That battle lasted into the season. But once Schoen won the job for good in January, he never looked back, finishing with a 12-7-3 record and leading the Skyhawks to their first Northeast-10 Conference tournament title since 2015-16. He was named the NE-10 Goaltender of the Year, tournament Most Valuable Player, and earned a spot on the all-conference first team.

"My brother has always been my role model, and he motivated me to win the job," Schoen said. "Senior year was the most rewarding experience I've ever had. I never could have imagined in my wildest dreams what I accomplished. To win goalie of the year in the conference and help my team win a championship was truly amazing."

Schoen learned to skate at four years old and joined the Eastern Connecticut Hockey Organization's mite level travel team in kindergarten. He continued to play for the ECHO Stars program at the squirt, pee wee, and bantam levels before joining the E.O. Smith/Tolland co-op as a sophomore at Tolland High.

Schoen helped lead E.O. Smith/Tolland to a 40-10-1 record and back-to-back Division III state tournament championship game appearances in his final two years with the program. The Bucks lost the 2014 championship game to Newtown in overtime but beat Masuk 5-2 in 2015 to take home the program's first state title.

He earned a spot on the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Division III All-State team as a senior.

Schoen, who planned to play club hockey at either UConn or Eastern Connecticut, was offered the opportunity to play a postgraduate year at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, late in his senior year.

"Their coach (Dean Boylan) had just retired and (new coach Paul Tortorella) didn't have a goalie, so they were kind of running around trying to find one and they heard about me," Schoen said. "(Tortorella) came to a practice and a week later told me he wanted me. He set me up for a tour of the school right away, and the campus and the school were amazing. Right away I fell in love with it. That was the most impactful year of my life. That school pushed me academically and the level of hockey was extremely high. When I got to college, everything was easier for me to handle."

Stonehill coach David Borges heard about Schoen while out on the recruiting trail and decided to investigate further. He reached out to Tortorella, who raved about the goaltender's growth both on and off the ice.

"Coach Tortorella spoke very highly of Matt and wanted to see him get a chance," Borges said. "He thought Matt was getting overlooked, and he told me he was a great kid, great academically, and we watched him play and watched some video on him and liked what we saw."

Schoen was also recruited by Franklin Pierce University and several New England Small College Athletic Conference schools, but decided Stonehill was the best fit athletically and academically.

"It looked like an environment I could thrive in on the ice and academically," Schoen said. "A couple schools wanted to see if I would play juniors for a year, but I told them I wasn't really interested in doing that. I didn't know much about the process, and there's so much that can happen in a year. I figured Stonehill was my best bet."

As a freshman, Schoen spent long hours refining his craft with goalie coach Mark Hanson and leaned on the mentorship of starter Billy Palmer and backup Kyle Paquette as he adjusted to the demands of the collegiate level. He didn't appear in any games.

"That was something that was new to me, I was always the starter growing up," Schoen said. "It was discouraging at times, but Billy was such a great mentor. It was frustrating, but I learned so much from him."

Schoen led the Skyhawks to a 4-1 victory over Post University in his first career start but lost his next three opportunities in net, allowing four goals against Wesleyan University and five against Saint Anselm College and Post.

Schoen was pulled in the second period against Post after allowing five goals in just over 28 minutes and didn't play again that season. He played three games as a junior, finishing with a 1-1 record and a goals-against average of 3.16.

"I started to believe I wasn't good enough," Schoen said. "It was tough. I always supported my teammates, even when things weren't going well for me. I was never going to quit. My teammates knew I was frustrated, and they were always so supportive. Talking to my brother was what helped me get through it. He convinced me to make the most of my senior year and try to win the job back."

Schoen didn't appear in goal until Stonehill's third game and lost four of his five starts, but his confidence never wavered as the Skyhawks got off to a 1-7-1 start. He won his next four starts and 12 of his final 17 to lead Stonehill to a 13-11-5 record, the program's first winning season since 2015-16.

"Confidence is a big thing for goaltenders," Borges said. "Like any other player, the goaltender is going to make mistakes. We tell our players constantly that hockey is a game of mistakes, and it's not the mistake that kills you, it's what you do after the mistake. And that's especially true for a goaltender.

"Goaltenders are going to let in bad goals here and there, and when they do, they have to have a short memory and get ready to stop the next shot. Matt worked with our goalie coach Tyler Holske on his skating agility and his positioning, and I think his skating improved over his four years. His positioning improved and his mental processing of the game improved and that's what made him a complete goaltender his senior year."

Schoen, a finance major with a minor in management information systems, accepted a job with Raytheon Technologies in January. He will begin the two-year rotational program in July.

"My first assignment will be in Connecticut, but then I get to choose where I go," Schoen said. "I'd like to explore, I haven't traveled much, so this is a good opportunity to travel."

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