MATTHEW TKACHUK SHARES WHOLESOME HOCKEY STORIES – NHL 24 TOTY

We sat down with with one of the 6 players from the @easportsnhl NHL 24 Team of the Year Matthew Tkachuk and asked him about being on the team, his favourite memories from the 2023 season, custom equipment, and some of his first hockey memories!

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First things first I don’t even know if this going to be included in the video because because it’ll come out quite a bit later but happy birthday oh thank you yeah I can’t I’m I feel like I’m wasting your time here not but uh legitimately congratulations I mean Matthew thanks

For joining us and thanks for uh being here as an NHL 24 Team of the Year winner you know it’s it’s quite an honor so how’s that feel to he yeah I mean I definitely I I went into this year um you know in the 20 uh 23 24 year I guess

You could say and um you wanted to like pick up where I left off last year and um last year was such an amazing year and um just like kind of making the move down to Florida and all this change happening around my life and and everything and just just really trying

To embrace it all and enjoy it all and um you know I obviously felt last season was my personally my my favorite one yet so um hopefully it can just continue to go in the right direction but it’s it’s definitely an honor it’s really cool well absolutely and you said like

Uh I mean if your goal in 2023 was to kind of have your best year ever I don’t think there’s many that are going to argue that you did it so uh if but within that year is are there any particular kind of highlights that stand

Out to you as like the things you’ll remember forever definitely it’s just like during the season like 2023 start out we’re in a tough spot um as a team and um kind of just having a fight and Claw and grind and just basically fight each and every

Night just to like try to get into a playoff race let on playoffs alone so um a lot of hard work paid off in that making the playoffs and then playoffs is just like the most fun you could ever imagine and just going round to round to

Round and ending up in the Stanley Cup Final um just amazing memories and so many great um I don’t know like each game like I could pick a thousand things from that are so memorable but it’s hard to beat some of the overtime games and playoffs and and winning those are it’s

Such an incredible feeling yeah I mean you you’ve got so many I’ve got a couple here that I’m I’m gonna I’m gonna hold you to it I’m gonna if you can give me a top three out of these ones that I give you so first Stanley Cup Final appearance pretty incredible obviously

Uh backtack 100o years game five OT goal to spark the comeback versus the Bruins uh there’s the game and then I feel like I can group the whole Carolina series as one with you just kind of backpacking the like there with the game seven final minute goal to win the 40 winner the

Game two OT winner and then so let’s put all those together and then maybe the one other one I’ll throw in there is winning the kachuck bowl Five nothing the other week um wow uh geez that’s a very memorable one because it’s recent um you know what I’m

Gonna throw in another one in there actually um Allstar Weekend down in Florida that uh doing that with my brother and having so much family and friends there that’s easily in the top three um beating Boston and I’m going to kind of group Boston and Toronto a

Little bit together just like winning up both those series on the road um and and being a part of those like historic uh his series was incredible but I think it’s hard to beat the the game four against Carolina goal at the end that was uh one of the most uh amazing

Memories I’ve I’ve ever had probably the most I’ve ever had so um that was incredible sending a team to the Stanley Cup Final I don’t think it’s gon to get much better than that right yeah no that that’s uh it’s an unexpected uh I don’t want to say it was an unexpected

Position to be in but you know after fighting for so so long to like get into the playoffs then all of a sudden like you’re on a power play with a few minutes left to send be able to send your team in the finals it’s uh it just

All happened so fast and was able to enjoy that one for sure okay well I’m I’m also I’m going to go back to the kind of Team of the Year stuff now here and I I’ll just let you know the other winners uh of the team of

The year are it’s you McDavid McKinnon ma Hein in andark um is there anyone on the team of the Year there that you hear and you’d love to play with someday well the other four guys that you that you named well five with allar they’re all uh some of the best at their

Position and um I I think it would be uh the easy answer there’s probably McDavid there just because of everything he does but um I’m super impressed every time I play against uh marar and Hein and like those guys are absolutely incredible at their at their position and um just like

Command the whole game from the start to the end so I think it’d be pretty cool to play with those two defenseman yeah makes sense you’re kind of going actually at them more often right and appreciating a bit more I mean I would like to be going after them but normally

They’re the ones having the puck so it’s uh it’s really hard to play against those two totally fair now that there is a new year 2024 do you have any New Year’s resolutions you kind of said your last one was to have your best year ever got any for this

Year I think it I’m just going to keep it really simple and really easy just do a little bit better than last year and I would be uh I would be pretty happy with that team wise i’ would like to do a little bit better than last year I think

We all know what that means so that’s obviously the goal with with everybody but I’m surrounded by so much talent um and just such a great group that you know I think we’re in a good position and hopefully can give ourselves a chance absolutely I mean you’re off to a

Great start to the year so I think that’ll help um the one other thing so with the team of the year you’re you got these custom gloves custom stick there’s some custom skates going around too how do you feel about kind of this new era

Of gear that it feels like is coming in that uh it’s maybe a little more customized a little you can add different things to it is that something you like to see I do I think that it’s good because there’s so much personality now and people that are actually like

Wanting to show off maybe a little bit more whereas before it was uh kind of like an Unwritten rule that you wouldn’t so um I think that all the customized stuff and um I’d say a little bit more of the flash I think that’s is great for

Hockey and players seem to really like it absolutely is there something if you were going to design uh let’s say a stick or skates or gloves is there something in particular that you might add to it that would be kind of personal to you that you might like to see on

There whether I know you’re big Family Guy or or whatever it may be I think that I would uh o I think that I would represent the whole beach theme and Florida theme on uh on a pair of skates that would be uh that would be pretty uh

Outrageous but I think that would be a cool look I know that uh Mitch Marner had a cool pair of skates uh for the All-Star game that he uh that he kind of I don’t know made him pretty snazzy so that would be pretty cool yeah yeah

He had the white skates out there right the yeah Miami Vice theme yeah yeah that was pretty cool yeah yeah hey can’t go wrong with the beach I mean mix in some uh blue holders there for the the ocean or something you looking like Gretzky

Out there I think uh I think two for a stick I mean you’ve got to uh you’ve got to be able to throw something in there that makes it a little bit harder for goalies to read so maybe go around and ask the goalies what’s the hardest like

Stick color to be able to read the shots because I’d like to score a little bit more on some shots but um I don’t know I think that uh Sherwood right now does a good does a really good job with their design so I’m liking it all well funny

Enough I I I did a feature in all Longo with neander Sherwood buddy of yours who he he spray paints his sticks with the white there right like which I know some I’ve I asked around the league about it and some people like oh maybe it’s

Harder for goalies to track kind of your release and stuff so I don’t know if you want to start spray painting the sticks yeah I don’t know I don’t think I’m stylish enough to pull that off he’s H he’s a little bit different than me that

Way there you go okay well uh so now what what I’m going to do I’m going to give you a couple like basically categories and if you can kind of build me the whole mode is basically Bally about being able to build each player’s ultimate or each kind of person that’s

Playing the game their ultimate team and okay and then so obviously you can get cards from kind of past and present and then so I was going to give you some categories to just do like starting starting lineups so if it uh like three forwards two defenseman and a goalie um

Perfect and it would just so this doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be the best player it would just be kind of maybe the one that is personal to you that you’d be like oh this would be a sick starting six okay first one all USA

Lineup an all USA lineup wow um let’s go with my brother my dad myself up front yeah I love that um let’s go with uh let’s go with Quinn Hughes on defense let’s go with uh Chris Chelios on defense and then in goal let’s go with uh Jimmy Craig from

The 1980 team wow the throwback there okay that was great you ripped that off easy honestly I was I I felt like I saw the kachuck line coming you yeah that’s an easy one yeah okay here’s another one that’s kind of in that same territory

And this one’s kind of almost like a bit of trivia too at the same time but uh okay would you be able to build an alltime brother lineup oh an alltime brother lineup okay so let’s go uh let’s go um I’ll say my brother again myself and uh let’s go with Eric

Stall we’ll go with Mark stall on the back end let’s go with ah it’s tough to leave out Jack Hughes but I’m going to put in Quinn Hughes again and then I can’t even think of a um a goalie right now with the uh with a brother um it’s I I would

Throw back to the uh like the Esposito Esposito Brothers right like uh Tony was a right or yeah yeah exactly that’s that’s let’s do it yeah there you go thought you might try to get like Keith or Brent Gretzky in there or something but uh oh yeah I probably should have

Threw Wayne and that’s okay that’s a big Miss for me no honest I think I think the lineup is pretty unreal regardless no it would be a little bit better with with 99 in there okay and then I’ll give you one more here and that’s the uh the alltime panther

Lineup let’s go alltime Panther lineup let’s do uh yogger um Barky and my cousin Tom Fitzgerald up front let’s stubbing yourself there yeah yeah no I don’t I don’t need to be on this one um let’s go with uh Ed jovanoski and Yandle on defense two beauties yeah um and then in goal

That’s goalie i’ I’ve played with my career and that’s Bob hey what a playoff performance last year so so how could you leave him off of it okay and then I have one last thing for you here Matthew and that’s it’s basically a segment we do called

Like my first time and it’s just I just throw a couple things at you of the first time you’d ever done blank and and if you have a quick memory of it share that and that’s pretty much it first one your first time ever playing in NHL video

Game I think the first time ever playing an NHL video game was uh either be a PR mode where I would enter myself and uh work my way up through like the AHL and into the NHL and I would try to like make it where I was playing with like Crosby and mgan

When I got to the got to the first line or making my own player and being like 611 300 pounds and can absolutely fly out there who puts hitting all the way up so one of those two memories I love that that’s that is a very relatable

Memory for a lot of people for sure just flying through people with the biggest guy you’ve ever seen yeah um and honestly I feel like I I don’t know if I’ve ever played a be a pro that has had a better career than you’ve gotten off the start so I feel

Like you’re you’re doing it better in real life oh that’s nice thank you the uh do you remember the first time you ever broke a stick oh gosh I can’t remember but there was always a uh like a 30-day warranty on them when I was younger so if you

Were to break it you were hoping to break it from like the 25th day the 29th day so um and then I think I I ended up breaking a few just by like accident or um just randomly and and my dad took me to his rink and he’s like go grab

Somebody’s stick and we’re just going to cut it down so nobody uh can break it so I was using like a 100 Flex cut down so like nothing was breaking that I think I used Annie McDonald’s stick for the longest time so that’s wild the guys are

Rocking like 65 Flex now you’re were probably using 250 Flex at that point I I was literally using 200 Flex back then it felt like and now I’m like 70 so I don’t understand how that I that doesn’t make any sense it’s like weight training you know when people put like the heavy

Vest yeah exactly uh do you remember the first time you met a player that you had idolized growing up yeah um first time I met Patrick Kan um at the in 200 or eight or 2009 All-Star Game in Montreal um I was like just getting to that age like 10 11

Years old where you know like I was done thinking of my dad as a the Great hockey player I’m like these young guys are so much cooler than you Dad so it was like Crosby and Kane and oetkin um but Kane being an American I just idolized him

From the start so meeting him that was uh my brother and I were you know we we couldn’t believe it then and I’m sure we’re like quiet awkward kids is nervous to talk to them but it’s just now crazy that we’re playing against a guy like that absolutely um what about the first

NHL jersey you ever own it might it might just be your that but yeah I I remember for Christmas one year we got a signed of vkin Jersey so I don’t know if that necessarily counts I guess other than my dad but um that was right as he was like becoming you know

Rookie of the Year and just taking the league over and I remember that vividly getting it for Christmas that year I was pretty pretty pumped yeah that’s a good one that’s a good one to have uh do you remember the first time you fought

Someone yeah we were in a uh we were in like a little bit of a line brawl in London and Junior and I don’t know if it was really technically a fight but me and one guy were just kind of grabbing and and wrestling around in the ice a

Little bit and um so when I came to the NHL I really had zero fighting experience other than probably wrestling my brother every day growing up but um and then I fought my first fight was in Anaheim um against the Ducks and not

Going to lie I was I had no idea what I was doing just grab and throw and try to get knocked out oh I I watched him over and then so is that uh is it Brandon Lindberg that you fought on Sarnia for the for the

London one I I can’t remember I mean if it was against Saria so I’m sure it was H I’m sure probably accurate it’s a bit of a line RW so it’s kind of yeah yeah it was a muck out there so I’m sure that’s sure that’s accurate that’s

A good memory though because they have it all on hockey fights and those are the that you got the one in London and then the first one against Anaheim so yeah well the one in the one in Anaheim was real the one in London was more of a just

Craziness yeah hly you were chucking him pretty good in there though that was was a great fight um okay uh I’m gonna give you two last ones here uh do you remember the first time someone famous followed you on Instagram oh gosh um I I don’t know if they follow me but

I remember when I was drafted uh somehow I don’t know who did it compared me to grank I don’t know why or what they thought of um and then grank tweeted out like that he like loved it or that he was like you know following me or I don’t even remember

What it was but the fact that he put me in his tweet like this is while he’s in like the Heyday of the Patriots I was like that is that’s like a welcome welcome to the big league moment absolutely you’re showing everybody that the gr just tweeted me for sure yeah

That was cool and he was like one I’m a big I was a big Pats fan when him and Brady were on the team so I that was really cool with me awesome yeah and then so final one uh do you remember the first time you got an NHL team of the

Year right now so it’s very exciting and uh yeah hoping that there could be a few more down the road