Matthew "Mackie" Samoskevich (born November 15, 2002) is an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for the

Charlotte Checkers The Charlotte Checkers are a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the top minor league affi ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL) as a prospect to the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). He was drafted 24th overall by the Panthers in the

2021 NHL Entry Draft The 2021 NHL Entry Draft was the 59th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on July 23–24, 2021, delayed by one month from its normally scheduled time of June due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the later-than-normal finish of the 2020–21 NHL se ...

Playing career

Junior

During the 2020–21 season, Samoskevich recorded 13 goals and 24 assists in 36 games for the Chicago Steel. During the Clark Cup playoffs, he recorded one goal and nine assists in eight games to help lead his team to the Anderson Cup and

Clark Cup The United States Hockey League began in 1961 as a semi-professional ice hockey league. Starting with the 1979–80 season, the league became a strictly Amateur league, and began awarding its champion the Clark Cup Trophy. All champions of the USHL ...

College

Samoskevich began his collegiate career for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

during the 2021–22 season. During his freshman season, he recorded 26 points on nine goals and 17 assists. Two of his goals were unassisted goals, capitalizing on turnovers, while four goals came on the power play. Following an outstanding season, he was named to the All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Freshman Team. During the 2022–23 season in his sophomore year, Samoskevich ranked second on the team in goals with 19, and third in points with 40 in 35 games. Following the season, he was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. He finished his collegiate career with 30 goals and 42 assists in 79 games.

Professional

On July 23, 2021, Samoskevich was drafted 24th overall by the

in the

. On April 11, 2023, Samoskevich signed a professional tryout (PTO) contract with the Panthers' AHL affiliate, the

, for the remainder of the 2022–23 AHL season. Following the conclusion of the season with the Checkers, Samoskevich was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with the Panthers on May 9, 2023. Following two appearances with the Panthers to start the 2023–24 season, Samoskevich was assigned back to the Checkers.

International play

Samoskevich represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the

2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup The 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup was an under-18 international ice hockey tournament that was held in Piešťany, Slovakia and Břeclav, Czech Republic from 5 to 10 August 2019 at Alcaplast Arena in Břeclav and Easton Arena in Piešťany. Team Russi ...

, where he recorded one goal in four games.

Personal life

Samoskevich comes from a hockey-playing family. His twin sister, Madison, plays college hockey for Quinnipiac, while his older sister,

Melissa Melissa is a female given name. The name comes from the Greek word μέλισσα (''mélissa''), "bee", which in turn comes from μέλι (''meli''), "honey". In Hittite, ''melit'' signifies "honey". ''Melissa'' also refers to the plant ''Me ...

is a professional ice hockey player for the Connecticut Whale of the

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and ha ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samoskevich, Mackie 2002 births Living people American ice hockey centers Charlotte Checkers (2010–) players Chicago Steel players Florida Panthers draft picks Florida Panthers players Ice hockey players from Connecticut Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey players National Hockey League first-round draft picks People from Sandy Hook, Connecticut Sportspeople from Fairfield County, Connecticut