Matt Vinc

Matt Vinc
Born	June 9, 1982 (1982-06-09) (age 29), St. Catharines, Ontario
Position	Goaltender
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
MSL Team	Six Nations Chiefs
NLL Team F. Teams	Rochester Knighthawks Orlando Titans San Jose Stealth
MLL Team	Hamilton Nationals
Nationality	Canada
Pro Career	2006–present
Nickname	Vino

Matt Vinc (born June 9, 1982), is a lacrosse goaltender in the National Lacrosse League, currently playing for the Rochester Knighthawks, the Six Nations Chiefs of the MSL, and the Hamilton Nationals of Major League Lacrosse.

Vinc was born in St. Catharines, Ontario. He was a member of Team Canada during the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship.^[1] He is also a teacher and lacrosse coach at Denis Morris Catholic High School in St. Catharines.^[2]

Junior career

Vinc had an outstanding junior career. He played for the St. Catharines Athletics in the OLA Junior A Lacrosse League from 1999 to 2003. His accomplishments playing for the A's include:^[3]

• 1 OLA Jr.A regular season MVP award
• 3 OLA Jr.A playoff MVP awards
• 3 OLA Jr.A championships (2001–2003)
• 3 Bob Meleville Memorial Awards (lowest team total goals)
• 2 Minto Cup National championships (2001, 2003)
• 1 Minto Cup MVP Award
• B.W. Evans Award (Top Graduating Player).

High school career

Vinc played high school field lacrosse at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School, along with fellow professional lacrosse players Billy Dee Smith, Craig Conn, and Sean Greenhalgh. In five years, he helped the Holy Cross Raiders to 2 gold medals, 1 silver, and 1 bronze at the OFSAA field lacrosse championships. This would begin a dynasty for the Holy Cross lacrosse program to excel in Niagara and Ontario competition.

College career

Vinc is also a graduate of Canisius College, where he played long-stick defense and was named the college's Male Athlete of the Year.

NLL career

Vinc was acquired by the San Jose Stealth in the 2005 NLL entry draft in the first round (sixth overall). In the 2006 NLL season, Vinc played sparingly with the Stealth. Following the season, he was acquired by the New York Titians in the 2006 NLL expansion draft. In 2007, he took over the starting goaltender roll for the Titans.^[4] In 2009, Matt Vinc guided his team to a 10-6 record for a three way tie for first place in the Eastern Division with the Buffalo Bandits and the Boston Blazers. The New York Titans were awarded the Eastern Division regular season championship by way of tie breakers. On May 9, in the Eastern Division playoff championship game, Matt Vinc stopped 41 out of 44 shots and kept the highly offensive Buffalo Bandits to only three goals as the Titans defeated Buffalo 9-3. Vinc allowed 1 more goal than the National Lacrosse League playoff record of 2 goals against in a game, which was set by Bob Watson, and the Toronto Rock defeated the Philadelphia Wings 13-2 during a 1999 semi-final playoff game.

Vinc became a member of the Orlando Titans when the franchise moved to Florida for the 2010 season. When the team folded after that season, Vinc was chosen first overall in the dispersal draft, sending him to the Colorado Mammoth. As he teaches high school in St. Catharines, Ontario, however, he did not want to play in Colorado.^[5] In October 2010, he was thus traded to the Rochester Knighthawks in a significant trade that sent Vinc and transition player Matt Zash to Rochester in exchange for superstar attackman John Grant, Jr. and defenseman Mac Allen.^[5] Draft picks were also exchanged.^[5]

Statistics

NLL

			Regular Season							Playoffs
Season	Team		GP	Min	GA	Sv	GAA	Sv %		GP	Min	GA	Sv	GAA	Sv %
2006	San Jose		4	14	4	5	16.97	55.56%		--	--	--	--	--	--
2007	New York		14	712	157	419	13.23	72.74%		--	--	--	--	--	--
2008	New York		16	888	168	562	11.35	76.99%		2	106	23	52	13.08	69.33%
2009	New York		16	916	173	609	11.33	77.88%		3	182	25	110	8.23	81.48%
2010	Orlando		16	902	143	609	9.51	80.98%		2	112	24	68	12.81	73.91%
2011	Rochester		16	933	152	585	9.77	79.38%		1	60	10	44	10.00	81.48%
NLL Totals			82	4,366	797	2789	10.95	77.77%		8	460	82	274	10.69	76.97%

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; Sv = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards

Preceded by Ken Montour

NLL Goaltender of the Year 2010, 2011

Succeeded by incumbent

References

1. ^ "Matt Vinc New York Titans Bio". NYTitansLacrosse.com. Archived from the original on 2008-02-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20080220000801/http://www.nytitanslacrosse.com/bcw-player-database-details.php?id=96. Retrieved 2008-03-17. 
2. ^ "Science teacher's double life in the raucous world of lacrosse". STCatharinesStandard.ca. April 5, 2008. http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=973530. Retrieved 2008-04-09. 
3. ^ "O.L.A. Junior A Trophy Winners". wampsbibleoflacrosse.com. http://wampsbibleoflacrosse.com/newstats/jrtrophy.txt. 
4. ^ "Catching up with Matt Vinc". NLL.com. June 21, 2007. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=2989. Retrieved 2008-03-17. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Matthews, Bob (October 28, 2010). "John Grant Jr. traded to Colorado Mammoth from Rochester Knighthawks". Democrat and Chronicle. Gannett Company (Rochester, New York): pp. 1D, 5D. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5tqNNjUQ4. Retrieved October 29, 2010. 

Persondata
Name	Vinc, Matt
Alternative names
Short description	Lacrosse player
Date of birth	June 9, 1982
Place of birth	St. Catharines, Ontario
Date of death
Place of death