With a little over a month to go before fall semesters begin at universities throughout the province, and a short time after that the OUA hockey season will kick off, Queen’s University has named a successor for their longtime men’s varsity hockey coach.
The university has named former player Brandon Perry as their next head coach, the first time a new face will be behind the bench in 20 years.
The change comes a few months after long time head coach Brett Gibson stepped down from the position citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
For Perry, who was coached by Gibson during his time at Queen’s, family being the top priority is a common theme.
The new head coach, who is currently based in Timmins having been head coach of his hometown’s NOJHL team for five years, says his top priority is settling his own young family into Kingston – but on the hockey side, he says that emphasis on family is also important.
“Specifically with hockey, I think it’s just starting to build relationships with the players and getting to know them and letting them get to know me,” Perry said.
“I think that’s going to be priority number one right off the bat.”
In pursuing his hockey career, Perry spent the better part of a decade living and playing hockey in Kingston.
At the age of just 15, Perry moved to Kingston to play for the Voyageurs, and moved on from there to playing with Queen’s University.
After some time playing for the Huntsville Havoc in the now shuttered Southern Professional Hockey League, Perry moved back to his hometown of Timmins and eventually took on the title of head coach and general manager with the Timmins Rock.
Perry says he feels like his passion for the game shines through for players who suit up for him, and while leading a team like Timmins that passion and connection came natural.
Having spent what he calls his formative years in Kingston and more or less growing up in the city – he expects that to be the same in his new role, and part of why he felt returning to Queen’s would be such a great fit.
“I think the reason I am effective at what I do here as a coach is I think I’m really connected to the places I coach, it just allows me to pour passion into something that really, really meant a lot to me and I really care about,” Perry said.
“Queen’s feels like a homecoming and obviously it’s just a lot like the job I took here in Timmins. It’s a place I know well and a place that means a lot to me and it shaped me.”
Perry is already familiar with at least one coach on the staff (assistant coach Ben Monroe, who he played and lived with during his time at Queen’s) and expects most if not all of the existing staff will be back in the upcoming season.
He says his longest tenured coach, the man who he is replacing, is someone he has taken a lot of influence from in his coaching career, and hopes to lean on as a resource in the future.
“Even before this job started, I probably talked to Gibby once a week, even in my role here as a coach and general manager, just to kind of pick his brain,” Perry said.
“He’s had a ton of success there at Queens and in his role, and I would be a fool not to use that experience and expertise. There’s things I’m going to want to do my way, but there’s certainly a lot of things that I’m going to have to lean on him for just his experience.”
Perry visited the city recently to wrap up the interview process, with several rounds that he described as a “bit of a gauntlet” and says he’s excited to revisit some of the places in the city that were familiar to him over a decade ago when he was living in Kingston.
He says while the city has clearly grown in his time away, it still feels familiar.
“When I was going there, there was one road I would take to get down to campus from where I lived… [I’m] Still kind of familiar with the with the areas and the roads and how to navigate around,” Perry said.
“A little change, but a lot the same.”
