Every time I read the
Matt Frattin story it makes me stop and think; what a story, here was a kid that made a few knuckle headed mistakes but he turned his life around and made it right. Like many of the college hockey players that had gotten into trouble in the past; Matt Frattin could have left school and signed a professional hockey contract, instead Frattin chose to go back home get his priorities straight and refocus and rejoin his teammates at the half way point of the 2009-2010 season. Now it appears that Matt is on the cusp to make his mark in professional hockey. Like coach Hakstol said last year, Matt took the hard road to get back to UND, the story was well documented, he worked a few jobs that were less than glamorous and came back to UND like a man that was possessed.
Kevin McGran; Toronto Star --- No one is under the microscope at this four-team tournament more so than Frattin — the only player on the Leaf rookie squad to have played a game in the NHL, and the only one singled out by GM Brian Burke as being ready to challenge for a spot.
That might sound like pressure to some. Not to Frattin.
“It’s a sign that things I’ve been doing last year and through the summer, that (Burke) thinks I’ve been doing the right things,” said Frattin, “and that I can be taking that spot after training camp if I keep doing the right things.”
Frattin’s been doing the right things for some time, after a summer of doing many things wrong.
Frattin’s well-told story of drinking-related hijinks — which got him arrested in the summer of 2009 and suspended from his college program — is far behind him now, but follows him everywhere.
