After scoring a goal in his team's 4-2 win against the St. Louis Blues on Monday, Knies is looking forward to his first NHL game in his hometown.
After scoring a goal in his team's 4-2 win against the St. Louis Blues on Monday, Knies is looking forward to his first NHL game in his hometown.
ST LOUIS — Matthew Knies is the only member of the Toronto Maple Leafs to have skated in a game at Mullett Arena before ever playing in an NHL game. But the rookie will cross playing NHL hockey in his hometown off his milestone list when the Leafs visit the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old skated there last season with the University of Golden Gophers in an NCAA road game but will certainly be different this time. Following his team's 4-2 win against the St, Louis Blues on Monday, Knies revealed that he has about 50-60 family and friends who are set to see him in his professional return.
"Which is probably a whole section in that arena," Knies remarked, referring to the venue's 5,000 capacity.
The Coyotes face some uncertainty in the market again after a bid to build a permanent home in Tempe was voted down by residents back in May. There is still no clarity on where the club will play after calling Mullett Arena home as a temporary solution.
Players like Knies, and Auston Matthews, from Scottsdale, have benefited from having the NHL in their market.
"I was pretty fortunate to be growing up in Arizona to have a ton of retired NHL players stay and coach," Knies admitted.
Meanwhile, Matthews scored his 49th goal of the season in Toronto's recent victory and continues to make headlines with his pace toward possibly becoming the first NHLer to score 70 goals in a season since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny scored 76 each in the 1992-93 season.
Matthews recalled what it was like when he got to play an NHL game in front of his hometown for the first time during his rookie season and had some advice for Knies.
"It’ll be a really cool experience for him to do that for the first time," Matthews said. "You just have to take it all in and have fun and compete.
"You still have a job to do."
Matthews and Knies grew up together. Despite the age gap between Matthews (26) and Knies, Auston recalled growing up playing hockey with Matthew's brother Philip Knies, who is just a year younger.
"It’s really cool to be on the same team and playing together," Matthews said Going back to where our roots go back to, it’s going to be really cool to play at home."
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