Merrimack coach Scott Borek remembers the first time he went to watch Matt Copponi play for the Dexter Southfield School.
“It was a very bad hockey game,” a blowout win for Dexter, Borek said.
“Matt didn’t do anything. Now that I know him I understand why. It wasn’t competitive enough for him.”
Competitiveness could be Copponi’s best quality. It’s helped him earn a prominent role as a sophomore for a Merrimack team that has won five straight and is in the thick of the race for first place in Hockey East.
His game has shown impressive growth, especially when you consider that just 12 months ago Copponi (Mansfield, Mass.) was fighting for a place in the lineup. He didn’t dress for every game and finished the season with nine points (three goals, six assists) in 25 games.
This season, he already has nine points (five goals, four assists) in 11 games. He scored the only goal in a 1-0 win on Friday, then added two more on Saturday as the Warriors swept Maine. And NHL scouts have their eyes on him as a possible draft pick in 2023 after being passed over the last two years.
At a time when 20-year-old freshmen with loads of junior hockey experience are common, Copponi went straight to Merrimack from prep school. He played most of his freshman year as an 18-year-old.
“He was a true freshman coming out of a COVID year where he probably played 12 games at Dexter, max, and then didn’t have gyms open," Borek said. "He came in as a real true freshman, very, very raw, hadn’t had an opportunity to develop physically as you’d like to before your freshman year of college.”
Going to juniors was on the table, but the Merrimack staff left it up to Copponi.
“It was certainly a consideration, but in his recruiting process we had told him if he was ready that we would bring him in as a true freshman,” said Borek.
“We had a really good conversation with him and his mom and dad and told them, ‘I don’t think you’re going to help us win in October or November, but I do think you can help us win in March once you get your legs going.’
“But we left it up to him at that point, if that’s the experience he wanted as a freshman, competing for ice. He chose to come in and I think that’s what’s great about Matt Copponi. He has a tremendous self-belief, which you have to have, and he has an unbelievable competitive streak.
“He was a successful enough player to be in our lineup at the end in the most important games of the season. This year he’s a successful enough player to be a major factor every night.”
To his credit, when Copponi sat out games last season, he took it in stride and used it as an opportunity to grow.
“Adjusting to it, definitely, was new. I wouldn’t say it was hard to deal with because we were a good team in the league and we were winning some games and I knew coming in that I never was going to be given anything – I had to earn it. I took it as motivation more than anything, as a way to give myself a challenge that I had never really had to experience,” he said.
Borek liked the way he handled it. “Kids like that don’t sit out games," he said. "They play every night and they play in every situation. He was, I’m sure, frustrated, but he was a really good teammate. They never saw that frustration. I asked (other players) just to make sure that was the case because your teammates are distracted by that. He was really good.”
Like a lot of Merrimack players, Copponi was close with assistant coach Josh Ciocco, who died suddenly in October.
“Josh is a big part of why I came here. Me and him, we had a very close relationship, really from early on in the (recruiting) process. He was someone that would drive to the middle of Maine to watch a game that we won, 7-0, just to talk to you. Josh was one of the guys in the coaches' room last year who really fought for me, to put me in the lineup,” Copponi said.
“I was someone that was overlooked my whole hockey career. As soon as I felt that the coaches believed in me, that’s all I really needed to hear because I knew Scott had a plan here. That meant a lot to me and was a big part of why I chose Merrimack.”
Copponi, who is listed at 6 feet, 179 pounds, is back at center this season after playing on the wing last year.
“We didn’t feel he was heavy enough to play in the middle of the rink. This year he is 15 pounds heavier and that gave me the confidence to put him at center. He’s been a very, very effective player in all situations for us,” said Borek.
A lifelong Boston Bruins fan, Copponi tries to model his game after – who else? — Patrice Bergeron.
“You can’t really match exactly what he does, but I do my best to watch the little things. Faceoffs. Defensive zone coverage. He’s very good at finding a guy and lifting sticks,” he said.
After being passed over in the NHL Draft the last two years, this looks like it could be the year for Copponi. Interest is heating up as he’s heard from several teams after his strong start this year.
“If his game continues to grow from where it is today, he’ll be more than a seventh-round flyer (in the draft),” Borek said. “He’s scoring. He’s making plays. He’s competing against bigger, stronger players. He’s having a boatload of success. If he gets five more pounds on him next summer, when he comes back for his junior year he could just explode.”
The draft is months away. In the here and now, Copponi is thinking Hockey East championship.
“I think this might be our year. I truly do believe it. We’re really locked in right now. When we start getting into the deep end of league play, our depth and our will to win is going to start to show,” he said.
“There’s something going on in our locker room that is really good. I think the sky’s the limit for our team this year.”
