Stu Cowan: Canadiens' Mike Matheson enjoys lovely father-son second

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It seems like little Hudson Matheson has inherited some skating capacity from his mother and father.

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On Tuesday, Canadiens defenceman Mike Matheson took his son — who will flip 2 in June — on the ice on the group’s observe facility in Brossard. Hudson was in a position to stand on his skates by himself whereas passing a puck forwards and backwards with Cole Caufield.

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Hudson is the primary baby for Matheson and his spouse, Emily Pfalzer. The couple met at Boston Faculty when Matheson was enjoying for the boys’s hockey group and Pfalzer was on the ladies’s group. Pfalzer performed defence on the American group that beat Canada for the gold medal on the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

Matheson discovered to skate when he was 2 on the household’s yard rink in Pointe-Claire and began enjoying ringette along with his older sister, Kelly, when he was 3 as a result of Hockey West Island wouldn’t settle for gamers till age 5. Matheson is now one of many elite skaters within the NHL.

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“He’s getting higher already,” Matheson mentioned about his son after observe Wednesday. “He’s bought fairly good stability. Simply yesterday I began sort of leaving him by himself and he was standing up and making some passes, so it was fairly cool.”

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Matheson broke a stick in half throughout observe and afterward was taping a brand new deal with on the underside half so his son can use it.

Being a father has helped put issues in perspective for Matheson throughout what has been a troublesome season for the Canadiens.

The Canadiens headed into Wednesday night time’s recreation in New York in opposition to the Islanders in twenty eighth place within the total NHL standings with a 31-43-6 document and can shut out the season Thursday when the Boston Bruins go to the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM). Matheson has missed 34 video games due to accidents, together with the primary 17 video games with an stomach damage. However the 29-year-old defenceman has been on fireplace since getting back from a groin damage in mid-January. Within the earlier 30 video games earlier than dealing with the Islanders, Matheson had 7-20-27 totals and regardless of lacking so many video games he had set a profession excessive in factors with 8-26-34 totals in 46 video games after posting 11-20-31 totals in 74 video games final season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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“He’s the perfect a part of my day every single day,” Matheson mentioned about his son. “A lot enjoyable being round him and he simply adores hockey. My spouse and I actually haven’t imposed any hockey on him in any respect, however it’s simply what he loves from watching. It’s all he ever needs to do. We at all times mentioned — and nonetheless do — that if he wakes up sooner or later and desires nothing to do with hockey, that’s effective by us. But it surely simply looks as if that’s the factor proper now and it’s all he can take into consideration. So it’s lots of enjoyable simply to see him having a lot enjoyable doing one thing.”

There was a candy video the Canadiens posted on their Twitter account just lately of Hudson sitting on his mom’s lap on the Bell Centre and recognizing his father skating onto the ice, pointing at him with a glance of pleasure.

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“His favorite factor goes to the video games and staying on the glass throughout warm-ups,” Matheson mentioned.

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis has spoken typically this season in regards to the tradition and household surroundings he needs to construct within the locker room. This Canadiens group does appear to be a tight-knit group and Caufield passing the puck with Matheson’s son was one other instance of that.

“I feel that’s actually necessary to not simply be co-workers and to essentially care about one another and that sort of builds that further degree of care and closeness that you just see sort of develop in a particular group that does particular issues,” Matheson mentioned. “That doesn’t imply which you could’t problem one another on the similar time and push one another to be at your finest and to practise arduous. I don’t suppose we’ve an surroundings the place we will solely be finest mates on a regular basis and never push one another. I feel there’s a great stability of each.”

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Caufield continues to be a toddler at coronary heart at age 22, seeming to get pleasure from each second of life as an NHLer, even after having season-ending shoulder surgical procedure in early March.

“I feel you possibly can inform that he’s such a sociable individual and I feel while you see how he simply takes the time do to that stuff on a regular basis — it’s not a one-off,” Matheson mentioned about Caufield skating along with his son. “Each time he sees any of our youngsters he’s at all times the man that comes and hangs out with them probably the most. It’s only a testomony to how good of an individual he’s and the way a lot he cares about others. He simply has that infectious persona and he’s so good at doing that form of factor. It’s spectacular for any individual who’s so younger.”

Little Hudson’s skating capacity is fairly spectacular, too.

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