Matheson's Mailbag: First Goal, Thanksgiving

Throughout the entire 2016-17 season, Florida Panthers rookie defenseman Mike Matheson will be answering all of your questions about life on and off the ice his monthly mailbag for FloridaPanthers.com.
Have a question you want answered? Tweet them using #MathesonsMailbag!

Tweet from @rigtimmins: #MathesonsMailbag Which one of the other beanpot schools did you enjoy playing against the most? Why? All the best, buddy!
I'd have to say Boston University. That was our biggest rival. Whenever we played BU the atmosphere was out of this world, but in the Beanpot it was absolutely nuts. We won two out of three (2013 and 2014) while I was at Boston College.
Within those rivalries, I think there's also a good amount of respect between everyone on the ice because everyone just enjoys the Beanpot so much and it's so much fun to play in.
It's always nice to see a familiar face whenever I see guys in the NHL that I played against in the Beanpot. It kind of brings you back to when both of you were both competing against each other in the college ranks. It's also kind of cool to look at each other and think, 'Hey, we both made it.'

It's tough to narrow it down to one person.
I try to look at a lot of guys. That's one thing that Rob Schremp told me when we played together in Portland last year. He said that throughout his career he always tried to learn one thing from each of the guys that he's played with. I kind of carry that with me.
At the same, I definitely watch guys like Kris Letang and Nicklas Lidstrom, the kind of guys that found a way to be really good defensively and still create things offensively. I just look at what they do well and try to implement those things into my game.

It was pretty cool.
I wish we could have held on in that game and won it, but it was something that I'd dreamed of my entire life. I didn't even know it went in at first. Hopefully they'll be more to come. I haven't scored one in a little while, so I've got to get back to it.
I'm not really sure where I'm going to put the puck. It'll probably end up at my parents' house.

A bunch of us went over to Keith Yandle's house.
It was nice for him to have all of us over. The food was great and it was obviously great company. All of the food was good, especially the turkey. I brought Oreo balls for dessert.

It's probably Keith Yandle. He's got such a dry sense of humor. Actually, Yandle and Mark Pysyk are probably tied for first because both of them are so funny.
As for your second question, I love doing meet-and-greets. I especially enjoyed the meet-and-greet after our overtime victory against the New York Islanders. It was incredible to see how many people were there and how excited they all were.

I'd have to say the Bell Centre in Montreal.
I grew up there and watched a lot of games there. I remember sitting in the stands, I think it was a year or two after I got drafted, and kind of thinking to myself, "OK, I got drafted, but can I actually play here?"
I remember roughly where I was sitting, so when we took the ice for morning skate before our game earlier this month I kind of peaked up towards that corner. It was amazing to think that it wasn't that long ago that I was sitting up there.
At this point, pretty much every building that we go into it's my first time there. I have no idea where to go to get to the locker room and stuff like that. But at the Bell Centre, I knew exactly where to go. It felt like home.
Thanks for your questions and keep them coming!