Stephane Matteau played an important role in the New York Rangers’ 1993-94 Stanley Cup title by scoring two double-overtime goals in the seven-game Eastern Conference championship series triumph over the New Jersey Devils.
That included the game-winner in game seven.
The University of Maine women’s hockey team will have a Matteau in its lineup beginning next season as his daughter, Alyson Matteau, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play hockey at Maine.
A 5-foot-10 defenseman, she is one of two Canadian Under-18 national team players who signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Maine.
The other is goalie Carly Jackson from Amherst, Nova Scotia.
Both are 17.
Matteau and Jackson played for Canada’s silver-medal winning Under-18 team in the World Championships earlier this month in Buffalo, New York.
Matteau plays for Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York, while Jackson plays for the Cumberland County Blues of the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League.
Jackson is the only girl on the team and shares the goaltending with two boys. She leads the last-place team in saves with 430. She is 1-8.
“Alyson is super fast and strong, and she competes hard,” said Maine coach Richard Reichenbach. “I watched her play a game against the United States, and she had five or six blocked shots and broke up a two-on-one and a three-on-one. You could feel her confidence when you watched it online.”
Reichenbach said Matteau logs a ton of ice time for Northwood School and expects her to be an impact freshman.
“You always try to set expectations at a reasonable level for freshmen because college is so different than any high school experience they have. It’s a big jump,” Reichenbach said.
“But we expect big things out of her pretty quickly,” he added.
In addition to her father, who played in 848 NHL games with six teams and finished with 144 goals and 172 assists, her older brother Stefan Matteau was a first-round draft pick of the Devils and has already played in 17 NHL games during the 2012-13 season.
The 20-year-old Matteau plays for Albany in the American Hockey League.
Jackson is a “very strong goaltender” according to Reichenbach, but he said with three goalies returning next season, he plans to redshirt Jackson so she can retain four years of eligibility beginning with the 2016-17 season.
Student-athletes have five years in which to complete four years of eligibility.
Workhorse Meghann Treacy and back-up Natalie Robinson will be seniors next season and Mariah Fujimagari will be a junior.
Behind Treacy (8-11-2, 2.32 goals-against average, .930 save percentage) and Fujimagari (1-1-1, 2.00, .929), Maine is the second-stingiest team in Hockey East as the Black Bears have allowed 34 goals in 14 (8-5-1) league games.
“Carly is super athletic, and she has an amazing attitude and mindset. She played really solid against the U.S. team and is very consistent no matter what level she plays at,” said Reichenbach.