Matthew Harrison O'Connor (born February 14, 1992) is a Canadian 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 h ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. He is currently a free agent. O'Connor played a single game in 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) with the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

during the 2015–16 season.

Playing career

Amateur

O'Connor went undrafted in both

OHL OHL or Ohl may refer to: Initialisms *Latvian Hockey Higher League, known in Latvian as the ''Optibet hokeja līga'' *Oberste Heeresleitung, the Supreme Army Command of Germany in World War I *Obrascón Huarte Lain, a Spanish construction company * ...

and

NHL 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 ...

drafts and, after spending two seasons in the OJHL, decided to play in the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictl ...

. After spending two seasons with the

Youngstown Phantoms The Youngstown Phantoms are a Tier I junior ice hockey team that plays in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The team plays home games at the 5,200-seat Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. The team was co-owned by ...

O'Connor was offered a full scholarship to

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

. The

Terriers Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary g ...

won the Hockey East championship in 2014–15 and O'Connor was named to the Hockey East Second All-Star Team.

Professional

Over three years with the

O'Connor had garnered the attention of multiple NHL teams. O'Connor chose to forego his senior year at Boston University and signed a two-year contract with the

in May 2015. He was expected to start the season with the Binghamton Senators minor league team but after an injury to Ottawa goalie Andrew Hammond, O'Connor stayed with the team and made his NHL debut on October 11, 2015, in a 3-1 defeat to the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

. It was announced by the Senators that O'Connor would not receive a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent, thus making him a free agent on June 26, 2017. On July 1, 2017, O'Connor agreed to a one-year, two-way $650, 000 contract with the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

. After spending his first four professional seasons in North America, playing extensively in the minor leagues, O'Connor embarked on a European career as a free agent, agreeing to a one-year contract with Danish club, Rødovre Mighty Bulls of the Metal Ligaen, on July 17, 2019.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Matt 1992 births Living people Atlanta Gladiators players Binghamton Senators players Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey players Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) players Milwaukee Admirals players Ottawa Senators players Quad City Mallards (ECHL) players Ice hockey people from Toronto Undrafted National Hockey League players Youngstown Phantoms players Wheeling Nailers players Wichita Thunder players Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins players HK Nitra players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Slovakia