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Vees goalie a gamer; Matt Hache leads Voyageurs into conference championship
Posted By Doug Graham
Posted 1 day ago
Goaltender Matt Hache stepped away from playing a backup role in the Ontario Hockey League to join the Kingston KIMCO Voyageurs of the Provincial Junior A Hockey League this season.
While the move was a step down in competition, it did get the 19-year-old Hache what he desired the most.
"I just wanted to play hockey," Hache said. "I came [to Kingston] to get more games in and have fun. It's been all good."
Hache saw every minute of action in the Vees' Eastern Conference semifinal series win, which came in five games over the Port Hope Predators. Hache, who is from Guelph but has deep family roots in Prince Edward County, where both his parents are from, didn't give coach Evan Robinson any reason to not keep him between the pipes.
"He has been outstanding all season for us and really big in the playoffs," Robinson said. "You can see the confidence he has. He wants to win the Eastern Conference."
Robinson said Hache is definitely one of the most motivated players on the team. The coach points to Hache's decision to leave the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for a chance to be the go-to goaltender for the Vees.
"He came back here to win a championship. He took a step down to win," Robinson said.
Hache, who is part of a Guelph connection on the Vees - Andrew Marcoux, Tyler Hill, Brendan Devine and Vick Schleuter all come from the Royal City area - made his decision to play Tier II junior after weighing the playing time.
Hache, who played in 25 games for the Greyhounds over two seasons, including 19 last year when he supplied a 2.88 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage as the backup to all-star goalie Kyle Gajewski, was surprised to hear the Sault's plans for him this season.
"They were only offering 10 to 15 games," Hache said. "Gajewski's obviously a great goalie, but last year I played 19 games and if I was only going to see 10 games this time, I didn't see the point."
The offer from the Vees was far more attractive.
"[Robinson] offered a minimum of 30 games. That was more appealing to me. I just wanted to play hockey,'' said Hache, who was encouraged by Marcoux, Hill and Devine, hockey pals for several years in Guelph, to come to Kingston.
"They informed me about Kingston, how good an organization it was to play for. I said I might as well join in."
Robinson sees his goalie as extra motivated for the playoffs, but Hache said that's just his nature.
"I've been around sports since I was three," he said. "My dad [Peter] put a stick in my hand when I was four. I started playing goalie at age six. I was always competitive, wanting to win.
"When I'm playing baseball, golf, tennis, I'm the same way," said Hache, a low-handicap golfer who spends the summer months living with his grandmother in Bloomfield.
Hache sees the series as being a competitive one.
"Our teams are pretty evenly matched," he said, noting that his defence, headed by the pairings of Anthony Geldart and Tyler Hill and Ben Munroe and Sean McAllister, has been performing well.
"When I do give up a rebound, they are right there to clear the puck away," Hache said.
"We did a pretty good job of not giving up odd-man rushes against Port Hope. We certainly can't allow any of those to Wellington because they are too good of a team.
"We have been playing the system you need in the playoffs. When everyone buys into that package, we are a very hard team to beat."
dgraham@thewhig.com
