Success Stories
Success Stories
Matt Cullen
Hockey alumnus skates 1,000th NHL game
Matt Cullen, center for the NHL's Minnesota Wild, is a former St. Cloud State hockey player. |
Husky Hockey standout Matt Cullen is a helper on and off the ice. He also is one of just seven native Minnesotans to skate 1,000 games in the National Hockey League (NHL).
He reached that 1,000-game threshold in style, scoring a game-winning shootout goal in a 5-4 win over the San Jose Sharks Jan. 10, 2012, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
In 2010-11, Cullen recorded 27 assists in 78 games in his first season playing for the NHL's Minnesota Wild. His career assists across 15 NHL seasons total more than 300.
Off the ice Cullen and wife Bridget run Cullen Children's Foundation, which provides financial resources to organizations that support children's health care needs, with an emphasis on cancer.
Born in Virginia and reared in Moorhead, Cullen skated two seasons with the St. Cloud State (1995-97) under Coach Craig Dahl. He earned All-WCHA Rookie Team as a freshman and All-WCHA second team pick and All-WCHA Academic Team as a sophomore. He led the Huskies in scoring both seasons.
Cullen was drafted in the second round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft and signed with Anaheim. His NHL career has included stops in Florida, North Carolina, New York and Ottawa.
In 2006, he and fellow Husky Bret Hedican helped the Carolina Hurricanes win the the NHL championship. Later that summer they brought the Stanley Cup home to the National Hockey Center for a celebration.
The Star Tribune picked Cullen as one of its three top players in the 2006 Stanley Cup, saying he "did everything to set up Carolina's first goal but actually score it."
In 2006, Cullen was named to the Olympic Hockey Team that played in Turin, Italy.
