Matt Vinc played 14 games in his first season as an NLL starter this year, playing for the expansion New York Titans. He recorded three wins for New York and played over 700 minutes in his first bid as an every game starter.
CATCHING UP WITH MATT VINC
Titans goaltender reflects on first full season of NLL action
06/21/2007
A highly regarding goaltender coming out of Canisius College, Matt Vinc (pronounced like the name 'Vince') was the sixth overall player selected in the Entry Draft prior to the 2006 season. Drafted by San Jose, Vinc headed west and learned from two highly experienced goaltenders in Anthony Cosmo and Brandon Miller (now the starting goalie for Chicago).Vinc practiced but didn't get to play much with Cosmo and Miller ahead of him. A new opportunity came when he was traded to the expansion New York Titans in a blockbuster off-season trade that involved Ryan Boyle and the top overall pick in the 2006 Entry Draft.
At the start of the 2007 season, he was getting comfortably settled in as the backup goaltender to Titans' starter Curtis Palidwor. The surprise of his season for came in early February when Palidwor was traded to Edmonton, clearing the way for Vinc to become the new starter.
"I was a little shocked because I didn't see the move coming", said Vinc. "I thought I'd use this season to learn from Curtis as much as I could. I got kind of excited and nervous at the same time, knowing I'd be playing the bulk of the games."
Vinc got his first career start on February 2nd as the Titans played at Arizona. The start came while Palidwor was still on the team and really surprised the young netminder. "I didn't know I was starting until coach (Adam) Mueller told me during the pre-game shoot around. Coach thought I'd be better off finding out just before game time instead of knowing early and thinking about it all week."
The game turned out to be a roller coaster ride for the first-time starter. "I held them scoreless for the first ten minutes of the game, and then they scored three on me in the course of a minute", said Vinc. "I started feeling like 'uh oh, not another one'. I had to get in the mindset of focusing on making the next save, and blocking out thoughts of how many goals I had already let in. It's a lacrosse game, not a hockey game where the score is going to be 2-1. Trailing 16-12, Vinc shut out the Sting for the final eight and a half minutes of the game and the Titans rallied but fell short in a 16-15 loss.
"One of the biggest things I learned this season is that both teams are going to get on runs during the course of a game", said Vinc. "The key to winning is limiting the other team's run to a 2-3 goal run and not let it become a 5-6 goal run."
Vinc picked up his first career NLL win when New York defeated the Toronto Rock at Madison Square Garden on March 3rd by a score of 13-10. "It's a night I'll always remember. We hadn't won a game since the Garden opener on January 20th. I went to a lot of Rock games when I was growing up, and it was special to get my first NLL win against them."
We asked Matt if he had the game ball from his first win. "We were so excited about winning the game that I forgot to grab it. The next day while at the airport it dawned on me, and I wish I had the ball. Luckily, (team equipment manager) Jimmy Butler not only had it, but he gave it to me the following week in a special container. It's a prized possession, for sure."
Vinc was also asked about his "Welcome to the NLL moment" from the season. "It's the game at Rochester, and we're getting killed. John Grant scored six of his nine goals in the game while I was in there, and I swear that every one of his goals could have ended up as a highlight on SportsCenter. I definitely wasn't watching ESPN that week", laughed Vinc. It's a good thing, as one of Grant's goals did make it on SportsCenter as part of his record setting 15-point performance (9 goals, 6 assists) in the 22-18 Rochester win.
Known by teammates and friends alike by the nickname "Vino", he made quite an impression on his new teammates this season. "You can see the potential in him", said Titans forward and team captain Casey Powell. "He got better every game and by season's end he acted like a veteran. Matt faced a lot of shots this season, and handled it well. He's going to be a good one in our league for many years to come."
Away from lacrosse, the 25 year-old Vinc is a teacher at Dennis Morris High School in St. Catharines, Ontario. He teaches science and history, and lists World War II history among his areas of interest. Vinc is staying sharp for the next NLL season by playing for the Six Nations club in the Ontario league this summer.
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