My Elite prospects stats (not accurate):

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/43157/matti-korhonen

LEAGUES AND TEAMS

Professional & University Hockey

• Mestis, Finland 2, Roki (#4 goalie)

• Eredivisie, Netherland 1, Eindhoven Kemphanen (Player-coach for goalies)

• SPHL, Knoxville Ice Bears (One practice game)

• FHL, Danbury Titans (Invitation only rookie camp)

• MAHL, Valley Forge Freedom (Signed contract but never played)

• U sports, Canadien University hockey, Lakehead University Thunderwolves

Semi-pro & Competitive Minor Hockey

• Suomi-Sarja, Finland 3: Lohjan Ankat & Kirkkonummen Salamat

• Division 2, Finland 4: Kirkkonummen Salamat, Roki Rebels & Kemin Lämärit

• Division 3, Finland 5: KiPS, Tuuski & Kirkkonummen Salamat

Junior & High School Hockey

• Minnesota High School Hockey: Grand Rapids High School Varsity

• Junior A / U20: Traverse City Enforcers, KooKoo, Fairbanks Ice Dogs

• Junior B / U20: Kootenai Colts, Wisconsin Mustangs

• Junior C / U20: Tampa Bay Sandsharks

• C-SM (Finland 1) / U16: Valkealan Kiekko (Valki)

• Youth hockey: Valkealan Kiekko (Valki)

ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS

Team achievements and championships

• 1st place, Iron Range Conference Champions - Minnesota Boys High School Hockey

• 1st place, U14 Eastern Finland Providence Championship

• 1st place U11 & U13 Kymi-Saimaa Regional Champions, Finland

• 2nd place, U12 Kymi-Saimaa Regionals, Finland

• 1st place, SEJHL Junior C league Championship

• 3rd Place, USA Junior C (U20) National Tournament

• 3rd Place, Finland U20 Suomi-Sarja (Finland 3)

• Numerous U10-U16 youth tournament championships

Personal Awards and Recognitions

• Eastern Finland providence team at Pohjola-Leiri

• U16 national team invitation only scouting tournaments

• Iron Range Conference second all-stars team, Minnesota High School Hockey

• Minnesota High School all-state goalies’ honor roll

• Great 8 All-Stars Tournament - Minnesota High School hockey

• Chicago Showcase Minnesota team alternative goalie

• SEJHL Junior league all-stars team and the best goalie of the league

• Numerous best player of the game and the best goalie of the tournament awards and youth organization banquet awards

A SHORT STORY BEHIND STATS

I started playing hockey at the age of five as a skater but I always dreamed of being goalie. I was eleven when I finally got to play goalie as the results of one of the two goalies quitting in my team (in the early 90’s we didn’t have everyone gets to try to be a goalie and the team would carry only two goalies). As a skater I wasn’t that good but when I got to be a goalie, I quickly became one of the best goalies in my age group in Finland. A big thanks to my success belongs to Jaakko Munnukka who was my first goalie coach in the first season when I started playing. His teachings carried me over many years to come. After him Ari Ahlberg took over the coaching and continued the development. My team won many championships and we were one of the best youth hockey teams in the country me being our started for 80-90% of the games.

I was in the U16 national team scouting group and at few scouting tournaments/camps but I wasn’t good enough to make the junior national team. From age of 15 to 17 I was overtraining and my central nervous system was totally messed up which I didn’t realise at the time. 2000-01 season was the worst when I couldn’t stop even a beach ball. But the next season was totally opposite.

In the summer of 2001, I went to Minnesota to be a foreign exchange student for the full year. For the 01-02 season, I made many changes in my life such as starting yoga, meditation, and sleeping during school at study hall (study hall is a one-hour class where you are quiet and just do your homework, which was a great time to sleep). Because in the U.S. you can bring your own food to school and you have a locker where to keep it my food intake almost doubled. I was also able to eat a lot more and more nutritious food. In Finland, we have free school lunch which is great but the quality of the food is pretty much carbs and often it wasn’t very good. Not eating much during the day to eating two meals during the day had a huge impact on my recovery and one of the main reasons I could ADD: turn around my performance

That season wasn’t easy but I had one of the best and the most memorable years in my life on and off the ice. Coaches from schools like UMD (Minnesota Duluth) came to see me play and after the season all the top junior teams were interested in me. Basically eating and sleeping more and recovering better from training took my game to a whole new level. I went from not catching anything to one of the best goalies in Minnesota High School Hockey.

01-02 was also an amazing year since I had a very special coach-goalie relationship with my coach. I’d say that as a person, Dan Clafton is one of the best coaches in the world and a unique character you don’t come across often. I was one of his last students before he retired ADD: from coaching. He was like my Mr. Miyagi (Sensei from Karate Kid) and influenced my coaching style a lot. He could be yelling at my face and throwing the stick to the boards ADD: when I was scored on or not giving 100% effort, but we both knew it was to make me better, and all the hardship came from a place of love and care. The way we worked together was what you see in movies like Rocky and what I always wished to have.

After 2001-02 season I was three weeks home and went straight back to the U.S. to play junior hockey. But I wasn’t prepared for it. As an import goalie it is not enough that you are as good as or slightly better than local goalies. You have to be so good that the team wants to keep you over an import skater. I would have needed an agent and a coach to prepare me over the summer for what was about to come. You can’t go to a training camp in jet lag and not having ice time during summer. It doesn’t matter how well you have been training off the ice over the summer because at the training camp you don’t have time to get the feeling of being on the ice again. Training camp is always also a tryout camp, especially in North America. I didn’t know that at the time. I learned quickly that junior hockey is a business and players are the commodity just like any hockey after youth level. I just had been under the rock when growing up in a small town and didn’t know that.

During junior years I got bounced around and my development stopped. Reason why I kept pushing to play junior hockey in North America even I would have had a good set up back home was that back then if you wanted to play University hockey in the U.S. you had to come over to be seen unless you were a junior national team level goalie. It was also a lot more fun to play in the U.S. in front of the loud fans, compared to empty rinks back home.

After juniors, I didn’t get a scholarship to play University hockey, so I tried to play pro. I was the last guy to get cut from Knoxville’s main camp (SPHL) and with my junior hockey resume, nobody wanted to sign me. Not getting signed by a pro team and not getting a scholarship it looked like my hockey was done in the fall of 2005.

Fast forward a year to the 2006-2007 season and you’d find me in Canada playing University hockey with a full scholarship. After not playing for a season, I got a full ride as a walk-on goalie at Lakehead U. which was like a one-in-a-million chance. In Canada, scholarship system is different than in the U.S. but I didn’t have to pay for the school which would have been 25-30k/year for a foreign student. At Lakehead, I had a good rookie season but things change fast in hockey like an ocean wind. During the summer a new coach came in and they brought in a NHL-drafted goalie. However, I was not worried because the coach sent all kinds of letters about how he was excited to be part of the team, training camp info, etc. And I knew I had proven to be good enough to fight for the starting position. After the summer at the first meeting with coaches, I was told that I did everything right last season and that I was the best goalie on the team at the end of the season. But I will have to tryout again and if I make the team I will not get to play at all nor get a scholarship. I still don’t get how people can do stuff like that but now I have learned that in business and hockey that’s just how it is. Since then, my playing career had a couple of positive times but it was mainly a battle to get even quality training.

In 2015 I made my last comeback. I worked as NHL being the goal even though the reality was that I didn’t even have a team to practice with. I didn’t make it to the NHL but the comeback time was one of the best times I had in hockey. I got everything I wanted from it which was to play in front of loud fans, real competitive hockey, and work with a good professional goalie coach.

During my playing career, I have been offered many full-time coaching positions in Europe and North America but I always declined because it would have meant the end of my playing career. I always felt like I wasn’t ready to put the end to my competitive career. Afterward, I can say I’m glad I didn’t and I am very happy I did the comeback to playing in 2015. My mantra for the comeback was to see what is my maximum. I got to focus on hockey almost for two years before I ran out of money.

In retrospect, you could say that it was a 250-500k comeback because the stocks I sold to fund my comeback would be now worth around half a million. How much you’d pay to play hockey?

In 2017 when it was time to quit playing I had seen my maximum and the financial situation was also pushing it. I realized that before I could play on the highest or even second highest level in Finland I’d need 2-4 years more to develop myself. It was just not realistic anymore at the age of 33. The comeback made me a much better coach and it was definitely worth all the effort and the money because of the peace of mind I got. There are no ifs.

When I look back on my career I am thanking myself for pushing and grinding even when it didn’t make any logical sense. I can say that I made it to the top few percent of hockey players playing University hockey and ever getting a monthly salary to play ice hockey.

I believe that having the knowledge I have now to coach myself since a young age, would have given me a much better chance of making it to the NHL or at least having a solid pro career. That thought is exciting because, as a coach, I get to use all the knowledge to help you and continue the hockey journey.

2024 - 2025

• Youth - pro goalie consulting (individuals and organizations)

• Private coaching

• Camps

2023 - 2024

• Youth - pro goalie consulting (individuals and organizations)

• Private coaching

• Camps

2022 - 2023

• Youth - pro goalie consulting (individuals and organizations)

• Private coaching

• Camps

2021 - 2022

• Tampere Ilves, U13-U18 Goalie Practice Coach (Finland)

• Pro, University and Junior Goalie Consulting (Finland)

• Online coaching

2020 - 2021

• Pro, University and Junior Goalie Consulting (Finland)

• One-on-One Mental Coaching (Finland)

• Online coaching

2019 - 2020

• Espoo Blues U18-Academy, Goalie Coach (Finland 2)

• Espoo Blues U17, Goalie Coach (Finland 1)

• Pro, University and Junior Goalie Consulting (Finland)

• One-on-One Mental Coaching (Finland)

2017 - 2019

• Pro, University and Junior Goalie Consulting (Finland)

• One-on-One Mental Coaching (Finland)

2015 - 2017

• Did not coach

2014 - 2015

• Junior and Youth Goalie Consulting (Finland)

• Goalie Force Goalie camp, Founder & Head Coach (Finland)

2013 - 2014

• Espoo Blues U16-Academy, Goalie Coach (Finland 1)

• Lari Joutsenlahti Hockey School, Goalie Coach (Finland)

• Goalie Force Scoring and Goalie Camp, Founder & Head Coach (Finland)

2012 - 2013

• Player-Coach for Goalies, Eindhoven Kemphanen Men’s team (Netherlands 1)

• Goalie coach for Netherlands National Team Development Program

• Lari Joutsenlahti Hockey School, Goalie Coach (Finland)

• Goalie Force Scoring and Goalie Camp, Founder & Head Coach (Finland)

2011 - 2012

• Espoo Blues U10 - U14, Goalie Coach (Finland 1)

• GrIFK U12 , U13, U14, U15, Goalie Coach (Finland 2)

• Jukka Ropponen’s GoaliePro Goalie Camp, Coach (Finland)

• Goalie Sam Goalie School, Group Head Coach (Norway)

• Behind the Mask Goalie Camp, Coach (Austria)

2010 - 2011

• GrIFK U14, goalie coach (Finland 2)

• Online coaching

2010 Spring

• Grand Rapids High School Boy’s Varsity, Goalie Coach (MN, USA)

• Grand Rapids Youth Teams, Visiting Goalie Coach (MN, USA)

2009 - 2010

• Finnish Defence Forces, Reserve Officer Trainee and Fitness Trainer for 80 men (Finland)

2003 - 2009

• Lakehead Thunderwolves Goalie Camp and Hockey School, Goalie Coach (ON, CANADA)

• Indianapolis Area Youth Teams, Volunteer Goalie Coach (IN, USA)

• Athletic Force Sports Training Camps, Founder & Head Coach (FL, USA)

• Christian Royer’s Hockey School, Goalie Consult, (FL, USA)

• Palm Harbor HS Boy’s Varsity, Goalie Coach (FL, USA)

• Tampa Bay Skating Academy, Goalie Clinic Head Coach (FL, USA)

• Adam Hauser’s Goalie Camp, Coach (MN,USA)

MY COACHING STORY

In 1998 while still in middle school l discovered the love for training planning and off-ice programming. I used to read all the bodybuilding magazines in the library (actually not a good source for information which I didn’t know at the time), write training programs for my friends, and even suggest drills for my coaches based on video analysis. I also started studying peak performance after I was having trouble handling pressure in big games. It lead me to discover how to get into the zone with a certain warm up routine which was one of the biggest reasons why I could compete against more talented goalies. Everything I did was to improve myself and my team. I never planned to do coaching or be a coach.

Early in my career I had really good coaches who laid the foundation for my career/development as a goalie and as a coach (Jaakko Munnukka, Ari Ahlberg, Dan Clafton and Birger Grönholm as a head coach for 10 years) . Without them I would have never made it anywhere in hockey. Later in my career in Rovaniemi Juha Soronen and the whole coaching staff made it possible that I took another big leap as a coach/goalie. But there were many years when I didn’t have a goalie coach or the goalie coach who I had was more of a puck pusher. Therefore I tried to get my hands on all the possible goalie specific material from visualisation training to on-ice technique videos. And of course I naturally recorded all the NHL power week shows and studied NHL goalies as much I could.

In 2003 I officially got into coaching as a volunteer coach at Adam Hauser's goalie camp in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. At the time I was playing junior hockey and still didn’t have any plans to do coaching. However, since then I have been coaching on the side of playing because seems like when I have gone to places I have always been offered some kind of coaching jobs and people around the rink have asked me to coach them. For example, in Florida I end up running a weekly goalie clinic while playing junior hockey there.

In 2010 after spending a year in military as a reserve officer trainee I made a clear shift to focus more on coaching because my own playing career was heading down. I got very motivated to coach and to help young goalies so they wouldn’t have to experience the screwing over like I had. If you are clearly better than other goalies your life is easier so my goal was to help my goalies to become way better than other guys. However back in my mind I always had a thought that I want to keep playing. With coaching I was able to fund my own playing while in school. Coaching also really helped my to improve my own game and it also opened doors for me as a player-coach.

From there over the next few years I got great full-time coaching offers around the world but I always felt that I’m not ready to totally give up on my playing career and therefore didn’t take up on those offers. Even my focus was on coaching I kept my playing career alive the best I could while trying to finish my university studies in Finland.

Between 2015 and 2017 I did very little coaching because I was fully focused on my own career for the one last time. I quit everything else and only played hockey for almost two years before I ran out of money.

In 2017 when I had given it all as a goalie it was time to quit active playing at the age of 33 because I was not going to make it to the level where you get paid enough only to play hockey. After I quit playing I also took some time off from coaching. I only kept working with selected goalies while the focus of my efforts was building a career outside of hockey.

In 2019 after a couple of years in the corporate world and not even being inside a hockey rink in almost two years I accidentally found myself coaching goalies of two teams. It felt like coming back home and I could not have imagined how much I missed being on the ice.

2019-2020 was the first season in my life when I was coaching and not playing. It felt relieving when I wasn't thinking that "I should be in the net stopping pucks". It felt like I was where I was supposed to be. I enjoyed coaching differently than before because I didn’t desire to be in the net stopping the pucks like I always had before. I was happy and content being on the side.

By the fall of 2021 I had reached all the main goals I set to myself in the office world and I had seen what it is like in big and small corporations. I got to try jobs that I thought were my dreams jobs and I got into a corporations like IBM that were on my dream companies to work for list. But nothing ever felt like being on the ice.

When writing this it is 2022 and time to put hockey back to priority over office work. I have given my all as a goalie and I have given my all as an office worker. Now it is time to have a balance in life and build a long-lasting career in coaching and possible combine some office work or business.

I have coached long enough that some of my first goalies who I started to work with at the age of 10 have made it to NCAA and signed pro contracts with NHL teams. This gives me perspective to understand what needs to be done on daily basis since the young age and how your training has to change over the years when you get older if you want to make it to the NHL.

My goal as a coach is to work with motivated goalies and help as many as possible to reach their maximum potential regardless of their age and level. I would have never made it so far without my coaches, so I hope to be one of the guys who makes a difference in your career.