meet kraken matty beniers!
first of all, please know that i am not referring to him as “matty” just to be cute. matty beniers owns the diminutive. matty is his roster name, both at the usntdp and at michigan.
born in Hingham, MA to a football player dad and an engineer/actress/lawyer mom who seems like a real badass. she applied to law school while she was in a chorus line on broadway. she made matty play piano, clarinet, and saxophone and act at the children’s theater program she ran.
has always worn number 10 because his dad did.
prep school baby for sure. spent his first year of high school at Milton Academy. matty tends to emphasize that academics are very important to his family, and therefore it was a tough decision to transfer from prep school to the USNTDP, where, as he delicately puts it, “you’re going to go to school a little less.”
during his 17 year, he played a year up with the U-18 squad, i.e. the jack hughes/trevor zegras/cole caufield team. not an easy roster to crack, and matty scored 20 points in 20 games.
committed to Harvard but transferred to Michigan when COVID canceled the ivy league hockey season
rented a house with jacob truscott (VAN) and thom bordeleau (SJS) at michigan. matty was the messy roommate because his classes were harder so he was “always doing school.” he was the cook, though.
youngest member of the gold medal Team USA at world juniors 2021, centering the second line between cole caufield and matt boldy. matty was the player trusted with defensive zone faceoffs to protect a lead.
the other very important job that Team USA entrusted to matty was quiz show host. you can view all three episodes here (1, 2, 3), but if you’re only going to watch one, you should watch no. 3, which features matty and trevor zegras ganging up on matt boldy.
oh, hockey? you can google a million draft articles if you want to read about matty’s hockey. invariably, they all talk about his “motor” or his “engine,” which is the grown-up hockey way of saying matty is still one of those little kids who literally never stops moving. hates sitting still and cannot remember a time when he was ever tired during a hockey game. if he was an animal he’d be a cheetah.
the other thing all the draft articles talk about is his 200-foot game. the player the media most frequently compares him to is jonathan toews.
is a huge tom brady fan and has fond memories of watching the seahawks lose the superbowl while he was at a middle school birthday party. seattle will try to forgive you, matty.
he was taking premed classes at michigan (3.86 GPA!) and wants to be a dermatologist. i will leave you with this quote:
It’s kind of weird, but have you ever seen Dr. Pimple Popper? That’s what I’d like to be, to be a dermatologist. It’s kind of gross, but I just think it’s the coolest thing ever.
welcome to seattle, you nerd. we love you already.
