Matt Frattin got sent down to start the season and missed the first three games. He has played in the last three with the Leafs and is already the team’s leading goal scorer and is one point shy of leading the team in overall scoring.
He got there thanks to his two-goal performance Tuesday night, which included his overtime winner with less than two seconds remaining. The video is below.
Matt Frattin scored his AHL playoff-leading 10th goal to clinch the Toronto Marlies’ series victory over Oklahoma City in the semifinals.
But that goal will cost him the next four months.
Frattin suffered a season-ending knee injury that will force him to have surgery. Damien Cox of the Toronto Star reported that the surgery is expected to keep Frattin out for the next four months, which means he will miss training camp.
The Calder Cup Finals between Toronto and the Norfolk Admirals will begin Friday night.
Frattin played most of the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring eight goals and 15 points in 56 games for the Leafs. General manager Brian Burke moved Frattin and Jake Gardiner back to the AHL for the playoff run at the end of the season.
Frattin is a restricted free agent this summer. Look for the Leafs to lock him up, as Burke is a big fan.
Matt Frattin’s Beast Mode has hit the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Frattin scored two goals to give the Toronto Marlies a 3-1 victory over the Oklahoma City Barons to clinch a spot in the Calder Cup Finals (Chris VandeVelde scored the lone goal for the Barons).
Frattin leads the AHL playoffs in goals with 10, and he was trending on Twitter in all of Canada after his two-goal performance in Game 3.
The Marlies will take on the Norfolk Admirals, who I believe are 39-3 in the last 42 games and big favorites to win the Calder Cup.
But the Maple Leafs put Frattin and Jake Gardiner, who are NHL players, in with the Marlies for the playoff run and they are 11-2 in the playoffs.
Frattin is being talked about as a leading candidate for MVP honors at this point.
Former Sioux standout Matt Frattin scored his first NHL goal tonight for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 7-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.
Former Denver forward Joe Colborne fed Frattin, who was flying up the right wing. Frattin snapped a shot top shelf on the stick side of Tomas Vokoun.
Interestingly enough, Dillon Simpson’s dad, Craig, was calling the game for CBC and immediately dropped a North Dakota Fighting Sioux reference and talked about how it was a vintage Frattin goal. He would know.
Hobey Baker finalist Matt Frattin has made the Toronto Maple Leafs and will play on either the first or second line Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens. The Leafs made their final cuts on Monday.
Also of note, former Sioux captain Chris Porter has made the St. Louis Blues out of camp after playing 45 games with the Blues last season.
Former Sioux standout Ryan Johnson will be looking for a spot to catch on. The Detroit Red Wings released him at the end of training camp.
We now know where almost all of the members of last season’s Sioux team will start this season.
The Winnipeg Jets sent Jason Gregoire to St. John’s on Sunday.
The Colorado Avalanche sent Brad Malone to Lake Erie (Cleveland) on Sunday (look out Ohio, this means both Malone and Evan Trupp are going to be invading your state).
And all signs are pointing to Matt Frattin being on the opening-day roster of the Toronto Maple Leafs. There was speculation that he was battling Nazem Kadri for the final spot (or that both could make it). Kadri now is injured and the Leafs are saying that Frattin is “NHL ready.”
Earlier last week, the Minnesota Wild assigned Chay Genoway to Houston and the Phoenix Coyotes assigned Brett Hextall to Portland.
With Brent Davidson in Sweden, Trupp under contract with ECHL Cincinnati and Derrick LaPoint under contract with ECHL Reading (Pa.), the last player’s destination to be determined is Jake Marto.
Marto is on a two-way contract with St. John’s (AHL) and Colorado (ECHL) in Winnipeg’s organization.
Several other Sioux are in NHL camps right now without a contract for the season (to my knowledge), including Ryan Johnson, David Toews, Joe Finley and Corey Fienhage.
Despite being sent down to start the year, keep an eye on transactions throughout the year. There’s a good chance that Gregoire, Malone and Genoway could make it to the show by the end of the season.
In the heat of a season, we all know that injuries and ailments are often times kept quiet in the hockey world.
When the season ends, sometimes you hear stories about what players battle through during the year and such is the case with UND’s star player last year, Matt Frattin.
Apparently, Frattin suffered a deep gash on his foot in late November and was in a walking boot and on crutches on Thanksgiving. The Sioux played the next day, but Frattin apparently never considered missing any games.
The four games he was ailing the most came against Notre Dame and St. Cloud State. Not only did Frattin play, he tallied seven points in those four games. He also had a goal disallowed against Notre Dame that replays later showed should have counted.
The second game against Notre Dame also served as the start of a stretch where Frattin scored a goal in eight straight games — one of the longest goal-scoring stretches in Sioux hockey history.
Frattin’s goal streak was extremely impressive in itself. To learn that he was on crutches and in a boot two days before it started is hard to believe.
Frattin is getting ready for his first NHL training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he should be a contender for a roster spot. He was recently interviewed on the Leafs’ site and he called his time at UND the best four years of his life. Watch it here.
Matt Frattin has been named the North Dakota male college athlete of the year by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportswriters and Sportsbroadcasters Association.
The Sioux also were named the men’s college team of the year.
Frattin led the country with 36 goals last season, was named the WCHA player of the year and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.
The Sioux tied for third in program history with 32 victories, won the Kendall Hockey Classic, the Subway Holiday Classic, the Hall of Fame Game, the MacNaughton Cup, the Broadmoor Trophy and the NCAA Midwest Regional.
For those of you who are not on Twitter, which I know is most people, you missed Dillon Simpson chronicling his adventure driving from Grand Forks back home to Edmonton with Matt Frattin.
Frattin’s car died and they got stuck in Kenmare, N.D. for a day. The updates kept me entertained all day, so I will share some of them.
Frattin and Simpson eventually got back home and the newest Toronto Maple Leaf will be looking for a new car this summer. Anyway, several Sioux players — past, current and future — are on Twitter now.
If you are already on, or if you want to join, here’s what I have for open Sioux accounts:
Local media
Myself — @schlossmangf
Tom Miller, GF Herald — @tommillergf
Jayson Hajdu, UND men — @UNDSID
Matt Schill, UND — @mattschill
Derek Koenen, UND women — @derekkoenen
SiouxSports.com — @siouxsports
Current players
Dillon Simpson — @Simmer18
Tate Maris — @Tmaris35
Mike Parks — @mike_parks92
Corban Knight — @corbanknight
Joe Gleason — @gleasonj020
Rocco Grimaldi — @RGrimaldi23
Derek Forbort — @derekforbort4
Derek Rodwell — @drodwell11
Aaron Dell — @ADell32
Brock Nelson — @Bnelson29
Former players
Erik Fabian — @erikfabian21
Jeff Ulmer — @ulms44
T.J. Oshie — @osh74
Taylor Chorney — @tchorney41
Jordan Parise — @72series
Matt Watkins — @mcwatkins86
Evan Trupp — @trupper19
Mike Cichy — @MikeCichy
Brad Malone — @bmalone22
Brett Hextall — @bhextall
Brad Pascall — @bradpascall
Jason Gregoire — @JGregs17
Brian Canady — @briancanady
Mike Commodore — @commie22
Future players
Miles Koules — @keepitkouler57
Stefan Matteau — @smatteau32
Women’s team
Brian Idalski — @UND_WIH
Erik Fabian — @erikfabian21
Alyssa Wiebe — @alyssawiebe
Monique Lamoureux-Kolls — @moniquelam7
Jocelyne Lamoureux — @jocelamoureux17
Margot Miller — @margotmiller19
Michelle Karvinen — @M3Karvinen
Steph Roy — @sroy39
If I’m missing some, feel free to post in the comments.
Looking back on this season, I think one of the most lasting memories — perhaps the most lasting — will be Matt Frattin.
Frattin was unique in a sense that he has every tool to dominate a game. You have some great players who can take advantage of opponents with speed. You have others who can take advantage with physical power. Very rarely do you find players who have the ability to dominate games on both fronts (not to mention having a picture-perfect shot).
That is Frattin.
The Hobey Baker finalist not only racked up the goals, but he scored a bunch of timely and memorable goals for the Sioux. Before the Frozen Four, fans posted their most memorable goals and I compiled my own list for the Frozen Four special section.
I also promised to rank them later on for the blog. Although it has taken a while to get around to it, here are my top five (criteria: situation when scored, stakes of game, skill-set showed on the goal).
5. Dec. 16 at MSU-Mankato. UND fell behind 2-1 in the first period and got outshot 20-9 in the second. Frattin kick-started his lethargic team by taking a pass from Malone, skating to the top of the left circle and sniping the glove-side corner of the net. Just 11 seconds later, Frattin made a touch pass to set up a tap-in goal for Evan Trupp. UND led the rest of the way and swept the Mavs.
4. Jan. 8 vs. Robert Morris. One night after putting up eight goals against Robert Morris, neither team could get anything going. But deep in the third, with the game tied 0-0, Frattin took control of the puck on the outside of the left circle. He faked a drop pass to the defenseman and the forechecker bit. Then, he spun around, and with the goalie square, Frattin overpowered him with a wrist shot.
3. March 18 vs. Colorado College. The wildly entertaining game featured lead changes throughout. With the game tied 3-3 in the final minutes, Trupp made a perfect no-look backhand pass across the slot. Frattin was there and one-timed it past Joe Howe for the game-winning goal. UND won 4-3.
2. March 19 vs. Denver. The Broadmoor Trophy game lasted deep into the night. Of course, it was Frattin who ended it. Trupp skated the puck the length of the ice and left a drop pass for Chay Genoway, who launched a one-timer into traffic. The puck kicked out to the left circle and Frattin timed the bouncing puck perfectly, ripping it into the side of the net. The partisan Sioux crowd chanted “Ho-bey, Ba-ker” after it.
1. Feb. 18 at St. Cloud State. Frattin scored a pretty goal to start this key WCHA series, but St. Cloud State tallied back-to-back goals in the third period and appeared poised to break UND’s four-year unbeaten streak in the black jerseys. Frattin single-handedly made sure that wouldn’t happen. He got the puck in the neutral zone and plowed through two senior captains, using his skates to kick the puck along. He got through them, moved the puck to his forehand at the last second and scored the game-tying goal with just 3:31 left. UND ended up getting an important tie on a night that Denver lost to last-place Michigan Tech. The Sioux were in command of the MacNaughton Cup race after that.
