{This is the latest installment in a series of stories spotlighting former Blue Jackets' players and personnel}

George Matthews rolls back the years during a 45-minute phone interview, his enthusiasm growing with each story, until the indefatigable former Blue Jackets’ broadcaster man puts his listener inside the booth for the franchise’s first preseason game.

It is Sept. 14, 2000 and Matthews and Bill Davidge are preparing to call the action from high above the ice at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. Enter the club’s former team president and general manager Doug MacLean, who helped Matthews land his dream job.

“Doug came in (the booth),” Matthews recalled recently from his home on Prince Edward Island. “And he said, ‘Now boys this is the NHL. This is the first game ever for the city of Columbus. Pretty significant start. This isn’t the minor leagues, don’t (bleep) it up.’”

Matthews pauses for a second before adding: “You can paraphrase that one any way you’d like, big fella.”

Three years since calling his final Blue Jackets’ game, the diminutive play-by-play man still has his wit, an occupational necessity for anyone who chronicled the organization in the age of Jan Caloun and Serge Aubin.

Matthews retains a passion for the game and his craft. He’s still broadcasting junior hockey – Matthews is the voice of the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League – working for “10 cents on the dollar.”

The 64-year-old doesn’t need the money. His wife, Debbie, is a successful clothing retailer and he lives comfortably on his teacher’s pension and the savings accrued from his years as an NHL announcer.

Here is a link of Matthews calling a junior hockey game:

http://charlottetownislanders.com/video-channels/game-highlights/game-2-armada-0-islanders-3

Matthews does about 50 to 60 games, including playoffs, but saves the overnight road trips for others. He remains as excitable as ever behind the mic and as generous with his time outside the broadcast booth.

The QMJHL club, formerly known as the PEI Rocket, nearly went under four years ago until a group of local investors rescued it. As Matthews prepared to leave the Jackets during the 2013-14 season, he approached the Islanders and volunteered his talents. He calls games and makes public appearances to support the team. He even changed his Twitter handle to @IslesRadio.

“As a former NHL broadcaster, he gave us instant credibility as we were going through our rebrand,” said Islanders’ director of sales and marketing Jason MacLean, no relation to Doug. “He’s onboard with anything to help the team.”

The Islanders were eliminated in the playoffs by the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, who enjoyed a strong postseason effort from forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, the Blue Jackets’ first-round pick in 2016.

“(Dubois is) what I call a five ‘S’ player –size, skate, shot, stick handles and savvy,” Matthews said. ”From what I saw, he’s a quality NHL prospect who has all the tools.”

The Blue Jackets are never far from Matthews’ thoughts. We’re talking about a former employee who recently spent $175 to repair a watch given to him at the club’s first charity golf outing. On the timepiece’s backside, Matthews had inscribed, “Oct 7, 2000,” marking the team’s first regular- season game – a 5-3 loss to the Blackhawks.

“In that first year, we did some of our broadcasts from the upper part of the lower bowl in Nationwide Arena,” Matthews said. “Billy and I and all the fans around thought we were going to take the Stanley Cup and be part of a parade on High Street because we jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first game. And then back came the Hawks.”

Matthews’ only regret is not calling more wins in Columbus. He continues to watch about 20 Blue Jackets’ games a season in his “man cave,” which is a decorated with CBJ and other NHL artifacts.

He was thrilled to follow the franchise’s record-breaking season, and believes the Blue Jackets are a playoff contender for “years to come” with the injection of talented young players such as Seth Jones and Zach Werenski.

Matthews remains in touch with Davidge, Jody Shelley, broadcast director Russ Mollohan and Bob McElligott, who replaced Matthews.

“There are no strangers in George’s life,” Davidge said. “I can remember him taking time to talk to anyone who wanted to say hello after a broadcast. He’d give out his phone number to people. That’s just how George is.

“When we talk now, it’s just like our broadcasts. I can’t get a word in edge wise. I tell him, ‘George, take a breath.’”

Matthews lived with Davidge in a Columbus condo. Debbie, his wife of 41 years, remained in PEI year-round to run the clothing business. Matthews, whose children consist of three Shih Tzus, missed plenty of family milestones while calling Nicolai Zherdev toe drags and Ray Whitney assists.

In 2002, his father developed a case food poisoning. He died at age 84 on the morning Matthews was to broadcast a game in St. Louis. Instead of rushing home, he honored his commitment to the team and worked that night broken hearted. Nobody ever questioned Matthews’ dedication.

For 23 years, he taught middle school on PEI and called three hockey games a week at the junior and college levels. Matthews takes broadcasting seriously, but still can poke fun at himself.

“I taught math, science, social studies, just about everything except English,” he said. “And some people would say, listening to the broadcasts, I probably should have taught English and learned the language.”

His long climb up the professional ranks was featured in one of the 2008 NHL Voices episodes, which profiled announcers around the league. A year later, it was fodder for then-Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, who summoned a startled Matthews before a game in Nationwide Arena.

“I am trying to think, ‘What the hell does he want me for?’” Matthews recalled. “Did I say something bad about him? I do radio. How would he hear what I said? As I go downstairs, I’m worried. . . . I go find (Red Wings assistant) Paul MacLean, who I knew a little bit, and asked to speak with Babcock.

“(Babcock) swings the curtain open and starts walking straight at me and I’m like, ‘Oh, (crap).’ He’s got those intense pre-game eyes going. I’m in the (crap). I introduced myself and he says, ‘come here down the hallway toward the ice.’”

The coach told Matthews he had watched his Voices episode and made his two sons sit through a five-minute segment detailing the announcer’s sacrifices to reach the NHL level.

“Babcock said it was the perfect (backstory) to what he had been preaching to them all along,” Matthews recalled. “Babcock told his kids, ‘You got to work, you got to double shift, you have to work weekends. You have to have a passion for what you want to do just like your old man. This guy got to where he is the same way.’

“After that day, Mike Babcock became my favorite coach.”

Matthews worked about a dozen Columbus games in his final season as he began his transition to life back on PEI. He called his last Blue Jackets’ contest on Jan. 23, 2014 and was honored with an on-ice, pre-game tribute from president of hockey operations John Davidson. As fans applauded, Matthews stood hands on hips, soaking in the moment.

“I’m not sure any CBJ employee had any more fun doing their job right to the end,” said Matthews, whose Blue Jackets’ resume includes about 1,040 regular-season, preseason and playoff games. “It was an experience of a lifetime and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Matthews has not been back to Columbus since his final broadcast. His absence is not due to any hard feelings, he said, just a busy personal and professional schedule. That will change this fall. Matthews plans to return to Columbus and perhaps attend a few games with Ed Milliken, a fellow PEI resident and Fox Sports Ohio producer, who recently retired after four decades in the hockey and television business.

“To be quite honest, when I do get back, it will be odd,” Matthews said. “Every time I have appeared in Nationwide (Arena) I have always worked. That will be different. But I look forward to seeing old friends and talking with fans. I enjoyed the fans as much as anything.”

His reunion with familiar faces promises to be grand. Rest assured, George Matthews won’t (bleep) it up.

treed@dispatch.com

@treed1919