One-on-One with Matthew Savoie
James Gallow with musia Warriors 19-year-old Ford Matthew seavo guess 20 years old he turned back in early January and uh Matthew I do want to go back to earlier in January I know you were at the world junior hockey championships but you know I’m sure news
Was kind of trickling to you about a possible trade uh maybe not knowing mush at the time but you know when you found out that it was the musia Warriors what was your initial response I think it was just a lot of excitement for my end um
You know a lot of intrigue uh having played against this team for the last couple years quite a bit and um I was just excited I was happy for for the opportunity and um and I’m excited to get things going here was there a lot of rumors that kind of you know circled
Back to you at the world juniors I know you were focused on other things and bigger things but you know was there kind of a little bit of possibility hearing that you becomeing of the Warriors yeah I think you know I was definitely hearing it a little bit
Especially being around yags and and d and FK all the time but um no I I didn’t think too much of it I thought uh you know there was a good chance I was getting traded I just didn’t really nowhere and didn’t want to uh take my
Focus away from from the tournament so I didn’t really want to you know think too much on it or or worry too much about it until it was till the tournament was done and um but once the tournament was done with I was pretty excited to to
Find out you had a whirlwind first half right you go to wachi and then you’re off to Buffalo you start the season with the Sabers and then you’re back to wachi for 11 games and you’re off to the world juniors for month and then now you’re
Back here Moosejaw is is it nice maybe for the second half to put some Roots down and and and get comfortable knowing that this is it this is where you’re riding for the rest of the year yeah 100% it was definitely a a pretty busy pretty um you know chaotic first half of
The year you if you want to say that but um it was fun it was it was a blast playing with all those different teams and uh getting to learn a lot from from older guys and guys that have so much experience playing at high levels and um
Even the world juniors playing with new guys and get new experience playing with um you know different players and new experiences and I thought you know all of it was good for me and I fun throughout all of it talking with Musa Warrior Matthew Sao Matthew I want to go
And ask you about your time with Buffalo you know how was that experience and what’s maybe something that you learned from that to bring back here to the Western Hockey League I think um you know just how to you know attack every day like a pro um
Whether that’s on or off the ice I think maintaining you know how your body’s feeling how you’re doing off the ice um with you know how you’re working on the ice and and how you’re getting better in the gym and stuff like that I think I
Learned a lot from from you know lots of guys down in Buffalo and in for many time in Rochester so um you know I thought I could take lots of those lessons from from some of those experienced guys and and apply them this year and uh coming back here anybody in
Particular that you kind of gravitated to during that time uh there was lots of guys I think um you know pyton Krabs was definitely one of them uh Alex tuck um there was lots of guys I hung out with Dylan cousins so lots of Western guys that that are pretty good
Guys over there and uh and let me hang out with them let me you know get to know them a little bit and it was it was pretty fun you talked about being familiar and it can’t be easy going into a new room but when you came to the
Warriors was it nice having that familiarity of D matak brayen Jagger Jagger Fus to kind of you know help you get a little more acclimated to the team and to the community yeah big time I think that’s uh that’s probably the biggest challenge going to a new team is
Not knowing any of the guys and um kind of feeling like an outlier at first but that uh definitely wasn’t the case here no one um you know three guys that um you know have a big voice in that locker room and um and they they took me in
Right away I think all the guys did it’s a really good dressing room they have there and uh really tighten it group from what it seems like I haven’t been here too long but uh getting to know every guy better and better every day and uh it’s been been a great time so
Far I think we’re familiar with with what you bring because of your time with the Winnipeg ice and seeing you so much but when you look at your game what do you think is a part of your game that that you don’t maybe get the credit that you maybe feel you do um
I think uh my speed is definitely my biggest asset to my game but I think you know over the past year year or two I think I’ve been working on my shot a ton and um just changing the angle of being able to release it different ways and um
Just picking picking my spot where I really want to put it and um been seeing some results this year and even last year scoring some more goals and um some timely ones as well I think those are important your competitiveness is something that I’ve enjoyed watching when you were with Winnipeg is that
Competitive that competitiveness that asset and your experience something that’s great to bring into this locker room right now yeah I think uh you know I think that’s always a good thing to bring um you know having an experience in the playoffs last year just how hard
We had to work to you know get to the finals and then um and have that have a successful season I think you know it was two successful Seasons we’ve had in the last two years with Winnipeg and um those are not easy to do and uh I think it’s just the
Consistency of you know putting the work in every day and continuing to get better vetan I think um you know I’ve played played lots of games in this league at this point so I think I can bring uh a a little bit of leadership to to this group as well talking with
Matthew SEO like to get you know get to know you a little bit more now we know you played with wachi in the Winnipeg franchise maybe talk about your road to the Western Hockey leag where where were some of the you know minor hockey places
That you P that you that you played with we knew you grew up in St Albert Alberta but you know maybe talk about your journey to the Western Hockey yeah I played in uh St Albert for all my minor hockey and then um ended up in Bantam
Going to NX uh in the CSS chill it’s just a hockey program in Edmonton and um played with some pretty good players there and then got drafted to Winnipeg out of uh out of NX and then went to Winnipeg when I was 15 so moved away
From home at a pretty young age I was actually lucky to stay at home for for the prep school years but uh no it was good I was excited to to start off in the Western Hockey League at a young age and then obviously Co hit and um had to
Kind of change it up but uh no it was good it was I’m excited for uh for this year and I’m excited for for what’s what’s to come with this team has there been any you know minor hockey coaches along the way that have had a pretty big impact on
You yeah I think uh oh there’s so many I mean my dad coached me pretty much all the way growing up and then uh I mean Ser ASU I think he’s actually with the O Kings right now I played with his son Mark growing up so he was always one of
My coaches usually and um I mean Tyrell Spitzer Matt tone with both with na both with NX and then uh even James Patrick with Winnipeg I think he played such a big big role in my development and um just helped me get to where I am today and be the person I am
And the person I am at the rink I think he uh he definitely put some big put some good habits into into all the players that he had there and uh and no it’s been good with all the coaches winding down with Matthew seavoy just a couple of fun questions first off when
You’re not at the rink what do you like to do for fun um sleep hang out um play video games um and not too much have you got into the Call of Duty tournament that’s going on here right now yeah I’m involved in it for sure I haven’t played enough to to
Quite move myself up the rankings as much as I’d like but uh I’ve been playing a little bit for yourself I would assume the Buffalo Sabers are your favorite NHL team right now but uh for favorite NHL player maybe growing up who would that be at all um I was going to
The oiler games all the time right cuz I was in Edmonton so probably uh probably Newen Hopkins um I mean we had so much good talent in Edmonton I feel like when I was growing up it was perfect time lots of first overall picks coming in and um lots of lots of fun
Players to watch so uh Newan Hopkins is probably probably my favorite player to watch growing up how about your favorite visiting Western Hockey League rank um to play yeah oh definitely Edington is that is that the sentimental Factor on it or just the NHL rank type of thing I think
A little bit of both I think it’s such a cool rink I skate during the summer so there’s familiarity factor I guess a little bit and uh my my family’s always all there so uh it’s pretty pretty pretty special to play in Edmonton lastly Matt if you could have supper
With any professional athlete past or present who would that be in why um professional athlete probably probably like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant I’ve seen lots of documentaries on those guys and just how they approached life and um and how their careers were and and I think it’d be
Pretty cool to just hear some stories from them and um pick their brain a little bit number 93 for the bo JW Warriors Matthew seavoy great watching you fun watching you down watching you down the stretch thank you appreciate it
Voice of the Warriors James Gallo goes one-on-one with Matthew Savoie to give fans an insight into the team’s newest star forward.
