Congratulations Matthew Welsh

Over the past five years, I’ve had lots of opportunities to photograph Charlottetown Islanders goaltender Matthew Welsh for numerous purposes. In his first game in the QMJHL, the 16 year old (at the time), stopped all 20 shots against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles with a shut out winning 5-0.

Very fitting considering tonight he is now the #1 goaltender in QMJHL history in minutes played, defeating the Cape Breton Eagles here in Charlottetown.

Congratulations Matthew!

His first year, he didn’t get to play much considering Mason MacDonald was the #1 choice for the Charlottetown Islanders but I did manage to capture a few shots of him.

When Matthew first started in the QMJHL, I recall we were doing an on-ice photo session for the player posters and he was incredibly eager to have his photo taken for the player posters. Anxious, excited and curious all in one.

As the years went on, so did the opportunities. He certainly played more games as his career progressed however most were here or there starting out.

He made it to the QMJHL-Russia Series in 2018-2019 which was played in Quebec.

For the front of his hockey card one year we went with the Breast Cancer jersey.

.@islandershky goalie matthew welsh almost gets caught out of his net in 2nd period action against @quebec_remparts #qmjhl @Meojdeq @rstgelaisJDQ pic.twitter.com/TRMnf8D41C

— John Morris ? (@jmweb) March 30, 2018

Matthew has done a tremendous job both on and off the ice having won the hearts of Islanders picking up 6 awards at the Islander’s Fan Choice Awards.

Matthew has also been up for many scholastic awards over the years as studying is obviously important to him.

In closing, Congratulations Matthew Welsh (again) on becoming the QMJHL All Time Leader in career minutes played by a goaltender surpassing former PEI Rocket goaltender Ryan Mior.