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

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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

who played one game in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

with the

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

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

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and Austrian leagues.

Playing career

Zaba was originally selected 231st overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

. 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 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Rangers. Before winning the Vezina Trophy in 2012, he was nominated in each ...

in a game against the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

. 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 (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

with

HC Bolzano HC, hc or H/C may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Medicine * Health Canada * Hemicrania continua * Hyperelastosis cutis or hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia Chemistry * Hemocyanin, a metalloprotein abbreviated Hc * ...

. 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 ice hockey goaltenders Charlotte Checkers (1993–2010) players Colorado College Tigers men's ice hockey players Hartford Wolf Pack players Idaho Steelheads (ECHL) players Los Angeles Kings draft picks New York Rangers players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Penticton Panthers players Ice hockey people from Yorkton Vernon Vipers players Vienna Capitals players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen