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He met his spouse once they had been each enjoying hockey at Boston School and his older sister was the primary lady in Sport-études hockey program.
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It’s not a shock that Mike Matheson was amongst a bunch Canadiens gamers who had been on the Bell Centre on Saturday afternoon to observe the PWHL recreation between Montreal and Toronto.
Toronto received the sport 3-2 in time beyond regulation in entrance of a sellout crowd of 21,105, which set a world document for a girls’s hockey recreation.
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Matheson’s spouse, Emily Pfalzer, received a gold medal with the USA girls’s hockey group on the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, beating Canada 3-2 in a shootout within the championship recreation. She additionally received 4 girls’s world championships with Crew USA and was captain of the Buffalo Beauts once they received the Isobel Cup within the Nationwide Ladies’s Hockey League in 2017.
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Matheson and Pfalzer met once they had been each enjoying hockey at Boston School.
“She was a part of that unique group that boycotted the world championships, left the NWHL to form of boycott what was occurring then (in girls’s hockey) and saying, ‘We want one thing higher,’ ” Matheson mentioned when Canadiens gamers met with the media for the ultimate time this season final Wednesday in Brossard. “So she was a part of that group that made that sacrifice. She’s not particularly benefited from this league (the PWHL) as a result of she’s achieved (enjoying). So she did that for the way forward for girls’s hockey and I do know it is rather rewarding to see what it’s resulted in. Toronto bought out the place the Leafs play and now Montreal is promoting out within the Bell Centre. It’s unimaginable. It’s nice to see.”
Matheson’s sister, Kelly, was the primary lady to participate within the hockey Sport-études program at John Rennie Excessive College in Pointe-Claire along with her two youthful brothers, Kelly and Mike, later following in her skate strides.
Matheson realized easy methods to skate at age 2 on the household’s yard rink in Pointe-Claire and performed on the identical ringette group along with his sister when he was 3 earlier than he was sufficiently old to hitch the Hockey West Island program at age 5. His sister was the one lady within the hockey Sport-études program at John Rennie.
Highway to the Cup
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“Getting wearing a unique locker room and all that,” Matheson mentioned about his sister’s hockey journey. “Getting dressed within the refs’ locker room — that’s what they’d get, or the toilet or no matter. So undoubtedly loads of perseverance that I don’t suppose you’ll be able to have a full comprehension for until you’ve been by it. So for me to say that will need to have been actually laborious, I don’t suppose I really can recognize it totally as a result of I didn’t need to undergo it.”
Matheson’s spouse and sister are among the many many ladies who helped pave the best way for the formation of the PWHL, which makes the Canadiens defenceman very proud. He was joined at Saturday’s recreation by teammates Jordan Harris, Michael Pezzetta, David Savard, Jake Evans, Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach.
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The 30-year-old Matheson is coming off one of the best season of his nine-year NHL profession, posting 11-51-62 totals whereas enjoying in all 82 video games. His 62 factors are essentially the most by a Canadiens defenceman since Andrei Markov had 12-52-64 totals in 2008-09. Solely eight defencemen in Canadiens historical past have had greater than 60 factors in a season: Larry Robinson, Man Lapointe, Chris Chelios, Sheldon Souray, J.C. Tremblay, Mark Streit, Markov and Matheson.
Robinson holds the document for many factors by a Canadiens defenceman with 19-66-85 totals in 1976-77, when he additionally had an unimaginable plus-120 differential on a powerhouse group that might win its second of 4 straight Stanley Cups. The one NHL participant to ever publish a greater plus/minus determine was Bobby Orr, who was plus-124 in 1970-71 when he had 37-102-139 totals with the Boston Bruins.
Matheson was minus-24 this season and there are some Canadiens followers who will give attention to that quantity and complain that he’s an excessive amount of of a high-risk defenceman. However on a group that struggles to attain targets — particularly the forwards — Matheson is counted on closely to supply offence and he’s additionally matched up in opposition to the opposite group’s prime line each recreation.
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He does hear the criticism.
“I see the best way individuals discuss me typically and it’s irritating,” mentioned Matheson, who does his finest to keep away from social media. “I’ve mentioned it earlier than, if everyone simply shot the puck off the glass we wouldn’t win a single recreation. You’ve got to have the ability to have some gamers which might be going to alter the sport typically. You’ll be able to’t try this with out danger.”
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Matheson took a cross on enjoying for Crew Canada on the IIHF World Championship slated for Could 10-26 in Czechia as a result of his spouse is pregnant with their second youngster and the due date is throughout that interval.
Saturday wasn’t the primary time Matheson attended a PWHL recreation this season. He went to some video games along with his spouse earlier within the season, together with a pair on the sold-out Place Bell in Laval.
When requested what the success of the PWHL in its inaugural season means to him and his spouse, Matheson mentioned: “It’s simply unimaginable.”
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