Matthew Darrell Zaba (born July 14, 1983) is a Canadian former 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 ...

who played one 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 ...

with the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

in 2010. The rest of his career, which lasted from 2007 to 2015, was spent in the minor leagues and later in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and Austrian leagues.

Playing career

Zaba was originally selected 231st overall in the

2003 NHL Entry Draft The 2003 NHL Entry Draft was the 41st NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee on June 21 and 22, 2003. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. This wa ...

by the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

. Zaba played for

of the

. He made his NHL debut in the 2009–10 season on January 23, 2010, replacing

Henrik Lundqvist Henrik Lundqvist (; born 2 March 1982) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played his entire 15-season career with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Before winning the Vezina Trophy in 2012, he ...

in a game against 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 ...

. Unable to earn a new contract with the Rangers, Zaba left as a free agent to Europe, ending up in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

with HC Bolzano. After two successful seasons with the Foxes, Zaba moved to the Neighbouring EBEL, signing a contract with the Vienna Capitals on May 8, 2012. After three seasons with the Vienna Capitals, Zaba retired from professional hockey to take up a Goaltending coach position with the under-18 side the Colorado Rampage on July 25, 2015.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaba, Matt 1983 births Living people Bolzano HC players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Austria Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Italy Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Charlotte Checkers (1993–2010) players Colorado College Tigers men's ice hockey players Hartford Wolf Pack players Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Idaho Steelheads (ECHL) players Los Angeles Kings draft picks New York Rangers players Penticton Panthers players Sportspeople from Yorkton Vernon Vipers players Vienna Capitals players