April 13, 2024, will forever be one of the best days of Miko Matikka’s life. After finally getting to play for the University of Denver, thanks to eligibility issues forcing him to spend the 2022-23 season in the United States Hockey League, the Finnish forward was on the ice celebrating with his teammates. Denver had just won a record-breaking 10th NCAA championship after beating No. 1 Boston College.
Matikka played a significant role in Denver’s championship run. He produced 33 points, 20 of which were goals, which placed him second on the team in that category and fourth among all NCAA freshmen. He also tallied an assist on Tristan Lemyre’s game-tying goal in the semi-finals to send the game into overtime, which set up Tristan Broz’s game-winning goal.
Matikka was on top. He was a champion. He was finally playing for the school he had wanted to play for. Matikka showed it on the ice as he facetimed his parents, who were back in Finland right after Denver won.
This was so special.
— Scotty Gange (@Scotty_G6) April 14, 2024
DU's Miko Matikka stood in tears facetiming his parents back home in Helsinki, Finland telling them he's a champion ♥️
"This might be the greatest day of my life" 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xyIaCNZDks
He was also one of the most anticipated prospects in the Arizona Coyotes’ system. In just a couple of months, he would sign his first pro deal with the Utah Hockey Club. Truly a dream come true for the former third-round pick.
A year later, Matikka was struggling. The forward had just two points in 28 games with the American Hockey League’s Tucson Roadrunners. With the struggles came a stretch of being healthy scratched. Eventually, something needed to be done. It was decided that Matikka would be sent down to the ECHL. It was a far cry from the winning feeling he had just a year before.
After an eventful summer, Matikka could’ve come to training camp with a bad attitude or even requested some sort of change. However, he didn’t and continued to train and work hard in the offseason. Early in the season, it ultimately paid off.
Struggles in Tucson and Rise in Allen
With his pro contract signed, Matikka was sent down to the AHL to join the Roadrunners for his first pro season. He made his AHL debut in the first game of the season against the Colorado Eagles.
Just three games in, Matikka recorded his first pro point off a secondary assist on Maveric Lamoureux’s first AHL goal against the Texas Stars. It seemed the point would help get Matikka going. Maybe get back to the level of scoring that he had in Denver.
Unfortunately, it instead kicked off a 16-game stretch without a point for Matikka. Throughout those games, the forward was sometimes even healthy-scratched in favor of other players who performed better in the lineup than he did.
Matikka broke his long point drought with an assist on Curtis Douglas’s goal against the Henderson Silver Knights in late January. However, just like his assist at the beginning of the season, it led to nothing.
With nothing happening with Matikka’s production, the Roadrunners and the Mammoth decided to send the forward down to the ECHL’s Allen Americans with hopes of him regaining his confidence and finding his scoring touch again. Both parties were also hoping he would help the Americans get back on the right track, as the team was struggling and near the bottom of the league.
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“Those guys were having a hard time as well,” Matikka said. “Me going there, I tried to do my job and help the team a little bit. It gained me confidence I might have lost at the start of the year, but learning how hard it is and how many guys there are to take your spot, it’s eye-opening.”
It didn’t take long for Matikka to make an impact in Texas. He produced his first point in his first game against the Worcester Railers. A couple of games later, he scored his first pro goal against the Kansas City Mavericks. The game was also Matikka’s first multi-point game of the season.
Matikka continued to flourish with the Americans, scoring at the pace he had in Denver. He ended the season with 12 points in 25 games. Five of those points were goals.
GOALLL BY Miko Matikka pic.twitter.com/GvzrQLq77F
— Americans Professional Hockey Club (@AllenAmericans) March 23, 2025
The move to the ECHL worked. Matikka looked like a more confident player with the Americans and produced at a more acceptable rate. It also gave him motivation to keep climbing up the ranks and never look back.
“I think it was good for me,” Matikka said. “The huge hope for this year is working and not wanting to go back there and prove myself here (in Tucson).”
Matikka was recalled by the Roadrunners for their playoff series against the Abbotsford Canucks, but didn’t appear in any games. With his first pro season in the books and some momentum to build upon during his time in Allen, Matikka began training vigorously in the summer. He focused on all the things he thought he had done wrong during the season and worked to improve on them.
He also made sure to talk to Roadrunners head coach Steve Potvin and the other coaches from Tucson to get their opinions on what he should work on. When he returned in the fall for Roadrunners training camp, it was clear that he was a much-improved and more confident player than he was in the prior season.
“I put some weight on and tried to work on those little things that I struggled with last year,” Matikka said. “I put in the work, put my head down, got to the gym and on the ice, and tried to work on the little stuff. I talk with Pots (Potvin) and coaches and improve that way.”
The offseason training and his stint in the ECHL definitely played a part in his improvement. However, another special and important day in his life also played a part in that.
A Huge Beginning of the Season for Matikka
September 21, 2025, will forever be one of the best days of Matikka’s life. It will stick with him forever. It is more important to him than April 13, 2024. That’s because on the first day of fall, his daughter Monroe was born.
Becoming a father is big for anyone. It matures you quickly because the second your kid is born, it’s not just yourself that you have to take care of. Your kid always comes first. Potvin thinks the birth of Monroe, along with everything he had gone through in the past year, really grew him on and off the ice.
“He’s grown,” Potvin said. “He’s a father now. He has responsibilities as a young man. I think that wakes you up. I think Matikka was a player who was wide open after he was sent down. He understood that there was some growth that he needed to go through, and now his eyes are wide open.”
In his first game back with the Roadrunners, the improvement showed. He assisted on Owen Allard’s goal for his first point of the season. Despite going pointless in the next two games, Matikka looked good, getting a couple of shots on net and creating good opportunities.
In the Roadrunners’ fourth game of the season against the Calgary Wranglers, it all came together. Maksymilian Szuber chipped the puck behind the net for Artem Duda. Duda backhanded it to Austin Poganski, who missed the pass, but an incoming Matikka saw it right in the middle of the zone. Matikka sniped it into the back of the net to finally get his first AHL goal.
“I blacked out,” Matikka said. “We had a power play, and it was a 0-0 game, and I was trying to follow the plan we had. There was a loose puck, and I said that’s mine, and I put it in.”
Marvelous Miko Matikka putting us up 1 in the 2nd. First goal of the night and it's by TUCSON#LetsGoTucson pic.twitter.com/SjKKmpatkt
— Tucson Roadrunners (@RoadrunnersAHL) October 20, 2025
It was a big moment for Matikka. A complete year of hardships and hard work finally paid off with the biggest moment of his pro career so far.
Despite the demotion to the ECHL being a rough point in Matikka’s career, it ended up being a catalyst to get him to this point where he is today. Being at your lowest point makes you realize what you have to do to get to where you want to be. Potvin knows that his tenure in Allen sent him that message.
“Sometimes it’s that necessary step back that you need to take in order to realize how important it is to you,” Potvin said. “I think he’s one of those guys who really wants to improve. He wants to take his game to another level, and he believes in himself. He knows that it’s going to take time, and he’s not frustrated with the fact that it’s taken this long to get there. I’ve seen improvements in his game. I’m very pleased at this point.”
While he’s only produced one assist in the seven games he’s appeared in after scoring, he hasn’t looked lost on the ice like he did in the prior season. He’s getting chances and putting shots on the board.
Matikka wants to continue doing that because he knows eventually one of those shots will go into the back of the net. He also wants to continue being a physical presence out on the ice to help the Roadrunners win.
“I want to try to keep shooting, using my big body, and trying to use that to our team’s advantage, and trying to push the team forward,” Matikka said. “I just want to keep shooting. It’s gonna come eventually.”
It took Matikka 31 AHL games, 25 ECHL games, and more than a year to get his first AHL goal. The journey and waiting were worth it. Scoring his first goal with the Roadrunners was a perfect moment for him.
“Nobody is more satisfied than he is,” Potvin said. “It’s been a long journey for him to get that goal.”
With the goal behind him now, Matikka is setting his focus for the future. The goal now is to produce at a consistent rate and become one of the top contributors for the Roadrunners, like he was projected to be when he left college. One day, he hopes to take the next step forward and make the NHL.
While that day might be a little far away, scoring a goal in the AHL is a huge achievement for him. Not everyone can say they’ve scored a goal in the second-highest pro hockey league in North America. His team couldn’t have been any happier for him. His coach couldn’t have been any happier for him. He couldn’t have been any happier and prouder of himself.
“To get that first one, it’s special, and the boys are happy for me,” Matikka said. “It feels good, and I’ll hopefully go forward from there.”
October 19, 2025, will forever be a special day for Matikka. The day he scored his first AHL goal. It was the day that all of his other special days contributed to. In the future, Matikka will more than likely have a lot of other special days in his career. However, his first AHL goal will always be one he’ll look back on because of all of the hard work he put in to become a better hockey player to get that goal and be a permanent AHL player.
