Presented by Prestige Hotels & Resorts
+++
Photo credit: Garrett James Photography
Over his 17 years behind the bench of the Brooks Bandits, 16 of which as head coach, Ryan Papaioannou became widely known as one of the best coaches in junior hockey and his program among the best at that level.
Under his guidance, the Bandits won seven championships in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, two national championships and one more in their first full season in the BCHL in 2024-25.
They also produced a slew of players that would go on to have success in collegiate and professional hockey, most notably Colorado Avalanche star defenceman Cale Makar who played two seasons with the Bandits from 2015 to 2017.
Following his BCHL championship in 2025, Papaioannou decided it was time to move on and pursue new opportunities to further his coaching career and he accepted a head coaching role with the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL, a decision that was not an easy one to make.
“It was really tough,” he said. “We spent this past summer back in Brooks. We still have a house there. Our boys were born there. It was home for us. There’s a piece of me and my family that will always be in Brooks. It was tough to leave, but in the grand scheme of hockey and wanting to better yourself, no different than for players, you need to look for opportunities at higher levels.”
Papaioannou had immediate success in Wheeling, leading the team to a 46-20-3-3 record and first place in the ECHL’s North Division. The Nailers eventually made it all the way to the Conference Finals before being eliminated by Florda Everblades.
After just one year at that level, his stock was one the rise again this summer as he was tapped to become the next head coach of the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Abbotsford Canucks, the farm team of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks.
“It’s very special,” said Papaioannou. “I’m one of a select few people across the continent to be working in the American Hockey League, especially as a head coach. This place in particular, with the recent success of the Calder Cup championship just two years ago and seeing the lineage of where the head coaches from the Abbotsford Canucks have gone on to, it’s something that I look at with a great deal of respect.”
With the big club entering the early stages of a rebuild, the team’s AHL affiliate is sure to play a crucial role.
“It’s all about developing these players each and every day, seeing what we can do to foster on-ice and off-ice development,” said Papaioannou. “The most important piece is trying to instill in the players that, even though development comes first, we still have to have an expectation of winning. There has to be a winning culture. I think it’s very important that the players are not solely focused on themselves and we have them in that culture and that mindset of team-first. At the end of the day, we are going to make them all better individually and make sure that they’re ready when they get their opportunity.”
Despite being in the middle of his own deep playoff run last spring, Papaioannou still made time to follow his former team and their push for the Rogers BCHL Cup.
Since Papaioannou’s departure, former Bandits player and assistant coach Dakota Mason took over as head coach. Even with massive shoes to fill and sky-high expectations, he delivered with a championship in his first year as bench boss when the Bandits defeated the Nanaimo Clippers in five games to capture the BCHL title.
“I’m really happy for all of their success,” said Papaioannou. “I thought Dakota did a great job last year, getting his feet wet as a head coach, and also being able to navigate a tough season where they weren’t in first place all year long and had to just continually get better and build. In the end, they were the best team at the right time, which is all that matters.”
“When I left, we needed somebody that Brooks and the Bandits meant something to. We could have gone out and found somebody with more experience, but it wouldn’t have meant the same thing to them. We got somebody that was hungry to be a head coach and wanted the opportunity and obviously he did a great job with it.”
According to Mason, even though Papaioannou may no longer be part of the Bandits organization, his impact will continue to be felt.
“Ryan built this program into everything that it is today,” said Mason. “He took a small community hockey team and turned it into a program that is as recognizable as any junior hockey program in North America. His legacy goes far beyond the championships he’s won. He built a program that consistently develops players into NCAA Division I athletes and set them up for future success into pro hockey and eventually the NHL.”
“Even with his 900-plus career wins, I believe his greatest legacy is the number of young people he helped become good men, teaching them lessons and values that went far beyond the hockey rink. Ryan couldn’t have done more for our program and our community.”
When it comes to his legacy in Brooks, Papaioannou is a bit more modest.
“I hope that what we created there can continue,” he said. “I know the people that are in that organization right now will continue to work hard at it and keep the program going the way it has. Doing things right every day doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to win, but it gives you a good opportunity to develop players and move guys on to the next level.”
