Auston Matthews once drove a golf cart into a pond, and while it has a humorous backstory it does show a side of the Maple Leafs captain that's rarely seen.
No, you didn't misread that. Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews once ended up in a golf course water trap after he and a group of friends accidentally took their cart for a swim.
Matthews was a guest for BarDown and was able to relive some old memories and was even quizzed on his ability to remember stats from when he was a kid. It was a light-hearted interview that came with a hilarious anecdote.
Auston Matthews went for a hole-in-one and went for a swim instead
Matthews was asked to explain how he once ended up in a golf course pond after he and a few friends decided to go for a spin - and it ended up in disaster:
I was literally looking for this photo to show someone. This was actually my first time playing golf, me and a couple of friends from my minor team went and played golf, and there was a pond...not me, but one of the guys got too close to the water, and the water took the cart.
We were like 14 or 15 at the time. I don't even know if we were allowed to drive a golf cart without a license so we just got in there and pulled it out ourselves, and as we pulled it out one of the guys working at the pro shop pulled up and was just so disappointed. We didn't get in trouble, but yeah we managed to get it out [smiling].
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It's a tale as old as time - teenagers being teenagers. But it also shows that Matthews wasn't afraid to take risks or chances, even if it meant pulling a cart out of a pond at the end of the day. It's a core memory that clearly he cherishes, and his excitement over seeing the picture brought him back to those teenage years.
Fans get to see the human side of Auston Matthews
While we do get a look at the more wild-side character of Matthews it does at least bring an element to humanity to his larger-than-life persona.
Being an NHL player, let alone a former first overall pick and one of the top players in the league, Matthews has a lot of pressure and is expected to stay stone-cold through it all. But he's a human at the core, and these stories show the shift in responsibility in only a decade of time.
We often forget that at the end of the day, these players go home and they feel emotions, pain, joy - whatever. It's a job all things considered, and they are trying to leave work at the arena. Seeing the wilder side of Matthews brings him down to at least a more relative level.
We may not have all pulled golf carts out of a pond, but we've all had those wilder moments in life especially as teenagers. It just goes to show us that these pro athletes are indeed more than just their status.
Do you think Auston Matthews is the right leader for the Toronto Maple Leafs?
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