It's a familiar team, a familiar league, and a new role for Lanigan native Sheldon Brookbank.

The former Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks'  defensemen and former Humboldt Bronco was recently promoted to the same team he played for, this time as an assistant coach. 

The Chicago Blackhawks announced on January 4th that they have hired Brookbank as the new assistant coach after he started the year as the assistant coach with the Rockford Ice Hogs, the Blackhawks'affiliate in the AHL.

"I was definitely excited, it happened pretty fast, the transition to coaching and being back up here with the Blackhawks. It's an exciting time to come back here to this organization. I had a lot of good memories here and a lot of good friendships, so it's pretty good times right now," said Brookbank.

The move up to the big show was quick. Brookbank was hired as the assistant coach for the Rockford Ice Hogs in 2017 and spent just over one year with the team before making the jump. 

"You're dealing with a little older guys, maybe some bigger personalities than the AHL. Guys here are more established and they know how to play the game, but at the end of the day, it's still just a game and you're still trying to put the black thing in the net."

Sticking around with one of the same organizations he played for had its benefits as well. 

"There's a lot of familiarity with the staff and some of the players that were in place when I played here. Even just knowing your way around the rink when you start, it made it a lot easier having been here before."

Brookbank is paired up with the youngest head coach in the NHL Jeremy Colliton, and Brookbank sees some similarities that he believes will lead to success. 

"We have a good relationship, him being from Alberta and me being from Saskatchewan, it's somewhat similar. We have somewhat the same philosophies on the game. He has some new ideas and is a little old school at the same time and that's how I feel about myself as well. We're just going to try and drive our message to the team as much as possible as we go forward."

Growing up in Lanigan the aspirations of coaching weren't always present for Brookbank, but it did grow on him throughout his hockey career.

"As a 10-year-old your always dreaming of being a player and scoring the Stanley Cup overtime winner. As you get older, and your career goes on, you realize coaching is something you'd be interested in. It was sort of in the back of my mind along the way that it would be an option, As I kept going I realized more and more that it would be something that I'd like to do, so that's how it all unfolded."

The Lanigan native stayed home while learning the ropes of the sport with his three brothers in a hockey-mad household.

"We maybe had 11 players on the team so there was a lot of ice time. My dad wouldn't let me go to Humboldt to play with the AA team because it would hurt our team in Lanigan, so I just stayed in Lanigan and grinded it out there. If you weren't playing a hockey game you were playing road hockey all day, it's just what you did. I had three brothers so there was a lot of hockey going on in our house." 

Brookbank's time in Humboldt would eventually come. He suited up for the Broncos for three years making it to the SJHL finals in his first year with the team and winning the SJHL defenseman of the year in his final year. 

"I had some great times in Humboldt, Bob Beatty, Dean Brockman were the coaches. We had a good run to the finals. I ended up marrying a girl from there, I still go back in the summer to visit. My mother in law lives there, it feels like home for me, it's right where I'm from." " Go Broncos."

You can listen to the full interview with Sheldon Brookbank below.