NOTL's Matteo Giampa already a stand-out for Canisius University Griffins

It hasn’t taken long for Niagara-on-the-Lake native Matteo Giampa to get comfortable in the gold and blue as a freshman for Buffalo, New York’s Canisius University Golden Griffins. 

Over 13 games, the speedy forward has recorded nine goals and six assists, leading the Canisius men’s hockey team in goals, assists and points early in the season. 

That comes as no surprise to head coach Trevor Large, in his seventh year with the Griffs. 

“At the beginning of the year when all the guys were on the ice together,” Large recalls, “one of our fifth-year guys came over and said ‘hey coach, Giampa looks like our best player’. We certainly had expectations for him and his potential as a player and a person. But when the order guys talk about how good someone looks early in their time here, that’s really exciting.”

Last Saturday afternoon Giampa definitely looked like one of the best players on the ice for either team at Buffalo’s LECOM Harborcenter, where the Griffs played host to the Air Force Falcons in NCAA Division I Atlantic Hockey Association action. 

Giampa’s smooth skating, physical play, ability to find the open space and expert stickhandling stood out in a fast-paced game that attracted 621 fans to the sixth-floor Key Bank Rink across the street from the home of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. 

Canisius took a 2-0 lead into the third period on the strength of goals by Kyle Haskins and Grant Porter, but watched that lead slip away in the third. With 42 seconds remaining in regulation, Clayton Cosentino scored for the Falcons to force overtime. Air Force won the game in a shootout.

The fact that Large chose the 20-year-old rookie to take the second penalty shot for his team is a clear indication of the confidence he has in his young forward. Giampa skated toward the right, cut back to centre ice then tried to beat Air Force goaltender Guy Blessing low on his glove side. Blessing reached out his pad and blocked the backhanded shot. 

“It sucked that I didn’t score,” says Matteo, “but the fact that he put me out there to try to score a goal for the team is really huge.”

Giampa’s return to the Niagara area for NCAA play follows two years of US prep school play and then another two years for the Bonnyville Pontiacs of the Alberta Junior A Hockey League.

“We saw him a couple of years ago,” Large says. “He’s always had a great, potent shot, he’s always produced. He’s a high-skills player. That’s something we’re always looking for when we’re recruiting. He grew, got really strong, and his skating went from good to great really quickly last year.”

Large has Giampa playing on a line with his former Pontiacs teammate Trey Funk and fifth-year player and team captain Max Kouznetsov. Large has been pleased to see the influence the older player has had on the two rookies, and it’s clear that he’s hoping his leadership rubs off a bit on both of them. 

“There’s definitely a little bit of chemistry between Funk and me,” says Giampa. “Max is pretty vocal in the dressing room, he’s given me and Trey lots of good advice. He’s a great leader, he’s been really great to play with.”

Giampa also didn’t wait too long to record his first NCAA goal. He accomplished that feat in the Griffs’ first game of the season, a 4-2 loss to Miami (Ohio) on October 13. He was relieved to get that one out of the way so quickly.

Away from home each winter since he was 16 years old, Giampa is also relieved to be so much closer to home. Following Saturday’s game his father Arc brought him back to Virgil to enjoy a dinner at home. 

With his sister Madison in her first year studying sciences and playing hockey at the University of Waterloo, Arc and his wife Bonnie often find themselves dividing their time between the two locations to watch their kids’ progress in the sport. So far, though, there has been some representation from the Giampa family at each and every Griffins home game. 

Matteo is studying business at Canisius and hasn’t yet experienced any major difficulties balancing the demands of the Golden Griffins and those of his professors. 

“I’d be lying if I said it was easy,” he laughs. “But that’s what I signed up for, to be a student athlete. That’s what you have to do. The team’s been great, the school’s been great. I’m handling it really well right now.”

Like much of Canada, Buffalo residents love their hockey, and that was evident at the Harborcenter Saturday. And Canisius being a small, private Jesuit university with enrolment typically under 5,000 students, the hockey team has been its most successful and probably its biggest draw in terms of fans. 

“You kind of know everybody here,” says Giampa. “It’s kind of like one big family. I’m really liking it here so far. And when we have an off-week it’s close enough to home that I can go back and relax with my family and just decompress.”

The Griffins currently hold an overall record of 4-7-2, and a conference record of 4-3-2. Large is hoping that Matteo’s presence on the Griffins will lead to increased success in the Atlantic Association this year and beyond.. 

“He wants to dominate college hockey consistently,” says Large. “He can do that with his skating and his strong puck protection skills. When he puts it all together and uses all of his attributes he absolutely dominates. That’s what we talk to him about every day, how do we get him to use his skating, his size and his shot all the time. When he does that he’s a tough match-up for anybody.”