Matt King played with the EDGE Midget 18u team that went to the States and USA National Tournament. Given a chance, He got the caLL UP TO THE D-1 TEAM AT Quinnipiac.
PERSEVERANCE AND TALENT PAYS OFF.
GO MATT !
Matt King joins men’s ice hockey as walk-on goaltender
By Justin Cait on February 22, 2017
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Erin Kane | The Quinnipiac Chronicle
It’s a story usually saved for the big screen. A regular kid gets a shot with the big club after some unusual, unexpected occurrence.
For freshman walk-on goaltender Matt King, he is that regular kid living out the result of some not-so-regular circumstances following senior goaltender Sean Lawrence’s decision to transfer from the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team to Colby College.
“It’s an amazing experience,” King said. “It was a big adjustment, but I love being a part of this team.”
Just weeks ago, King was the starting goalie for the Brave Hockey Club, Quinnipiac’s ACHA Club Division III team. Now, he is listed on the official roster as a goalie for the Quinnipiac Bobcats.
He was one of three goalies to receive tryout offers from the Division I team following Lawrence’s departure.
“Sean [Lawrence] wanted to go and play, and we supported that… So we knew we would pull a kid out of the dorms,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “It doesn’t happen a lot, but I’ve done this long enough and stuff happens.”
Before King, fellow Brave Hockey goalie partner and Quinnipiac men’s and women’s ice hockey manager Jesse Burns got the chance of a lifetime as well. Burns suited up for two games against Cornell and Colgate on Jan. 13 and 14, a transition period in goal for the Bobcats.
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Quinnipiac Athletics
“The fact that I got to be in the spot I did and have the opportunity I did is one of the coolest honors you can have as a student at Quinnipiac,” Burns said. “It’s cool that there is more than one person that I can share that experience with.”
Now it’s King’s turn to make his own memories.
Although he may not see in-game action, the opportunity to stop pucks and be a presence on the same sheet of ice as some NHL prospects, after playing in the USPHL 18U league a season ago, allows King to catch a glimpse into a more professional side of hockey.
“It helped out with learning a lifestyle,” King said. “Coming into here you really see what happens, what goes on and the real hockey world.”
The opportunity to tryout for a full-blown hockey lifestyle meant the criminal justice major had to completely flip his schedule around.
“I had to change around my whole entire schedule for this team,” King said. “It was a tough adjustment because in the beginning, a lot of teachers didn’t understand the circumstances and everything. I had to explain to them that I was trying out for this team, but it was an indefinite thing, and I was still going to have to miss class and move around classes [while] nothing was guaranteed.”
At the end of the day, King battled hard and earned the spot as the new third goalie on the team.