA hockey and then was an assistant with the Nationals a year ago. Prust asked him to stay on as an assistant when he got hired before this season.
The Nationals finished in fifth place in the GOJHL regular season and are now in the first round of the playoffs against Listowel.
It’s been a roller coaster rookie season for Prust with wins, losses, and even suspensions.
“We got into it pretty quick, and I think there’s been a lot of ups and downs for us this year,” said Prust. “That stuff only makes you stronger and that’s been somewhat of my message. It’s playoff time now and all those ups and downs are what builds character and that’s what we’re going to need to carry through the playoffs.”
If they do get by Listowel, there are some strong teams waiting. Those include the defending champion St. Marys Lincolns who won the regular season title and is the number one seed.
“Obviously winning the whole thing is what we want,” said Prust. “We take one game at a time. The one game we just played is over and it doesn’t matter anymore. We got to keep sticking to our game plan and what we believe is going to make us successful. I think the boys have bought into it and we just keep plugging away.”
