I was coaching my son, Bodie, in his U-9 lacrosse game earlier this summer when the thought finally hit me: 

You know, I’m having fun just doing this. Maybe this is my next chapter. 

It’s tough for me to even say now, because you think you’re going to be able to play forever. In a way, it feels like I actually have. But it’s the right time.  

I am retiring from the National Lacrosse League. And I am nothing but thankful.  

I’ve been fortunate to experience so much. Twenty seasons. Three championships in Rochester and three more in Buffalo.  

It’s time to give back. I’ll still be close to the game, but it will be through coaching Bodie and my daughter, Lily, along with my team at Denis Morris Catholic High School in St. Catharines. I want to help kids enjoy the same opportunities that lacrosse gave me.  

I never made one single save by myself. It’s always been a family effort. 

My parents introduced me to this game. I was a hockey player growing up, and it always seemed like I was searching for that second sport to play during the summer. I’d tried soccer and baseball, but neither sport stuck.  

Everything changed during a family outing to watch the Minto Cup. I was nine years old. Watching the game – the speed, the physicality – I was instantly hooked. Our parents bought mini sticks for me and my brothers as souvenirs. As soon as we got home, we took those new mini sticks into the basement and started playing. 

My brothers are five and seven years older than me, so – as always – I was the goaltender. 

I’ll always remember what I said to my mom that night: 

“If you sign me up for lacrosse, you won’t have to throw me a birthday party.” 

Mom agreed and still let me have my birthday.  

The plan was to start off playing house league, preferably out of the net. But when I got to registration, one of the coaches found out I played goalie in hockey and recruited me to play the position for his travel team. I left with two sticks – one to play out of the net in house league, another to play goalie in travel. 

I had no idea then how much this game would mean to me, nor how much I would need it a few years later.  

My dad, John, passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm when I was 13. Sports were always big in our family, but now they took on a new meaning. Lacrosse became my escape, something to pour myself into and occupy my mind. It was also a way to honor my dad.  

I just remember thinking, if somebody’s watching over you, you want to make them proud. I started wearing the No. 48 in honor of my dad. He was born in 1948 and he was 48 years old when he died. It’s become a family number, and it meant something each time I saw it hanging in my stall.  

Every time I took the floor in my career, I pointed toward the sky for my dad, and also to my family in attendance. They’re the ones who got me here.  

My mom, Jo Anne, took on the heavy lifting to make life feel as normal as possible after my dad passed. To say she made sacrifices for my lacrosse career would be an understatement. Thank you, Mom, for everything you did to make my dream possible.  

My brothers, Jason and Eric, started playing lacrosse shortly after I did, and both were guiding forces for me. Jason helped coach my hockey team when I was younger, and Eric has been with me throughout my lacrosse career, coaching me from minors to Junior A in St. Catharines to his current role as an assistant with the Bandits. I don’t get here without them. 

My lacrosse family – coaches, staff members, and especially my teammates – gave me some of my greatest memories. The camaraderie of the locker room will be what I miss most when I reflect on my career. 

Then there’s my wife, Lisa, who has been the rock of our family. It takes a special person to be married to a goaltender, let alone one who plays into his 40s. She’s always supported my dream, and there’s no way I could have done this without her.   

Which brings me to one story I want to share in particular.  

It was our first championship in Buffalo, 2023 against Colorado. We’d been so close for years, and at some point the thought creeps in: Am I ever going to win again? 

Well, we were at home for that deciding game against the Mammoth, and we were up big. I think there were about six minutes left and “Party Up” by DMX started playing over the speakers. And the building was just so loud, you could barely hear the lyrics. 

Now, I’ve never been the type to show any emotion in a game. But in that moment, I found myself bopping to the music. 

I looked toward my family’s seats in the crowd and Lisa was with the kids, bopping along with me. 

And I remember that moment, thinking: Oh, we did it. 

I’d won championships before, but those were in a different stage of my life. This was my family’s championship. So much had gone into it, with Lisa and I both balancing full-time jobs and raising two children while I continued to chase this dream. And it was the first one Bodie and Lily got to experience – in Banditland, where I attended games growing up.  

When the buzzer sounded, Steve Priolo, a longtime friend who brought me here to Buffalo, jumped into my arms. And I just felt a sense of relief – not just for me, but for everybody. I felt it for my kids, my wife, my mom, my brothers. I felt it for Steve and the rest of the guys. I felt it for all those fans who love this team so much and had been with us every step of the way.  

Everything that defined my career came together in that moment.  

Family, teammates, and the love of the game.  

Thank you, lacrosse.  

– Matt Vinc