Plymouth Whalers' Matt Watson Seeking to Establish His Own Identity

Photo of the Watson twins by Rena Laverty.

WEDNESDAY - Plymouth at Sault Ste. Marie, 7:07 pm, Essar Centre (7 pm, 88.1FM WSDP).

PLYMOUTH, MI - One man’s suspension and injury is another man’s opportunity.

When the Plymouth Whalers found themselves short on the blue line with a long-term injury to Alex Peters and suspensions to Mitch Jones and Gianluca Curcuruto, Whalers general manager Mark Craig went looking for another d-man to fill in and hopefully develop into a good player in the future.

He found Matt Watson, a London-native who was not playing for the Kingston Frontenacs.

Watson was brought in as a free agent and made his Whalers debut Oct. 24 against Mississauga. He’s been in the lineup ever since.

”It’s going well so far,” Watson said. “The guys are really nice to me and they make me feel welcome here. It’s been a good time and I’m enjoying it.”

“It’s a good opportunity for Matt, and we’re happy to have him,” Craig said. “Our scouts (head scout Dave McParlan and London-area scout Rick Boyle) know him. It’s hard to work with five defensemen in this league for an extended period. Matt will help us immediately and could develop long-term with our young group.”

Watson, 18, is the twin brother of Kingston Frontenacs right wing Spencer Watson, a Los Angeles Kings-draft. They were separated by two minutes at birth and played together on teams through the London hockey system and into the Ontario Hockey League with Kingston.

They grow up in London playing on a home-made rink made by father, Brad.

The move to Plymouth represents a fresh start for Matt Watson, although he came to the Whalers a week before the team’s annual Pink Out for breast cancer awareness.

Still, he showed up at the Indigo Spa, Salon & Boutique in Canton with the rest of his teammates on Oct. 27 to get his hair dyed pink for the event.

“Nobody told me I was going to have to dye my hair pink when I came here,” Watson said with a smile. “But I don’t mind it.”

Matt Watson played against his twin brother for the first time-ever on Nov. 1 as the Whalers hosted Kingston. Spencer Watson emerged as one of the stars of the game with a pair goals in Kingston’s 6-2 victory over Plymouth.

The fact that Spencer played well in the brother-vs-brother battle didn’t come as a shock to Matt.

“I’m not surprised at all,” said Matt Watson. “I knew he would come out and have a big game against me. He scored, then gave me a little wink as if to say, ‘Hey buddy’, like it was all fun and games.”

Matt Watson has mixed-but-positive feelings about playing against his twin brother.

“It is weird… (for the) first time,” he said. “Since forever, I’ve always been on his line or on the same team. So it’s definitely a different experience. Kind of weird, but kind of cool at the same time.”

After playing with his brother for many years, Matt Watson reiterated the fact his move to Plymouth will allow him to establish his own identity as a player.

“I just want to come in here and show my stuff,” he said. “I won’t be compared to Spence (now), because he’s in another conference and division. So now, I just have to play as hard as I can and things will go well.”

“I’m getting plenty of playing time. They told me to go out there, have fun and play my game and don’t worry about anything else.”

Jones is back from suspension on Saturday while Curcuruto returns Nov. 22. Connor Chatham also remains out with an injury suffered on Oct. 25 against Kitchener. Liam Dunda remains out with an injury suffered in Kingston on Oct. 17.

Without Curcuruto, Plymouth is currently playing with one overager - Mathew Campagna - in the lineup.

BITTEN WITH CANADA RED: Plymouth’s Will Bitten scored Monday night in Canada Red’s 4-2 victory over Sweden in the World U-17 Hockey Challenge in Sarnia.

Bitten has a goal and an assist in two games for Canada Red.

Follow the tournament here.