ROCHESTER, NY – Senior captain Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) of the RIT men’s hockey team was named a 2015 CCM Hockey Second Team All-American on Friday, April 10. He becomes the first RIT player to earn this prestigious honor since the program moved to Division I in 2005.
The CCM Hockey All-American Ice Hockey teams are sponsored by CCM HOCKEY and chosen by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association. CCM is the legendary hockey brand dedicated to the endless pursuit of performance by delivering game-changing, head-to-toe innovative hockey equipment to players worldwide.
“Matt is very deserving of being named a second team All-American,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “He has worked extremely hard at his game and is the most complete hockey player to go through the RIT program. He is not only a great player, but an even better person. We are very proud of his accomplishments during his four years at RIT.”
Last month, Garbowsky was named one of 10 finalists for the 2015 Hobey Baker Award, college hockey’s most prestigious individual honor. He is the second Tiger to be named a finalist, joining Simon Lambert, who was also named in 2008.
In addition, Garbowsky was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year, Best Defensive Forward, won the Leading Scorer Award, and was a unanimous first team selection. He was also named the Most Valuable Player of the Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
RIT won the Atlantic Hockey Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time as a Division I program. RIT defeated No. 1 Minnesota State in the NCAA Midwest Regional before falling to Nebraska-Omaha in the Regional Final.
Garbowsky, a three-year captain, enjoyed an incredible senior season for the Tigers. A four-time AHC Player of the Week, Garbowsky led Division I with 729 face-off wins, tied for third with 26 goals, tied for fourth with 54 points, and was fifth nationally with a plus-29 rating. He led Atlantic Hockey in scoring during league play with 44 points on 23 goals and 21 assists in 28 contests and recorded 15 multiple-point outings this season, including a pair of hat-tricks. Garbowsky led the team with six power-play goals, five game-winning tallies, and one shorthanded goal. The Tigers were 19-6-5 when he recorded at least one point and 11-3-3 when he scored a goal.
On the defensive side, Garbowsky won 60 percent of his 1,213 face-offs taken this season and was plus-20 over the last 15 games played. He was also a key cog in RIT’s penalty-killing unit that finished fifth nationally this season at 87.9 percent.
A model of consistency this season, Garbowsky had 12 points (8-4-12) in eight November games, 12 points (5-7-12) in 10 January contests, and 11 points (5-6-11) in eight games during the month of February. He also had eight points (2-6-8) in six postseason contests.
Garbowsky set the Division I team record with 54 points and was one goal shy of tying the Division I team record. He had 19 points during a 10-game point-scoring streak from Oct. 18 to Nov. 21. The 10-game streak tied a career-high and was one shy of the school record. He tied a career-high with four points on three separate occasions and recorded a pair of hat-tricks, tying a Division I single-season team mark.
Garbowsky became the seventh player in RIT’s Division I history to reach 100 career points, doing so on Feb. 14 at Holy Cross. He finished with 48 goals and 66 career assists in 128 games. His 114 points are fifth best at RIT in the Division I era, while the 48 goals are fourth and 66 assists are tied for seventh.
In 2011-12, Garbowsky enjoyed a strong rookie season, recording 20 points, while winning the Craig Lauzon Award as RIT’s Rookie of the Year, helping lead the Tigers to the Atlantic Hockey Championship game. The following season, Garbowsky led the Tigers in scoring with 33 points and won the team’s Greg Moss Hard Hat Award. Last year, Garbowsky missed 24 games due to injury, recording seven points in 13 games.
On March 31, Garbowsky signed a contract with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League through the 2015-16 season.
