Mike Matheson is naturally calm and collected, but there’s one thing he hates more than anything in life: losing. And he wants that to change.
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So we’re not talking about being “in the mix” here, but rather about doing everything we can to win as many games as possible and aspire to a place in the playoffs.
“If you’re in a position where you’re losing a lot and you’re okay with it, you’re not going to get anywhere, you have to keep hating it to move forward and keep changing things.”
So we have to start working hard from the preparatory matches, but we must not think that the way of approaching them has changed this year because the team has more experience.
“To think that in other years we came in and didn’t care about the games and how we started, that’s not true. Just because we think we’re going to have a better season than last year, that doesn’t mean our attitude is any different.
“Of course you can have a little more momentum, but personally my goal is always to play the right way to make sure I start the season well.”
Photo credit: Ben Pelosse / JdeM
Make way for young people
The CH defense is young and there are three youngsters, Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher, who aspire to swell the ranks.
For a veteran like Matheson, who averaged 25 minutes, 33 seconds per game last season, letting the youngsters progress might mean giving up some playing time.
“I want to do everything to help the team and I want it to move forward, I don’t care what that means. [pour moi] Personally, I just want to win.”
“I never said I don’t like playing a lot of minutes,” he added with a laugh.
After a day of treatment, Patrick Laine was back in training on Sunday.
