Christian Matte (born January 20, 1975 in Hull, Quebec, Canada) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played briefly in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild. He shot right-handed and played right wing.
After playing a year with the Granby Bisons in the QMJHL Matte was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 6th round, 153rd overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. After being drafted Matte reported back to the Bisons and played another two years with the team and developed a strong scoring touch, scoring 50 goals and 116 points in 66 games his final year there. For the 1995–1996 season Matte turned pro and joined the Cornwall Aces in the AHL. The following year the Nordiques relocated to Colorado and Matte joined the Hershey Bears who became the Avalanche's new minor league affiliate. That same season Matte also made his NHL debut and played in 5 games with the Avalanche.
Matte then played the majority of the next three years with the Bears. Despite averaging more than a point per game in the minors Matte was not able to crack the Avalanche lineup. He never played more than 7 games in a season with the Avalanche. For the 2000–2001 season Matte signed as a free agent with the newly formed Minnesota Wild where he would have a better chance of cracking the starting lineup. However, Matte played only three games with the Wild before being sent to the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the IHL for the remainder of the season, leading the IHL in scoring with 38 goals. The next year Matte signed with the Buffalo Sabres but never played a game with them, instead playing with their minor league affiliate Rochester Americans. From the 2002–2003 season until the 2003–2004 season Matte played in Switzerland before retiring.
Career NHL Statistics[]
Regular season | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||||||
1996–1997 | Colorado Avalanche | NHL | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
1997–1998 | Colorado Avalanche | NHL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||
1998–1999 | Colorado Avalanche | NHL | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
1999–2000 | Colorado Avalanche | NHL | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||
2000–2001 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||
5 Years | Totals | NHL | 25 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 12 |