Eastman cousins continue to battle at NHL camps

While they came into their 20-year-old NHL training camps with different goals and expectations, former Eastman Selects Denton Mateychuk and Owen Pickering both appear to be thriving with their respective teams.

Dominion City’s Mateychuk appears on a mission to crack the Columbus Blue Jackets opening night roster. The defenseman scored two goals in his first two exhibition games this season.

“I feel like I’m playing good hockey, and I feel good out there,” Mateychuk said in a media scrum after a 3-2 loss to Washington.

“I’m going out there to play my game and whatever happens, happens.”

Mateychuk has brought his signature aggressive style to the pre-season, and it has paid off.

The 2004-born defenseman is showing no hesitation to jump into the play at the NHL level, rushing up the left hand side of the ice to receive a pass and lead a three-on-two rush, beating Capitals goalie Logan Thompson for his second pre-season goal in as many games.

“I like to be the weak side D, and jump in, and that’s what the coaching staff wants,” Mateychuk said.

“That’s what I’m trying to do, and I’ve had a couple opportunities to do that.”

Making an NHL roster as a 20-year-old defenseman is a tough challenge, with Columbus head coach Dean Everson acknowledging Mateychuk is making the organization’s decision a hard one.

“We’ll see what shakes out, we’ve still got some games,” Everson said after the Washington game.

“He’s going to be an NHL player for a long time. If he starts here, wonderful. If he doesn’t his development is going to be continually steady.”

Everson praised Mateychuk’s poise when defending, especially when the young defenseman makes mistakes, noting Mateychuk doesn’t panic or press to make up for it, but instead plays within the system to try and re-gain possession.

“If you can’t defend, you’re not going to be able to play,” Mateychuk said.

“What I’ve been told is your offense can get you here, but your defense is what keeps you in the NHL and prolongs your career.”

For Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Pickering, just getting to fully participate in training camp is a victory after injuries derailed his early seasons for the past two years.

Pickering was finally able to play in a pre-season game, appearing in both the Penguins pre-season home debut Sept. 24, a 5-2 win against Ottawa in Sudbury Sept. 29 during Kraft Hockeyville and an Oct. 1 match-up with the Red Wings.

It’s been a long off-season for the defenseman, who has diligently worked to add weight to his 6’5 frame. He said “it was war sometimes at the dinner table,” while laughing during a radio interview with Tribune-Review sports columnist Tim Benz on 105.9 The X after his first pre-season game.

The St Adolphe defenseman has even been drinking olive oil shots to pack on as many calories as possible. Those efforts, including eating seven meals a day, paid off with a weight gain of 18 pounds.

“It definitely is worth it, when you get on the ice against NHL players, you feel more comfortable in net front battles and trying to kill plays in the corner,” Pickering said, thanking his mom for cooking so much during the off-season.

“There are just things where you need that brute strength and I feel like I’ve been lacking that a little bit in the past. It’s nowhere near where I want it to be in the future, down the road, but for right now I feel like it’s gotten a lot better.”

Both the game against Ottawa and Detroit featured rosters full of NHL players, as Pittsburgh’s plans went up in smoke thanks to travel delays forcing the game against the Red Wings to be rescheduled.

“Once I got out there, I felt like it kind of turned into a hockey game,” Pickering said on his first pre-season game.

“Obviously we’ve had a pretty competitive camp here over the past two weeks, I think it was just a continuation of that.”

The D-man was a plus-two through two pre-season games, noting he’ll always remember the moment the Penguins were announced in his first pre-season game.

Pickering will likely start the season with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.