Cole Matson named lightning captain ahead of home opener
The Lethbridge Litghtning open their season at home tonight at Nicolas Sheran arena. Ahead of the opener, the Lightning have named veteran team member Cole Matson their captain for this year. Cole met with Lethbridge Sports to discuss his team getting back on the ice. “I think above everything with the pandemic giving light to some things.” Cole says, “Everyone’s excited to get back to get playing and enjoying those aspects of life and a sense of normalcy.” Cole adds that he personally is “Excited to get out of the house and have a social life again.”
Turning to the team, Cole is optimistic about the squad for this season. The preseason has been “Going really good. We were a bit slow to draw interest. People didn’t want to have false hope, we had the same story last season with things opening up at first then had things fall thorough. A few guys are a little cautious to get too invested, but now that we’re up and going we’re starting to draw substantially more players and interest. I think we have a lot of really talented hockey players. One of the best squads in my memory. Some of the guys are enthusiastic. I like our odds – really like our odds. The biggest thing is to get back and do what we love.”
Cole has played in the Ranchlands hockey league a number of years. He grew up in Lethbridge area and has always been a big fan of hockey. “It’s my bigges outlet.” He tells us. “I’m a very active person, I’ve played hockey for year and years. This is really the only competitive hoceky for a guy my age in Lethbridge.”
Cole has a long history playing prior to the Ranchlands league. He grew up in Fort Macleod and started playing hockey at 4 years old. “I did my Minor hockey in Fort Mac. After that I played around in bigger centers. I had a very brief junior career, then played for Fort Macleod in Ranchlands, then when Lethbridge established a team came over to Lethbridge.” Like most of his teammates, Cole has a day job which for him is a maintenance electrician based here in Lethbridge.
As he looks at the upcoming season, Cole sees the mental game as being the biggest challenge the tram needs to overcome. “I think with anything there’s a mindset. We do want to have fun, it’s a leisure activity. But we need to come in with the right mindset. Some guys have gotten a bit carried away in the off season, got too lax and didn’t prepare enough. We all have school or work, there’s life outside the team. But we need to close the door and focus while we’re there on the ice.”
The Lightning hit the ice tonight at home in their home opener. Cole has the following message for fans ahead of the game: “I want to invite everyone to come out to a game. Ranchland has gotten a bad rep in recent years being a nasty, gong-show league. That’s a false reputation. We’re very civil and have lots of skilled hockey players. The league’s cleaned up its act and we’d love to see people come and support us.”