Last week no fewer than 41 goalies were named to the watch list for the Mike Richter Award, which is given to college hockey’s top netminder every April.
Somehow, Brown University’s Mathieu Caron wasn’t one of them even though his .927 save percentage is fifth in the country.
“How do you overlook that kid?” wonders Brown coach Brendan Whittet, and he’s not alone in asking that question. “I know he’s my goalie, but he means more to us than any goalie to any team in the country.”
There’s no question that Caron, a 22-year-old sophomore, is a major reason Brown, at 7-10-2, already has matched last season’s win total. The Bears, picked for 11th place in the preseason ECAC coaches’ poll, have won three in a row and are in the hunt for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
Caron has a 2.25 goals-against average and has posted road victories over two ranked Hockey East teams in Providence College and Merrimack. He stopped 24 shots in a 3-0 win over RPI on Saturday for his second shutout of the year.
“He’s really taken a step this year. He was good last year. He’s been really good this year,” said Whittet.
Interestingly enough, one person who’s not sweating the watch-list snub is Caron himself. He’s taking it in stride and with a smile on his face.
“I’ve kind of had that my whole career. There’s a lot of guys that have been put on a lot of lists, when I was younger, in juniors, and they’re not even playing anymore. I don’t know if I pissed somebody off or it’s something I did – I think I’m a pretty nice guy,” he joked, sitting in the stands at Meehan Auditorium after practice on Tuesday.
“Honestly, I didn’t even see the list. I didn’t know it came out. Everyone else was telling me. Everyone else was more mad about it than me. I’ll just let my play speak for itself. Proving people wrong is a lot more satisfying than being put on any list.”
Caron is from Abbotsford, B.C. Though his first language is French, he speaks English with no hint of an accent.
His dad grew up in a small town in Quebec, his mother in New Brunswick.
“My dad learned English when he was in college. My mom grew up bilingual, English and French. At home we only spoke French. I went to a full French immersion school from kindergarten to grade seven,” he said.
According to family lore, he faced his first shots at six months of age.
That’s right. Six months.
“My babysitter had two young boys and they put me in front of a mini hockey net and started shooting balls at me,” Caron said.
He skated out as a youngster but eventually gravitated to the goal crease.
“I was a good skater as a player, so when I put goalie gear on I could skate fine. It didn’t bother me and I was good at it so I just naturally fell into that spot,” he said.
He didn’t confine his athletic pursuits to hockey. “I played just about every other sport you can play. Growing up it was baseball, soccer, basketball, volleyball. I did judo for a few years – absolutely loved that. Track and field was a big one,” said Caron, who ran the 400 meters and had a couple of track offers from Canadian universities.
In time, he turned all his attention to hockey and eventually played four seasons of junior hockey with the Chilliwack Chiefs of the BCHL. He was drawing attention from NCAA recruiters when he injured his knee in November 2018.
“I was having a good year. Talking to some pretty great programs and, unfortunately, I got my ACL blown out. That kind of put a dent into things,” he said.
Still, he had options once he rehabbed his knee and got back on the ice. He committed to Brown in February 2020.
While academics were a major factor in his decision, “the biggest thing was where do I think I’m going to play,” he said.
Brown had older goalies on the roster and Caron figured on the starting job being open by his sophomore year.
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“The goal was to start 10 games last year (as a freshman),” he said.
Instead, he won the starting job and played 26 games in 2021-22 with a .911 save percentage, a 2.74 goals-against average and two shutouts.
“Stuff happens, I got my opportunity and didn’t look back,” he says.
At 6 feet, 190 pounds, Caron doesn’t fit the mold of a huge goalie who takes up most of the net.
“He’s not the prototypical, 6-3 or 6-4 goaltender, so I think maybe that scared off some people,” said Whittet. “The injury obviously didn’t help him, but so be it. We were lucky enough to end up with him. He’s a very smart kid. He’s driven academically, just as he is hockey-wise. This is the right place for him.”
If you think stopping pucks is challenging, consider what Caron is up against in the classroom.
He is on a pre-med track as he works toward a bachelor of science degree with a concentration in biology.
“It’s a little bit different from the rest of the guys on the team. Before even picking Brown I was passionate about the medical aspect of things, the human sciences. I tried my luck at business and economics my first semester, but it just wasn’t my passion,” said Caron.
“You’ve almost got one hand tied behind your back school-wise, with the time commitment that hockey brings in. Last year was a really good test for me, a big learning experience.”
So far, physiology has been his toughest class.
“You’ve got kids here who are putting every single hour they have into those classes and there are some really smart kids here, so it’s very much a humbling experience coming from high school, where you’re taking tough courses and breezing through them and then coming here and it’s an actual challenge. The biggest thing is I’m passionate about it. That’s what’s getting me through it,” he said.
Caron would like to earn an invitation to an NHL development camp this summer, but finishing the season strong is his main goal.
“Everything I’ve done since basically the end of last season has been preparing for this postseason. I’m very much looking forward to upsetting some teams. If they don’t respect Brown hockey, we’re going to change that,” he said.
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A season and a half into his Brown career, Caron is on track to be the best goalie at the school since Yann Danis, a Hobey Baker Award finalist in 2004.
“I didn’t coach Yann, but when he played for Brown, he gave them an opportunity to win every game," Whittet said. "That’s what Mathieu does for us. He’s given us an opportunity to get our feet under us and push forward here a little bit and have the opportunity for some of these guys to step into roles and develop.
“I like our team, but Mathieu’s the backbone to what we’re doing. In my mind, he epitomizes what would be an MVP in college hockey.”
