New Gophers captain wants strong bonds between players

Taylor Matson, voted by teammates to be their captain next hockey season, has fully recovered from his lower-body injury late last season.

Now he can say publicly what it was: a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. That was his good knee. He had surgery on his left knee as a freshman for a torn ACL. He had two surgeries on his left ankle as a sophomore and now has a titanium rope holding the joint together.

He didn't need surgery as a junior. "It healed on it's own," Matson said in a recent phone interview. "It's 100 percent. It just needed a couple of weeks. It was bad timing."

That it was. Matson, a third line center from Holy Angels, was hurt in the first game of the series at Bemidji State on March 4-5. That was the Gophers' last series of the regular season.

So he missed the next weekend when the Gophers were swept at home by Alaska Anchorage 4-3, 2-0 in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

"It was disappointing for me," Matson said of sitting and watching. "I thought I had a pretty good year and definitely coule have helped the team with Alaska Anchorage."

Matson said if the Gophers had beaten the Seawolves, he might have been able to play in the WCHA Final Five at the Xcel the following weekend.

MATSON ON LEADERSHIP

Matson said Gophers coach Don Lucia has given him a book on how to be a captain and a leader. "It has everything you should know," Matson said.

"For me, I'll lead by example. A lot of players respect me for how I work. And I'll be vocal. It's something guys look up to, when you work hard."

Matson was the captain of the Holy Angels hockey and tennis teasm as a junior and senior at the Catholic school in Richfield.

Matson said the players need to play for each other, "become a family."

"When I watch the "Miracle [on Ice]" movie, I always notice how the players are so close with each other. When relationships are that strong, you play harder because you care about individuals and teammates that much."

This past season, the Gophers had victories over NCAA champion Minnesota Duluth and two other Frozen Four teams, North Dakota and Michigan.

"We made huge strides and in the last seven games we were undefeated [5-0-2] before playing Alaska Anchorage," Taylor said., "We had enough skill if would could have played consistent."

He said a huge part of the success the Gophers did have was the play of goalie Kent Patterson. "He was unbelievable last year. What hurt us was Zach [Budish] being out. He is a great guy on and off the ice."

Both Patterson and Budish, a right wing, will be back for the 2011-12 season. Patterson will return for his senior season, Budish will be a redshirt sophomore.

Matson expects to be a good spokesman for the Gophers. "I took [a class in] public speaking last year," he said, "and have done quite a few interviews."

Often the subject of those interviews has been Matson's injuries. He had not made it through a complete Gophers' season yet in three years. Here are his stats:

Games Goals Assists Pts. plus-minus

2008-09 13 1 0 1 -7

2009-10 19 2 3 5 +5

Career 65 13 6 19 -5

SUMMER PLANS

Matson said hockey players had two weeks off for finals, but summer workouts began at 8 a.m. Monday. Matson, who is 6-0, 186, said he trains about two hours daily, lifting weights, running and exercising (plyometrics). Later in the afternoon, players get ice time if they want to skate.

To lighten his course load next spring when he will graduate, Matson is taking a couple May term classes, which started Monday. He also will take an online class during summer school. He is a business marketing major who hopes to get a job connected with the health industry,

Maybe a job similar to the one ex-Gophers trainer Erik Rasmussen has, which is selling knee braces.

For hobbies, Matson said he golfs occassionally but prefers tennis and fishing. His father is an avid fisherman. His family home is on Lake Minnetonka, and Matson offen fishes there or at one of his family's two cabins, one near Alexandria, the other near Nimrod, Minn..

Matson lives in an apartment on campus with three other players: defensemen Chris Student and Nate Schmidt and forward Nate Condon.

TAYLOR-MADE THOUGHTS

* On having as many as 16 forwards this coming season on Gophers' roster: "It will be great for competition. Guys will have to work for their sports. ... One or two players always get injured, so it is great to have extra guys."

* Can a third-line player be an effective captain? "Our players voted and they look up to me as a leader, and how hard I play and the energy I play with. ... Maybe they will say, 'If I play with Taylor, I have to play that hard, too.' The bar should be set for them."