In the 2006 NHL Draft, the Washington Capitals selected tiny QMJHL centerman Mathieu Perreault with the 77th overall pick, and RMNB fell in love. During his time in Washington’s organization, Perreault won two Calder Cups in Hershey and played on the President’s Trophy-winning Caps team. He was a dazzling possession player for the Caps before the team had an analytics department. And we can’t forget about the #PerryCellys and onesies.

A few years ago, the Caps traded away the man we once called Perreaultcho-cinco to make room for first-round pick Tom Wilson. Now Perreault, continuing to blossom as a player, has a new biggest fan. His name is Matthew Perreault.

I’ll let his dad Danny Perreault explain.

So for Christmas my son wanted to see his favorite player Mathieu Perreault. The reason why he’s my son’s favorite player is that my son’s name is Matthew Perreault and, like Mathieu, he wants to be a forward in the NHL!

Up until last year he had played half goalie and half forward, but when he found out that Mathieu was a full-time forward that ended his goalie career. I checked the calendar and the Winnipeg Jets were in town to
play the Edmonton Oilers on December 21st. I e-mailed the Jets organization and also called their PR department. It was a team policy that there are no meet-and-greets on game days, but the Jets allowed us to come to their game-day practice at Rexall Place.

That day, we took a sign (my amazing wife’s idea) along with us that explained why we were there. During practice, Mathieu waved at us. When he stepped off the ice, he signed the jersey and hat my son was wearing. We were so enthralled by the moment, we never snapped a picture of the two Matty P’s together. Despite that, massage therapist Al Pritchard grabbed us a puck off the ice before we left to cap off the visit. Mathieu was so generous with his time and made my son feel so dang special. I know it was just a few minutes of his time, but it was something that my son and I enjoyed immensely and will remember forever!

That night we arrived to the game very early, and we had modified the sign to say thank you. Mathieu acknowledged us again and tossed a puck over the glass for us. This puck Matthew kept and the one we received earlier went to his brother. The only thing left would be to have Mathieu score a goal, which he said he would try to do. But the Jets ran into a hot goalie and lost the Oilers despite putting 47 shots on goal.

What a fun story.