By Warren Kozireski —
It has been eight seasons since the University of Miami men’s hockey team finished the regular season with a record above .500. That was in 2014-15 when they won 25 games and advanced to the NCAA playoffs.
Since then, they have garnered ten or more wins just twice and won a combined 12 of 49 games over the last two seasons.
Williamsville native and former Buffalo Jr. Sabres Matthew Barbolini is out to change recent trends in this, his junior season at forward for the Redhawks.
The 6’2”, 205 left wing is playing on both the power play and penalty kill and stood tied for second on the team in goals and assists through the first six games this season. The Redhawks stood 4-1-1 over that period as they got ready to start their conference schedule the last weekend of October.
“I got off to a slow start last year, but it’s been a lot better this year and I think we have a really good team, so I’m excited,” Barbolini said after a recent game at Canisius. “It’s good to contribute for sure.
“I feel like it (Miami) was the perfect fit for me to come in and be a part of changing the culture here and I think we’re moving in that direction.”
Barbolini led Miami in goals in each of his first two campaigns and was voted team Most Improved Player after last season. He was one of just two sophomores in 2021-2022 among the Top-10 and the number one forward in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) in average ice time per game.
“It’s definitely conditioning,” Barbolini said. “You want to be able to play your best the entire game to get the ice time that I get and I want to be put in every situation; that’s just the kind of player that I want to be and I’m happy that I’m able to do that for my team.”
His brother, Christopher, played soccer at Gannon University, but Matthew was not tempted to go that route.
“No, no, not at all. No one else in my family played hockey—my brother played a little bit, but nothing too serious—but everyone else played soccer. I played one year of soccer in high school but that was it. It was always hockey for me.”
Coming off his solid sophomore season, Barbolini was invited to the Nashville Predators Prospect Camp this past summer; an experience that he hopes pushed him forward this season.
“It was amazing. That organization is unbelievable the way they ran it top to bottom and I definitely learned a lot too, mostly things off the ice like nutrition, sleep and how to manage your body. Just ways to become a pro…and just trying to take that back into this season.”
Barbolini is a Sports Leadership and Management major at Miami and hopes that and his connections help translate to a career in sports after his playing career is finished.
“It revolves around the sports world and that’s what I love. I love hockey and I love sports and it’s interesting to me, so that’s what I went with and I like it so far.”
The junior scored a goal in his first game back at Buffalo’s Harbor Center since he was 16 years old in front of many friends and family. But nothing compares to the memory of his first collegiate goal.
“Oh my gosh, this is actually a good story. The puck went into the corner and I just kind of threw it toward the net and it went off a Minnesota-Duluth defenseman into the net. It was the craziest goal I’ve ever scored and a good way to get it out of the way for sure.”
(Photos by U of Miami Athletic/Hockey Department)
