Fond memories as Matsos returns to Memorial Cup

REGINA, Sask. – He’ll answer the questions if they’re asked of him, but David Matsos prefers to let the players experience it for themselves.

It was 25 years ago that David Matsos was a 30-goal scorer for the Ontario Hockey League’s Soo Greyhounds as the team won its lone Memorial Cup title.

The memories of that run are ones that Matsos remembers fondly as one of nine members of that Greyhounds team to appear in three consecutive tournaments, culminating with the win in 1993.

“The Sault was a special one obviously because we went through the Super Series to host it and then the fact that we lost the prior two years in the Memorial Cup, we were just so hungry,” Matsos said. “We were so determined and conditioned for the event.”

“To this day, it’s one of those things, the guys that we won with there, we still keep in touch,” Matsos added.

The 44-year-old is currently an associate coach with the Ontario Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs, who are preparing for semifinal action on Friday night against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Matsos said his previous experience is something that he only talks about with the current Bulldogs when asked about it.

“The players know what has been accomplished by all of us,” Matsos said. “This is up to them to create that for themselves.

“If they keep in on the tracks, go the distance here and if they can win this, that’s a chapter that they created themselves,” Matsos added. “It’s a pretty special thing for these guys. If they ask questions, we answer them and if they ask me, I’ll talk about it but this is more about them and creating a chapter in their life, whether you succeed in hockey or business or whatever it is, this is something that you have the ability to carry with you for the rest of your life.”

Matsos is in his first season in Hamilton after joining the coaching staff last summer. Matsos has high praise for Gruden, who is in his second season with the Bulldogs after part of one season in Flint with the Firebirds.

“They’re a smart bunch,” Matsos said of the staff. “I’ve been fortunate to work with the Bob Boughner’s and D.J. Smith’s of the world and those guys are obviously elite (coaches). John Gruden is up there with those guys.

“He can read the game at ice level, he sees the game really clear,” Matsos added. “The style of play that he wants our guys to play is a winning style. He doesn’t overthink it. He knows what he wants and incorporates that into the system of play that we have. He’s one of the smarter guys that I’ve ever had to work with. He’s been really good for me.”

Gruden had similar feelings.

“He’s been a perfect fit,” Gruden said of working with Matsos on the staff.

Gruden spoke highly of the Bulldogs coaching staff, which includes assistants Vince Laise and Ron Wilson in addition to Matsos.

“We have a really good group of guys. I call Ronnie Wilson Jerry McGuire, he completes us,” Gruden joked. “We have quite the staff. We have a lot of fun and I don’t think you can fake that.”

Matsos called the Bulldogs success this season “a little bit surreal.”

He noted an early-season discussion in the Bulldogs coaches room in which General Manager Steve Staios said he felt the Bulldogs were a title contender. Staios would then proceed to acquire a group of players that included veteran forward Ryan Moore and Nicholas Caamano from Flint along with blueliner Riley Stillman from Oshawa.

The acquisitions turned into key pieces to the Hamilton run to an OHL title.

“Steve went out not to get the best players, but to get the best people,” Matsos said. “He was really dialed in on that.”

“The results we get are based on work and working together,” Matsos also said. “It’s always by committee. It’s never one individual that can carry this team. These guys have accepted that and really have embraced it.”

While doing his best to enjoy the event, the feeling is that the Bulldogs have a “fighting chance.”

“Now that you’re here, you don’t want to settle for anything less (than winning),” Matsos said. “It’s up to us to play the way that the Bulldogs can. If we do that, we have a fighting chance.”

Looking back on his playing days, Matsos has plenty of memories of his time as a Greyhound and still looks forward to making the trip north during the OHL season.

“It was such an easy environment because we were winning,” Matsos said. “The people embraced the hockey team and the success. As a result of everything that was going on those three years, it just became such a closer-knit group.

“I still get excited going up there,” Matsos also said. “You walk through Station Mall to get to the rink and you run into people that I would never have thought I would run into again and they still remember. That’s one of the things that our guys don’t know yet.”