Tuesday, May 8, 2012

BC Recruit is Turning Heads

BC Recruit is Turning Heads
Mike Matheson will join the defending national champions at BC in the fall. (Photo by Jim Naprstek, Dubuque Fighting Saints)

Boston College recruit Mike Matheson was a highly touted prospect entering this season with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, but in the first half he didn’t always show his first-round NHL Draft potential.

Jim Leitner of the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, in a feature posted on USHL.com, details how the defenseman stepped up his game and solidified his place as a first-round prospect. He starts with Matheson’s decision to leave home and pursue the college hockey path:

The popular choice for the defenseman from Pointe-Claire, Quebec, would have been to stay close to home and play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, which features a grueling, professional-style schedule. As a sure-fire first-round draft pick, he could have expected a hefty signing bonus that would have disqualified him from his second option.

But the idea of playing NCAA Division I hockey intrigued the then-16-year-old. With a less-demanding schedule, he figured he could mature mentally and physically with significantly more practice time and weight-room sessions, not to mention a quality education.

Matheson decided on the second option, which led him to the Dubuque Fighting Saints in September. He spent this season in the United States Hockey League to transition from Under-18 Midget AAA hockey in Quebec to a waiting scholarship at reigning national champion Boston College.

After struggling through the first half of a USHL season filled with high expectations, Matheson developed into a dominant defenseman in his final two months in Dubuque. And, in a little more than six weeks, he might join Saints captain Zemgus Girgensons as a first-round pick at the NHL Draft in Pittsburgh.

“When you look at the improvement I made throughout the whole season and into the playoffs, it shows you how good a program we have here in Dubuque and how good of a league the USHL is,” Matheson said. “This season definitely reinforced my decision. At the same time, watching BC go all the way this year and the way they develop their defensemen reinforces it even more.”

To read the rest of the story, visit USHL.com.