PHOTO COURTESY OF MATAYAH METZ
Matayah Metz of Medicine Hat skates with her Bigby Coffee AAA 19U hockey team located in Oshtemo, Michigan.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Matayah Metz can breathe a little easier, she’s going to Minot State University.
The 19-year-old Medicine Hat product committed to the ACHA Div I hockey team located in the city of Minot in North Dakota on May 23.
She said she is excited for the opportunity and relieved to have found a spot to play.
“It feels good to get it off my chest a little bit. With COVID these past few years, it was kind of hard for the recruiting process and so it feels good to be committed somewhere,” Metz said.
Metz said it was tough mentally and she wasn’t sure if she would even continue playing hockey because it’s hard for women in hockey to play with the limited options of next level. She spent last season playing for the Biggby Coffee Tier 1 AAA team in Michigan while attending Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor. She was second on the team in goals scored with 11, and third on the team in total points with 28, adding 17 assists.
Metz said she has battled mental health a lot throughout the pandemic and is still working on coping with it. She reads to take her mind off it and recently got a Samoyed puppy named Sunny.
“She wouldn’t fit any other name to be honest, which is actually quite ironic because she is a very bright energetic dog but she likes to sit in the shade,” Metz said.
Metz won’t be bringing her to stay in her dorm come the fall but said Sunny will help keep her parents occupied a little more. She’s hoping to get her certified as a therapy dog that can work in seniors’ homes and libraries with children.
With Minot State only eight hours from home, Metz is excited to be closer to her parents and, of course, Sunny.
When she heads to play for the Beavers, Metz will be majoring in psychology but has yet to decide on which career path she wants to take with her eventual degree.
“I feel like through the pandemic and the past few years, mental health has been brought into the light,” Metz said. “I like to work with animals and children but I also like forensics.”
While playing for Biggby, Metz studied forensic anthropology, which has allowed her to have a “one-up” on her friends when they watch forensic shows like CSI or her favourite, Bones. When she suits up for Minot in the fall she will be a freshman on the ice but a sophomore in the classroom. It’s something she says will help ease the stress of the first year in a new program.
She enjoyed her time in Michigan because of her supportive billet family and the opportunities it provided her like watching Michigan football beat Ohio State, or travel to Florida, Chicago and Washington while playing hockey like a professional hockey player.
Before she played in Michigan, Metz suited up for 22 games during two seasons with the CSSHL’s Northern Alberta Xtreme U18 team, scoring three goals and adding an assist. While with NAX, Metz said it was tough being kept off the ice due to COVID-19 but is grateful to learn from her coaches there.
She said she always dreamed about playing college hockey in the States and can’t believe the time has already come. She said she will be proud to hear her name and her hometown of Medicine Hat announced opening night of the season because she’s always wanted to be the person who others came to watch.
“As a little kid getting up early and going to practice and to Medicine Hat Tigers’ games I wanted to be on the ice having people watch me,” Metz said. “This will be such an interesting thing because the Beavers’ rink is insane and I’m really excited for that.”
Editors note: A previous version of the story cited the Minot Beavers as a Division II hockey team. They are an ACHA Div. I team.
