Matt Korthuis was born in 1981 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He grew up playing hockey in Saskatchewan and kickstarted his hockey career with two fantastic seasons in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) playing for the Estevan Bruins from 2000-2002.
After giving outstanding performances in Saskatchewan, Matt moved to his homeland, the Netherlands, and began playing hockey in the nation’s own league. Little did Matt Korthuis know at the time, he was about to begin a legendary European hockey career. Matt played the 2002-2003 season for a team called the “Nijmegen Tigers.” He spent the next two seasons playing for the Heerenveen Flyers of the same league and played his fourth season for the Amstel Tijgers. In all four of his first seasons, Matt was a force to be reckoned with on the ice.
In 2007, Matt joined a team in the Netherlands league called “HYS The Hague.” In the five seasons he played with HYS The Hague, Matt was even more successful than in his first four years playing hockey in Europe.
Matt’s outstanding playing career came with many achievements, of course. Matt was the 2007 Dutch Cup winner with the Amstel Tijgers. He was also the 2009 Dutch champion, and the 2011 Dutch champion and North Sea Cup champion with HYS The Hague. In 2012, Matt’s last year with the team, HYS The Hague took home both the Dutch Cup and the North Sea Cup. Matt also had the opportunity, three years in a row from 2007-2009, to represent the Netherlands in the hockey World Championships Division I.
In 2012, as a last hurrah for a wildly successful playing career, Matt moved to Australia to play for the Melbourne Ice in the Australian Ice Hockey league (AIHL). With Matt’s help, the Melbourne Ice won the Goodall Cup in the Australian Championship that year.
Since retiring as a player, Matt has been a professional skills and development coach based out of his hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Matt is also a scout for the Prince George Cougars, a Canadian major junior hockey team based in Prince George, B.C.
In 2017, Matt joined HockeySkillsTraining.com, where he shares his stick handling expertise in his online training videos to players everywhere.
