Matt Jovanovic commits to RPI
The former top prospect will look to play in his first game in nearly 5 years
After a couple of late decommits, RPI had an open spot on its roster for another player. Recently on our interview, Coach Lang revealed that spot will be used on defenseman Matt Jovanovic. Hailing from Toronto, Jovanovic is a left shot defenseman listed at 6’2” and 200 LBs, and he has quite the story. (Go to the 38:00 mark of the interview to hear the details from Coach Lang).
As a teenager, Jovanovic was a top prospect in Toronto. At 16 years old, he played in the Youth Olympic Games for Team Canada alongside all the other top prospects in his age group, which included numerous top NHL draft picks. He would have been a surefire first round pick in the OHL draft. Despite considering going the college route, the Saginaw Spirit still selected him in the 2nd round of the OHL draft. Jovanovic committed to Notre Dame and chose to play for the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL as a 16 year old.
Unfortunately, he ended up suffering a major hip injury that required surgery. After undergoing surgery, more complications surfaced with atrophy. This setback kept Jovanovic off the ice for over 2 years. When that all cleared up, he was able to resume skating about 9 months ago, and he has been hard at work rehabbing his hip and getting ready to play. He is skating with a group of NHLers in Toronto with former Norris trophy winning defenseman Mark Giordano, and Giordano mentioned to Coach Lang that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Jovanovic and the NHLers.
Old scouting reports paint Jovanovic as an active, two way defenseman. His main strength is his outstanding skating ability with an “almost perfect stride” that allows him to get around the ice quickly and easily. He defends really well by using his skating to close gaps and take away time and space from opposing players. He’s excellent in transition with great passing ability to move the puck quickly. The upside is there to be an all-situations defenseman that can play a lot of minutes.
RPI decided to take the chance on Jovanovic and his upside. There will need to be a lot of patience as he works his way back into playing hockey. There’s a massive difference between offseason training skates and playing real games with full contact. He probably won’t be playing right away in October, and when he does, there will be some growing pains as it will be his first hockey game in almost 5 years. Based on his hard work to rehab from all these injury troubles, I do expect he will complete his recovery and suit up for the Engineers some time this year.
When he does make his debut, I hope that he is in the starting lineup, and they get his family into Troy to see it. He should get a special moment to celebrate fighting all the way back to play after 4+ years. Congratulations to Matt and his family on his commitment, and I can’t wait to see his well-earned debut back on the ice!