John Peter Matchefts (June 18, 1931 – November 10, 2013) was an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player and coach. Matchefts played for

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

at the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( or ), were a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956. Cortina, which ...

Career

Player

Eveleth Eveleth is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Decker Eveleth, American researcher *Rose Eveleth, American podcast host, producer, designer, and animator See also *Eveleth, Minnesota Eveleth is a city in St. Louis County, Mi ...

native from birth, Matchefts played for his hometown

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

ice hockey team, earning three consecutive all-tournament team honors in his time there and helping Eveleth High School win state titles in his junior and senior years. Matchefts then moved on to

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, signing up to play for the national powerhouse under the charge of Vic Heyliger. After sitting out his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

season (a normal occurrence at the time) Matchefts joined the varsity team just in time for them to win the school's second national title in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

. The following season the Wolverines became a founding member of the MCHL and responded by posting a second consecutive 22-win season and national title. Matchefts was named team captain for his senior season and while their win total dropped to 17, the Wolverines were invited back to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

tournament and after a scare against Rensselaer in the semifinals, Michigan triumphed for the third straight year, making this the only three-peat in the history of the tournament. (as of 2014) With the win Matchefts joined a very exclusive club of three time NCAA champions as a player in any sport let alone men's hockey. After graduating in 1953 Matchefts joined the US National Team for a time, playing in both the

1955 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1955 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 22nd edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships. The tournament was held in Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Krefeld and Cologne, West Germany from February 25 to March 6, 1955. A total of 14 nations part ...

and the

1956 Olympics 1956 Olympics refers to both: *The 1956 Winter Olympics, which were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy *The 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were ...

, earning a silver medal at

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; , ; historical ) sometimes abbreviated to simply Cortina, is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomites, Dolomitic) Alps in the province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the ...

before retiring as a player.

Coaching

Matchefts returned to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and spent more than a decade as the coach for both his previous high school and Thief River Falls High School before being offered the opportunity to succeed Bob Johnson as head coach at

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors a ...

. After a decent first season Matchefts' Tigers dropped to the bottom of the conference and stayed well below .500 for the remainder of his tenure. He was out as coach after the 1970–71 season after the school denied his request for a $200 raise. A year later, Matchefts' joined his old college coach, Vic Heyliger, at The Air Force Academy as an assistant and eventually succeeded him in 1974–75. For the next 11 seasons, Matchefts led the airmen through ups and downs as the program established itself as a Division I Independent before retiring and turning the team over to Chuck Delich in 1984–85. On November 10, 2013 John Matchefts died in the city where he spent so much of his coaching career,

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

Career statistics

Source:

Head coaching record

Awards and honors

October 1991 Induction into US Hockey Hall of Fame as a player. September 2015 inducted into University of Michigan Hall of Honor

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matchefts, John 1931 births 2013 deaths Air Force Falcons men's ice hockey coaches American men's ice hockey centers Colorado College Tigers men's ice hockey coaches Ice hockey coaches from Minnesota Ice hockey players at the 1956 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey players Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey People from Eveleth, Minnesota United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees NCAA men's ice hockey national champions Ice hockey players from Minnesota 20th-century American sportsmen