Stu Cowan: Canadiens’ Mike Matheson a big supporter of women’s hockey

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It’s not a surprise that Mike Matheson was among a group Canadiens players who were at the Bell Centre on Saturday afternoon to watch the PWHL game between Montreal and Toronto.

Toronto won the game 3-2 in overtime in front of a sellout crowd of 21,105, which set a world record for a women’s hockey game.

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Matheson’s wife, Emily Pfalzer, won a gold medal with the United States women’s hockey team at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, beating Canada 3-2 in a shootout in the championship game. She also won four women’s world championships with Team USA and was captain of the Buffalo Beauts when they won the Isobel Cup in the National Women’s Hockey League in 2017.

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Matheson and Pfalzer met when they were both playing hockey at Boston College.

“She was part of that original group that boycotted the world championships, left the NWHL to kind of boycott what was going on then (in women’s hockey) and saying, ‘We need something better,’ ” Matheson said when Canadiens players met with the media for the final time this season last Wednesday in Brossard. “So she was part of that group that made that sacrifice. She’s not specifically benefited from this league (the PWHL) because she’s done (playing). So she did that for the future of women’s hockey and I know it is very rewarding to see what it’s resulted in. Toronto sold out where the Leafs play and now Montreal is selling out in the Bell Centre. It’s incredible. It’s great to see.”

Matheson’s sister, Kelly, was the first girl to take part in the hockey Sport-études program at John Rennie High School in Pointe-Claire with her two younger brothers, Kelly and Mike, later following in her skate strides.

Matheson learned how to skate at age 2 on the family’s backyard rink in Pointe-Claire and played on the same ringette team with his sister when he was 3 before he was old enough to join the Hockey West Island program at age 5. His sister was the only girl in the hockey Sport-études program at John Rennie.

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“Getting dressed in a different locker room and all that,” Matheson said about his sister’s hockey journey. “Getting dressed in the refs’ locker room — that’s what they would get, or the bathroom or whatever. So definitely a lot of perseverance that I don’t think you can have a full comprehension for unless you’ve been through it. So for me to say that must have been really hard, I don’t think I actually can appreciate it fully because I didn’t have to go through it.”

Matheson’s wife and sister are among the many women who helped pave the way for the formation of the PWHL, which makes the Canadiens defenceman very proud. He was joined at Saturday’s game 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 the best season of his nine-year NHL career, posting 11-51-62 totals while playing in all 82 games. His 62 points are the most by a Canadiens defenceman since Andrei Markov had 12-52-64 totals in 2008-09. Only eight defencemen in Canadiens history have had more than 60 points in a season: Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, Chris Chelios, Sheldon Souray, J.C. Tremblay, Mark Streit, Markov and Matheson.

Robinson holds the record for most points by a Canadiens defenceman with 19-66-85 totals in 1976-77, when he also had an incredible plus-120 differential on a powerhouse team that would win its second of four straight Stanley Cups. The only NHL player to ever post a better plus/minus figure 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 fans who will focus on that number and complain that he’s too much of a high-risk defenceman. But on a team that struggles to score goals — especially the forwards — Matheson is counted on heavily to provide offence and he’s also matched up against the other team’s top line every game.

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He does hear the criticism.

“I see the way people talk about me sometimes and it’s frustrating,” said Matheson, who does his best to avoid social media. “I’ve said it before, if everybody just shot the puck off the glass we wouldn’t win a single game. You have to be able to have some players that are going to change the game sometimes. You can’t do that without risk.”

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Matheson took a pass on playing for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship slated for May 10-26 in Czechia because his wife is pregnant with their second child and the due date is during that period.

Saturday wasn’t the first time Matheson attended a PWHL game this season. He went to a few games with his wife earlier in the season, including a couple at the sold-out Place Bell in Laval.

When asked what the success of the PWHL in its inaugural season means to him and his wife, Matheson said: “It’s just incredible.”

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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