For three seasons, forward Matt Carter has been a dominant force for the UPEI Panthers in the Atlantic University men’s hockey conference.
His offensive numbers were good enough to get him an invitation this month to the NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Mich. with the Dallas Stars. The NHL team just wrapped up its training camp in Charlottetown.
Carter has enjoyed steady improvement over those three years and posted career highs with 20 goals, 24 assists for 44 points in 28 games last season, which brings his career totals to 51 goals, 55 assist for 106 points in 83 games.
Those numbers and his play earned the 24-year-old Mississauga, Ont. native a closer look by Dallas.
Carter, who is entering his fourth and final year in the bachelor of business program at the university, said he got a lot out of the tournament and looks forward to putting the experience to use in the upcoming AUS season.
“It was a great experience. It got me a little bit more ready for the year and it was a lot of fun,” Carter said.
“I expect to have the same kind of year I did last year and hopefully better. Hopefully, as a team, we can end up in Fredericton in the nationals.”
Carter had a good showing at the prospects tournament, notching a pair of goals to go with a plus-1 rating and four penalty minutes in three games.
Carter said the advice he received from the organization was valuable.
“(Things to work on include) just sort of working away from the puck and just the finer things, like becoming a professional and carrying yourself outside of the rink, little things like that,” he said.
“(I plan to) just keep doing what I’m doing and things will hopefully work out in the future. They preached about getting an education and how important it is so that was good.”
Stars amateur scout Shane Turner, who makes his home in Charlottetown, said Carter deserved to get a look from the organization.
“He was on a tryout with the Stars rookie camp and he earned that based on how he played last season with the UPEI Panthers and he came, he performed well,” Turner said. “He didn’t get an invite to the big camp but we’re going to monitor him as the year progresses and see what happens at the end of this season.”
Turner gave a brief assessment on what he saw from Carter during last season and at the tournament.
“He has quick strike ability, has a great shot, he works hard and when he’s involved in the play he’s a very good player,” he said.
“He needs to have a little more consistency in his game and use those attributes that are there and that will make him a more complete player.”
As for Carter’s future with the club, Turner said only time will tell.
“Strictly, we’re going to monitor him and if we think he’s been consistent in those areas that we think he needs to improve on then we’ll look at placing him somewhere in the organization.”
That means he could end up getting an invite to the Stars camp next season or possibly end up in the organization at the end of the 2011-2012 AUS season.
Carter and his Panthers head to Fredericton to suite up for an exhibition game against AUS rival St. Thomas Tommies today. The team then heads to Ottawa and Montreal for four more exhibition games later this week.
