Matthew Davis builds for the future

Lancaster, NY - Sometimes to get noticed you have to leave home.

And that’s exactly what Lancaster native Matthew Davis did.

Davis, a senior defenseman on the Holy Cross hockey team, left to go play junior hockey after graduating from Lancaster High School, where he played three years of club hockey before playing one year of Western New York Varsity Federation Hockey.

“If I was willing to give up living at home and all of my local friends I would have played juniors earlier,” said Davis recently from Worcester, MA. “It would have definitely helped my hockey career, but I wasn’t ready to give all of that up.”

Despite not playing junior hockey until he was older, Davis still landed at a top notch Division I institution.

Holy Cross combines great academics with a great athletic program.

And since getting to the National Hockey League is a hard enough reality already, getting a first rate education while playing hockey isn’t such a bad thing.

“I was looking at Canisius, West Point, RPI and Clarkson,” said Davis. “I came to choose Holy Cross mainly because the combination of the education and hockey seemed to the best fit for me. Holy Cross is a great place to get an education and just prior to committing to Holy Cross they had won their league two out of three times.”

It seemed for Davis that sports of some kind would always play a roll in his life.

His father played football at Alfred while his brother played football at Buffalo State.

In fact, Davis dabbled in football, but knew it wasn’t going to be his calling.

Despite not playing football, like his dad and brother, he did learn what it takes to get better.

“I don’t think that football was my calling,” explained Davis, “But, the fact my dad and older brother both played at high levels really taught me what was required to make it to the next level.”

The work ethic was something that wasn’t only instilled by his family, but also by Lancaster coach Kevin Miller.

“Kevin is largely responsible for the work ethic and discipline that I have today,” said Davis. “Kevin always instilled a great work ethic in all of his players and you will not last very long on his team if you are lazy and undisciplined.”

Davis took the lessons he learned from everyone and parlayed it into a very nice career for himself at Holy Cross.

“My four years at Holy Cross have been a blast,” said Davis. “All of my teammates over the course of my career at Holy Cross have been awesome. Classes are tough, but nothing unmanageable.”

Already good with his hands, Davis hopes to take on the next big challenge after graduation.

And that’s building things.

“I will graduate with a physics and architectural studies double major,” explained Davis. “I eventually want to pursue a graduate degree in architecture, but this next year I hope to get a job in the field of architecture of engineering.”