ECHL legend and Steelheads blueliner Matt Register dives into personal success and love of the game ahead of his 13th season of pro hockey.
If the end of the road for Matt Register came today, the 34-year-old native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada would walk away from the sport of pro hockey a first-ballot ECHL Hall of Famer.
Since joining the league during the 2012-13 season Register has compiled a legendary resume, banking 426 points – 161 more than any defenseman – three Kelly Cups, including one Kelly Cup MVP, three Defenseman of the Year titles, and a whopping six 1st Team All-Star appearances.
He’s punched his ticket, collected the accolades, and has nothing left to prove in a league he’s dominated for a decade. Yet he’d trade it all away, all the personal achievements and milestones, for one more shot at team glory.
“I think for me, you know, I'm getting older now, so I just try to enjoy every day in that locker room with those guys that I'm with. It’s been a wild ride for me,” Register shared during a sit-down with The Hockey News.
“It's crazy to think that it's going to be my 13th year playing pro hockey. It feels like yesterday when I first started. You know, it's not going to last forever. So I kind of take every day as it is and enjoy it.”
Joining the Idaho Steelheads for the 2022-23 season, Register showed no obvious signs of aging on the production side of the game, netting 52 points opposite 68 games played and a league-leading +53, with 14 points across 15 playoff appearances.
His output, and God-given ability to put the puck on the stick of his teammates and generate grade-A scoring chances, are as keen now as they were during his unprecedented three consecutive Kelly Cup wins with Allen and Colorado from 2016-18. But the jump from junior to pro didn't come without a learning curve, he shares.
“In my first few years of dipping into professional hockey, I was kind of bouncing around a little bit and trying to find my footing. I didn't really know if I was going to make it or what kind of role or player I needed to be,” he recalls, recounting a period of soul-searching during his junior run.
“I had a lot of people tell me ‘I don't know if you're a good enough skater’. That kind of hit home for me, and I wanted to prove a lot of people wrong. I think it was my 20-year, my junior career, where I really started to take off and kind of play an all-around game. That wasn't just going to translate to the next level. I had to work at those things as well. Yeah, I had a good 20-year-old year in my junior year, but it wasn't going to be easy if I wanted to play pro hockey.”
He’d reshape and hone his game with the desire of becoming a complete 200-foot player. Success in the ECHL came in short order, though he’s quick to attribute his growth and maturation to a strong crop of teammates, coaches, and unsung heroes past and present, deflecting individual praise and instead zeroing in on the heart of team dynamics.
“All that individual success, though, isn't just from me. It comes with that 20-plus man dressing room that I have every day and the coaching staff that took a chance on me wherever I played. Hockey is not just an individual game, it's a brotherhood. I still have that drive and passion to play every day.”
With three Kelly Cup wins and five overall final appearances, Register is tried and tested in the art of grinding to the finish line.
That feeling, of reaching the promised land, or of coming up short at the final mile marker, sticks with a player, he shares.
“That very first feeling when you're lifting that trophy over your head, it's like no other You're passing it on to your brothers and just the party after for a week. That feeling sticks. You're going to remember it forever,” he shares candidly.
“Twice now I've been on the other side of it where I've lost in the finals. You're sitting in the room after and it's a terrible feeling. I've had a chance to win, and I sit in the room after and I look at these guys who have lost and it breaks my heart because I see how much work guys put in every year.
"It's such a hard league to win in. And it just breaks my heart to see these guys, that I feel like I've let them down. So for me, points-wise, all the success, it's very humbling. It's a privilege to do that. But it's not happening without the 20-plus brothers I have in that room.”
Suiting up with the powerhouse Steelheads, who led the league with 58 wins before bowing out to the Everblades in the Kelly Cup finals last season, Register is embracing his role as a locker room leader, impressing the importance of a strong start to the season for long-term success.
Passing milestones and records with every new season banked, Register insists that a love of the game keeps him in the hunt and that he’d trade away the accolades and notes in the history books for those lasting moments of winning the final game of the season.
“For me now it's just pure love of the game, honestly. Those accolades and individual awards for me and hitting those milestones, they're awesome," he admits.
"It's a great feeling for sure, but like I said, I'm not achieving those things without the guys I play with. I'm not achieving championships individually, you know? So for me, I would trade points. I would trade all that stuff to lift that trophy in June.”