Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 100

How did you
get started?
MB: Just like any other
Canadian boy, everyone played
hockey. My dad liked hockey.
He didn’t play seriously or any-
thing, but I grew up watching
hockey with him and wanted
to skate at an early age. My
parents tell me I expressed
an interest to skate early on.
I think I first said I wanted to
play hockey at three and my
dad said, ‘Well, you’re not going
to play until you learn to skate
so we’re going to have to get
you some roller blades and get
you started. You have to prove
to me you’re a good enough
skater before I put you in,’ so
he got me a pair of roller blades
and that’s how I started.
played minor hockey again in
Oakbank, played midget Triple
A with Eastman Selects as a
15-year-old. Then the following
year, at 16, was my first year
in Neepawa with the Natives
(MJHL). From there, I spent
two years in the USHL, one
with Tri-City and one in Sioux
Falls. I had committed to the
University of Alaska-Anchorage
when I was in Neepawa and
played four years in Anchorage.
Since Anchorage, I
guess you’ve been
Suitcase Matt Bailey?
MB: Yeah, I’ve played for a lot
of teams and one thing hockey
has given me is an education
and a free way to travel North
America and now, parts of the
world. I’m pretty grateful that
I’m able to do what I love and
get the travel and see a lot of
places in the world that not
everybody gets to see.
How did you like
Sweden last season?
MB: I loved Sweden. Obviously,
it was a short stint there at the
end of the season, but I loved
the culture in Sweden and I
loved living there. Everyone
speaks English. I loved going
out for big lunch buffets and
going out for coffee every
morning. It’s a really relaxed
way of life and obviously, with
the hockey, everything went
as well as it could have gone. It
went so well from a team stand-
point and really well personally,
too. I was lucky that opportu-
nity came up. I made the best of
a great opportunity and it was a
fun experience, for sure.
How did it happen?
How did you get from
Stockton to Mora
at the end of last
season?
MB: I was playing in Stockton
in the AHL and it was one of
those situations where we had a
lot of guys and for me, coming
You’ve had a lot of
success, but you’ve
from a different organization,
never been a highly-
I was really going to have to
touted, can’t-miss
force their hand and it was a
player. What got you
situation where Calgary had
to the highest levels
guys ahead of me – their own
of European pro
How did you get
draft picks and some veterans
hockey?
from roller
from within their organization
MB: For me, I was never one of – and I wasn’t getting much of
blading around the
neighborhood to
the guys who scouts pointed to an opportunity to play. I was
the highest level of
and said, “Oh, he’s a sure thing. sitting out a lot and the all-star
Swedish pro hockey?
He’ll be a star at the next level.’ break came around and out of
MB: Right from an early age I
They were never sure that I’d
nowhere I got a call from this
knew I wanted to be a hockey
make it to the next level. I was
coach in Sweden. A guy who
player so I played minor hockey never at the top of my age class.
had played in the American
in Oakbank. I played all my
That gave me the motivation to League was playing for him and
minor hockey there and I think keep proving people wrong. At
they were looking for a forward.
at 12, I went to the Edge of
the same time, I knew I could
At first, I didn’t think too much
Excellence camp at Gateway
do it. As long as I kept work-
of it. I was playing in the AHL
and it was one of the very first
ing harder than everyone else
and I knew I was a good player
years they were promoting the
and kept getting better that I’d in that league and I was kind
Pursuit of Excellence program
make it to where I wanted to go. of just waiting for my chance
and I saw the promotional vid- I think that attitude and that
to get an opportunity and run
eo and said, ‘That’s what I want commitment to getting better is
with it,