Corridor Cross Checks: Sop is no flop for the Iowa Heartlanders

CEDAR RAPIDS - Name the ECHL player who is living away from home for the very first time.

There might actually be more than one, but it’s kind of doubtful. The answer to the question is Iowa Heartlanders rookie forward Matthew Sop.

The 21-year-old is from Kitchener, Ontario, and his hockey career to this point has been Kitchener centric. Sop played age-group AAA-level junior hockey for the Kitchener Jr. Rangers, then secured a spot on the major junior Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.

In between was a stint with the Mississauga Chargers of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. He has lived at home with his mother and father all of this time.

Now he’s living in a Coralville apartment with Heartlanders teammate Lincoln Erne, who is five years his senior, a college graduate and a second-year pro hockey player.

“It’s definitely different,” Sop said. “Don’t have mom and dad cooking every night. I’m doing things on my own. I’ve had to call my mom and ask her how to do laundry and things like that. It’s been different, for sure, but it’s been nice. I have a really good roommate who is an older guy on the team who has helped me.”

Sop seems to like his new environs, this new level of hockey. He leads the Heartlanders with seven goals and 12 assists in Iowa’s first 14 games this ECHL season and is their top plus-minus guy at plus-7, tied with fellow forward Gavin Hain.

Needless to say, he has made a big, early impression.

“A huge part that goes into it is my teammates and coaches,” Sop said. “They make me comfortable, let me play my game. They correct me on a lot of things, too. Like, for example, my coaches get on me about playing a full 200-foot game. And I think good defense leads into good offense. Him just being on me about that has really helped my game a lot being able to play at this level. Obviously, my teammates are amazing, too, and that helps a lot.”

Sop said he would describe himself as a “play creator.” He is a late bloomer who won the Leo Lalonde Trophy last season as the Ontario Hockey League’s top overaged player.

He turned 21 late last OHL season.

“Each year in my junior career I pushed myself to get better,” Sop said. “As you start to get older in junior, you really start to find your game. I think I really found my game last year, just knowing my style and doing the little things each day to get better. Just the confidence that you get when you get oloder, too. I try and carry that confidence every single day, even in my first pro game, my first year. I try and keep that confidence level at all times.”

Sop spent three years attending Victus Academy private school, a hockey and education-based school in Kitchener, where he took classes and got individual tutoring for his game along the way. The Iowa Wild contacted him in the offseason and signed him to an American Hockey League contract.

Certainly he hopes to get to Des Moines at some point this season but is content right now to play a major role for the Heartlanders as he dabs his foot in the professional waters. Sop attended both preseason camps for the Iowa Wild and NHL’s Minnesota Wild.

“Watching those guys play was so cool,” he said. “Sometimes you’d catch yourself in the middle of a drill, I’d be locked in on (Kirill) Kaprizov because he’s doing something great with the puck. When I watched those guys, it was like ‘OK, this is really cool stuff, but what can I add in to my game to transition (to pro hockey)?”

His transition is going just fine right now.

The Heartlanders went 3-0-1 in their four-game week last week.

They won a weekday game at Kansas City, 5-3. Louka Henault and Gavin Hain had a goal and assist each.

Iowa then beat Wichita in Friday and Saturday night games, 4-2 and 3-2. Sop had a goal and assist Friday, while Hain had the game-winning goal Saturday with 4:38 remaining against former NHL goaltender Aaron Dell.

He has played 130 games in the league.

The Heartlanders hit the road Sunday afternoon and lost in overtime at Bloomington, 3-2. They fell behind after two periods, 2-0, but got third-period goals from Hain and Ryan Miotto to force extra time and get a standings point.

Iowa has a 7-3-2 record for 16 standings points, which places it in third place in the seven-team Central Division of the ECHL. It goes right back to Bloomington for a Saturday night game and hosts the Bison at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

The Riders lost twice over the weekend at Youngstown, 4-0 and 5-3.

Melvin Strahl had 17 saves to post the shutout in Friday night’s game. He is a Columbus Blue Jackets NHL draft pick.

Former RoughRider Landan Resendes had the tie-breaking goal midway through the third period of Saturday’s game. Heath Nelson had a pair of goals for Cedar Rapids, with Daniel Astapovich potting the other.

The Riders have a 5-10-0-1 record for 11 standings points. That places them in seventh place out of eight teams in the United States Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.

Cedar Rapids is back home at ImOn Ice Arena this coming weekend. Dubuque is the opponent Friday night and Chicago the foe Saturday night.

Opening faceoff for both games is 7:05.

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