Matus, Peter

BORN NOVEMBER 4TH 1985, in Springs Gauteng, South Africa, his chemist parents immigrated to Sydney Australia in 1968. But the family left for Europe, then South Africa in 1972, until returning to Australia 13 years later in 1986 with the Gillette company in Melbourne. His parents were fans of ice hockey and gave him his first roller skates at the age of 8 and a Russian ice hockey coach to teach him the basics. His sisters Anna and Catherine also played, and his sister Sue was also a fan.

He developed with the Melbourne Saints in the Victorian ice hockey league representing his state through the national development program including the starting line-ups in the Tange Trophy (U18) in 2000, 2001 and 2002, the latter as alternate captain to Lliam Webster. He was a foundation player in defence with the Melbourne Ice in the AIHL at 16, playing the club's first seasons (2002, '03). "Absolutely loved how this guy played," wrote former Club president, Andy Lamrock. "Top bloke and great family".

He first represented Australia in the National Youth Team (U18) at the 2001 IIHF Asian Oceanic Championships (U18) in Seoul, South Korea, recording three assists from three games. Australia placed third, but failed to qualify for IIHF World U18 Championship Division III. He returned at the 2002 IIHF Asian Oceania in Auckland New Zealand where Australia placed second and won promotion to the Division III Group A U18 World Championships the following year. There in Mexico City in 2003 he finished with the Gold and was promoted to Division II, scoring an average 1.67 points a game in the three outings. He also competed in the 2003 Junior Worlds (U20) at Izmit in Turkey.

He returned in 2004 and was also selected that year for the National Senior Team in Jaca Spain, by which time he had played 5 ice hockey internationals. He represented Australia in both Junior and Mens teams in 2005, and his third and final appearance for the National Senior Team was at the 2006 Worlds where he recorded 3 assists and won his second senior Division 2 bronze medal to go with a silver. He had represented Australia 9 times over 6 years in youth, junior and senior age bands winning gold with both the youth and junior teams.

"I reached the limit of the highest level of the sport representing Australia," he told Andrej Cicman of hokeportal.net in 2007 "so I decided to upgrade my hockey skills in a country where ice hockey is played at an even higher level". His parents helped with entry to a Bratislava hockey school through a friend where he developed under Alexandra Molnar. They also helped with the costs of playing ice hockey in Slovakia for 4 years, first as a junior in Bratislava for HK Ruzinov 99 (U20), then HKM Zvolen (U20) in 2005 and '06; and HK Detva in Slovakia Division 2. He received an invite to the NHL Draft while at Zvolen but it did not eventuate due to the player's strike.

He returned to the Melbourne Ice in 2005 and was also a prolific scorer in inline hockey, representing Australia in the Division 1 Inline Hockey World Championships in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2010, he scored 4 goals, 4 assists, and was credited with a semi-final game winner that lifted Australia into the top 4 to finish fourth in the world. Still just 24 years old, he won a Goodall Cup with the Melbourne Ice in 2010, the first of the club's 3 successive victories, then just disappeared from the sport.