Western Collegiate Hockey Association
Matt Stephenson Feature Story
Jan. 10, 2008
"It's my job to go and shut down teams," says St. Cloud State University captain Matt Stephenson. I'm supposed to be a defensive defenseman, I'm not known at all for my offensive ability, so you've got to play from your strengths."
A stalwart on the St. Cloud `D' corps, Stephenson has found his role with the Huskies increasing almost from the moment he arrived. After spending a lot of time on the sidelines early in his rookie season, he earned himself more and more ice time late in his first season and now has not missed a single game since the beginning of his sophomore season.
He's had plenty of exciting moments in that time, including, despite his own description of his role, a few big goals.
Of his six career goals, two of them were quite memorable. Midway through his sophomore year, he scored on a blast from the point that propelled the Huskies to a season-changing overtime victory at North Dakota, and just last season, scored on an empty net to seal a huge weekend sweep over this weekend's opponent, the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Stephenson memorably danced across the ice in front of a stunned Mariucci Arena crowd.
As the calendar year turns to 2008, Stephenson and the rest of the senior class are beginning to experience a series of "lasts." This week: the last home game against the Gophers.
"I love the crowd," he says. "They're always insane when we play the Gophers, and it's probably what I'll miss the most, but it's another weekend in the WCHA, that's the way I have to look at it. I can't put any more emphasis on it just because it's the Gophers. Obviously, I don't like them, but it's just like North Dakota, I don't like them either. It's just another giant that you have to get up for and go toe-to-toe with every week."
Stephenson already has fond memories from his time in St. Cloud and is ready to produce some more over the next three months.
"It's been nice to go to the Final Five two years in a row," he says. "We were a ninth-place team my freshman year and we almost won the league playoffs the next year, and then last year we were a game away from being a number 1 seed in the national tournament. Those are great memories.
"This year has been a bit different. We've got a really good team and we're beating really good teams, but you can just tell that we're still trying to find our real identity. As we're coming down the stretch, this team reminds me of the team from my sophomore year. I get the feeling that it will start to come together soon, just like two years ago."
Roots
Stephenson grew up in Midland, Ont., a resort town of just over 15,000 people that tends to swell to around the size of St. Cloud during the summertime.
"It's cottage country," Stephenson explains, "right on Georgian Bay (of Lake Huron). It's a ghost town in the winter and it's thriving during the summer with all the city people who come up from Toronto. It's a nice area."
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And, like much of the nation, hockey is a way of life.
"Outdoor hockey is basically the way I got started. I started when I was about five on the outdoor rinks, and there are probably 10 outdoor rinks within a 20-mile radius."
Believe it or not, when he first got started in the game, the place to find Matt Stephenson was not patrolling the blue line, it was between the pipes.
"I started skating when I was like four or five, but I wasn't a really good skater so I started out as goalie. My first year in mites we ended up winning the championship while I was in net, and the next year I learned how to skate better and I was like, `I'm not playing in the nets anymore.'" There was too much pressure in net. My last game I got lit up, it was like 9-1 or something, and I decided, `no more of this.'" Stephenson says his greatest thrill in his formative years really didn't involve specific games or tournaments.
"I was lucky enough that I got to play with my younger cousin every other year. He's like a brother to me. We never really won much when I was younger. I didn't really get a chance to play on winning teams until I got into juniors, so just having the opportunity to play with him was great when I was young." Decisions While playing junior hockey with the Nepean Raiders of the Central Junior A Hockey League, Stephenson was faced with a decision that many top players had to make - move up to the major junior level of Canadian hockey, or go to the United States to play college hockey.
"My second year of junior I decided that I didn't want to play major junior because I wanted to pursue a scholarship. I had the opportunity to try out for a major junior team, but I thought it would be in my best interest to get an education so I would have something to fall back on." At first, Stephenson had his eyes on eastern schools, closer to home.
"To be honest, I had no idea that St. Cloud was even a Division I school when I first started. I mostly knew some of the ECAC teams and then teams like Michigan and Michigan State, but I had no idea of what the WCHA was or how good it really was." During his last two years at Nepean, he helped lead the Raiders to their first and second Bogart Cup titles as the champions of the CJHL and to their first ever Fred Page Cup, allowing the team to advance to the national championship, the Royal Bank Cup.
Stephenson was about to get an education in the league and, specifically, the Huskies. In an age where it is becoming increasingly common for players to make commitments two and three years before arriving on campus, Stephenson went from prospect to commitment to team member in three months.
"Freddy (Harbinson, former assistant coach) was my first St. Cloud contact, and it was in my last year of juniors at the Royal Bank Cup. He saw me play two games there and right after that I came down and they gave me an offer.
The Raiders ultimately lost in the semifinals of that tournament, but the wheels had been set in motion to bring Stephenson to St. Cloud that fall.
"It was pretty straightforward. I committed in mid-June and a couple of months later I was down to start school. I knew it was a good school and I met a few of the guys on my fly-down that I really got along with. I really liked the environment of the town. I also was starting to know a little bit more about the WCHA and how good St. Cloud was." Leadership When Andrew Gordon chose to leave St. Cloud State a year early to pursue a professional career, it was clear that the leadership of the Huskies was going to fall to Stephenson.
"I kinda knew once `Gordo' was leaving that I'd be the captain," he says. "It wasn't really any news to me because I knew he'd be the captain if he were still here and that I'd be an assistant, so it wasn't really a big shock, but it is obviously a great honor and privilege to don the `C.' I want to lead this team to victory and hoist that elusive plaque that we haven't seen in our history."
Stephenson, like many other recent Husky leaders, chooses to lead by example rather than through verbal inspiration.
"I try to speak more with my play as a leader," he says. "There are times when I have to butt heads with a few guys to get the ball rolling, but I'm not really the type of guy who will speak. I think actions speak louder than words. I'm not shy to say something, but it doesn't need to be talk. You can have the loudest person on the team telling people to do something, but if they don't or can't follow up, it's meaningless." Future "I'd like to pursue a (professional) career," Stephenson says. "We'll see what happens."
He's certainly got plenty of options. A WCHA Scholar-Athlete, Stephenson will have a degree in marketing with a real estate minor to his name in addition to the cherished memories of his time as a Husky, but Stephenson's love for the game may also lead to participation in areas other than as a player.
"I'd love to coach. I feel like I understand the game well enough to step into the coaching role, but for now I've got to just worry about just playing. If that doesn't pan out, who knows, maybe you might see me coaching either for or against the Huskies one day, you never know!"