UConn’s Wood rides wave of confidence up NHL draft lists

Matthew Wood will often get to work in the garage of his family home in Nanaimo, B.C. 

"I have a nice little setup," the University of Connecticut winger said. "I love coming in here. I'm really grateful to have this in my house." 

Wood, who is a top prospect in the 2023 NHL draft class, turns his phone around to provide a quick tour. 

"It's a little bit dirty," the 18-year-old said with a chuckle. "I have the shooting tarp right there, and a weight rack and weights and stuff. I just open up the garage door and I'm able to shoot from my driveway, so it's a great set up." 

There are motivational messages on the wall. 

"There's two signs on the window," he said. "'Believe in yourself' and 'Never lose heart.' There's another one up on the roof over there that says, 'Win the day.' It's things I can look at and get inspiration from."

One slogan, in particular, resonates.  

"'Believe in yourself,' is pretty big for me," said Wood, who stands 6-foot-4, 197 pounds. "I struggled with a bit of confidence back in the BCHL, and I think everyone goes through that. It's always important to believe in yourself."

A lot of people are believing in Wood these days. With 34 points in 35 games, he led the Huskies in scoring despite being the youngest player in NCAA hockey. NHL Central Scouting took notice and moved him up from No. 8 to No. 4 on their final list of North American skaters.   

During a conversation with TSN, Wood outlined his plan to take another big step this summer and explained why Tage Thompson is his NHL role model. The following is an edited transcript of the interview. 

TSN: You went from five points in 12 games with the Victoria Grizzlies in 2020-21 to 85 points in 46 games the next year. What was the turning point? 

Wood: "I played in the BCHL pod season [with pandemic restrictions]. I was only 15 and hadn't played at that high of a level yet and wasn't doing too well. I started working with a mental performance coach during that season and then over the summer and went into my 16-year-old season with a lot of confidence and knowing what to expect. I had a pretty big jump after that."

TSN: Was there one message from the mental performance coach that helped the most?  

Wood: "I wouldn't say there was one particular thing. It was me mentally realizing that if I don't have confidence, like, all the hard work is going to mean nothing. So, that kind of clicked in my head. I learned a lot of little tricks from him. Ever since then I've had my ups and downs, but I still believe in having a lot of confidence in myself and it's working so far."

TSN: You chose to play college hockey against older competition this year. What do you think you proved? 

Wood: "I proved that I can adjust to different levels of play, different styles of play and I can improve my game and grow as a player. I'm up for any challenge that comes my way." 

TSN: Where do you feel you improved the most as the year progressed? 

Wood: "I got a lot more confident as the season went on and I was able to learn quite a bit about the way that I had to play at the college level, and it showed. There was a lot of improvement throughout the year and my ability to learn and grow as a player is pretty good."

TSN: During a news conference at last week's combine Dan Marr, the director of NHL Central Scouting, said he felt your skating habits improved over the season. What adjustments did you make in that area?

Wood: "It helped a lot being able to play at a faster level against older guys, stronger guys, and having to push myself in that way. I worked really hard at it throughout the year and last summer and this summer too."

TSN: What do you want to improve this summer?

Wood: "I'm working to improve everything, but I'm definitely focused on acceleration, separation speed and overall strength, especially in my legs. I think I'm going to take a big jump next year and will have a lot of confidence coming in knowing what's going to happen."

TSN: How do you work on those things in the summer? 

Wood: "I have a really good trainer where I live in Nanaimo, and we have a program specialized to work on those things. I have a skating coach in Vancouver [Bruno Del Mastro] that I work with. I'm just focusing every day when I'm in the gym or on the ice and not just to get it done, but to really focus on trying to improve and put everything together." 

TSN: How far do you go back with Del Mastro? 

Wood: "Not too long. I started skating with him a little bit last summer and then a lot more consistently this summer ... My billet brother from Victoria, Hoyt Stanley, skates with him and [Connor] Bedard skates with him too. That's how I found out about him."

TSN: For a big guy you have some soft hands. How did you develop that? 

Wood: "Stickhandling since I was young in my garage and my basement in my old house. I love just fooling around and stick handling. I think that's where it comes from when you're young. You just love it and I've always loved doing it." 

TSN: You don't use traditional hockey tape on your blade. What's the story there?

Wood: "It's called BladeTape. I'm pretty sure it's meant for younger kids, so you don't have to re-tape your stick, but I like it because it's pretty sticky and there's no tape on the bottom of the stick. It lets my blade slide pretty well. I've always used it since I was young, and I loved it." 

TSN: How many teams did you talk to at the combine? 

Wood: "It was a busy week. Probably 20." 

TSN: What was the toughest question you were asked? 

Wood: "The weirdest question was, 'What would you want people to say at your funeral?' I wasn't really expecting that one. That was probably the one I wasn't prepared for at all. I probably took 10 seconds to kind of process it for sure. I definitely was a bit shocked."

TSN: What did you say? 

Wood: "I just said that I'd want people to miss me and say I was a good person to be around and brought positivity to the world."

TSN: TSN director of scouting Craig Button has you going to St. Louis at No. 10 in his latest mock draft so you may be off the board when the Vancouver Canucks pick at No. 11, but what would it mean to be picked by your hometown team? 

Wood: "Wherever I go I'm going to be thrilled but being from B.C. it would be a pretty cool experience. Growing up, I always loved watching them and they're a great franchise. It'd be cool to be close to home. Whatever happens, happens, but that'd be awesome." 

TSN: Did you have a favourite moment growing up as a fan? Maybe going to a game? 

Wood: "I went and watched Connor McDavid play the Canucks and he had an unreal game. I know that's not really a Canucks memory, but it was pretty cool to see how good he was."

TSN: You wear No. 71, because your childhood idol was Evgeni Malkin. What was it like talking to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the combine? 

Wood: "A cool experience. I've always watched them and especially Malkin. It's something where your younger self would be pretty amazed that that happened. I had a lot of fun doing it ... I told them I grew up watching Malkin and I tried to ask about him and how he handles himself."

TSN: Did you learn anything about Malkin that you didn't know before? 

Wood: "I tried to learn as much as I could about him. They said he works hard and is really driven and always shows up in the big moment." 

TSN: You showed up in a big moment for Team Canada at the Under-18 World Championship in April. You had four points in the bronze-medal game, including a tying goal late in the third period. How did you elevate in that moment? 

Wood: "I was able to be really focused and in the moment. I was feeling good. I think I got more and more confident as the tournament went on and that was the end goal. I was able to go out and play my game."

TSN: Who is your NHL role model now? 

Wood: "I'd probably say Tage Thompson. He's a UConn guy too, and he's big and skilled and can score from anywhere. I love watching his game and I think he's an unbelievable player." 

TSN: Did you hear a lot about him this year at UConn? 

Wood: "I definitely watched a lot of his games and asked a lot of questions about what he was like and how hard he worked and what he liked to work on. It's paying off for him now, because he's doing unbelievable things. I know one my assistant coaches is still trying to get him to finish his degree. I'm like, 'He's probably pretty busy. Lay off him a bit.'"

TSN: Did you have a favourite story you heard about Tage? 

Wood: "That's probably it. He has a kid now as well and the assistant coach is still on him about finishing his degree. I don't think he likes school too much. I think he likes scoring more than school." 

TSN: What was your welcome-to-college moment? 

Wood: "I got a text from my academic advisor that my assignment was already two weeks late and I had only been there for three weeks. I was like, 'What is going on?' I didn't even know that. So, I had to adjust to all that stuff pretty quickly." 

TSN: What did you have to change?  

Wood: "I wasn't used to school assignments being all online and all the due dates online. In high school I was used to going every day and teachers telling me constantly, 'It's due in three days, it’s due in two days, due in one day,' but got to keep up with your emails and stuff. I definitely had to learn that."