It was all because of that mugshot on the Columbus Blue Jackets website.
During the lead-up to the World Junior Hockey Championship, Moose Jaw Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk was contacted by TSN with an interesting idea -- a video feature riffing on his overly serious approach to the game and how he ran things in the Team Canada dressing room through intensity and fear.
The tongue-in-cheek video called ‘How Serious Could This Player Be About Hockey’ was played during Canada’s game against Latvia and saw various scenes of Mateychuk using his intensity in hilarious fashion, including intimidating Team Canada goaltender Samuel St. Hilaire into taking a wide-eyed photo similar to his Blue Jackets headshot.
The whole thing was shot over a couple of hours on media day prior to Canada leaving for Sweden and has since been viewed thousands of times on TSN’s website.
“They had talked to me a couple of weeks before the camp after seeing my picture from Columbus, that’s all it took,” Mateychuk said with a grin shortly after practice on Thursday afternoon. “I didn’t even mean to do that in my Columbus picture, it’s just the way it came out, but they decided to come up with some ideas for a video for the tournament. I think it turned out pretty decent.”
You can see for yourself by clicking right here.
And just so folks know, Mateychuk isn’t actually a Kylo Ren in the dressing room, despite TSN’s portrayal.
“I’m more of a fun guy and like to goof around a bit, but once it gets to game time and practice things are more serious,” he said. “But definitely not like that.”
The 19-year-old defenceman went into Team Canada’s selection camp as a virtual lock to make the team, and once that formality was out of the way, it was a matter of where he would slot in.
As it turns out, Mateychuk would end up playing the most minutes of any Team Canada player and would join defensive partner Maveric Lamoureux in picking up a Top Player award at the end of the event.
“I think it just kind of comes naturally, you just go out there and try and lead by example and they pick up on that,” Mateychuk said of landing his leadership role. “You have to earn it, they give you an idea of the kind of role they expect you to play and then in the pre-tournament and practices you have to show you can play that role.
“It was an awesome experience. It was unfortunate how it ended but it’s always nice to be able to represent your country.”
The ice time was nothing unusual for Mateychuk given how he plays a similar number of minutes in Moose Jaw, so it was just a matter of getting used to the style of game at that level.
“It’s definitely something I play hard for and that’s kind of my game, so I just went out there and tried to be myself and not worry about it too much,” he said. “The wide ice is quite a bit different than what we’re used to, so we had a little extra room to play with, but checking is more difficult, too, so it’s just something to get used to.”
Of course, things didn’t end up going as well as Canada hoped, with their final-minute loss to Czechia in the quarter-final.
“Once it gets to the quarter-finals, one bad bounce can be the tournament, and that’s what ended up happening,” he said. “It’s obviously a pretty emotional time after something like that and some things just aren’t meant to be.”
One thing that Mateychuk and the rest of the Warriors hope is meant to be is a long playoff run in a couple months time -- something that will only be helped once former Wenatchee superstar Matthew Savoie arrives in Canada’s Most Notorious City.
“We get a guy of that calibre, it’s going to really help our team and move our depth down, which is really good and I’m excited to see what happens the rest of the way here,” Mateychuk said.
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday night when the Vancouver Giants are in town. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
