ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs announced on Tuesday that defenseman Matt O’Dea has signed a contract for the upcoming 2024-2025 season.
One of the most versatile players in the SPHL, O’Dea returns for his sixth professional season and his fifth in Roanoke, serving as one of the team’s alternate captains in each of the past three seasons. Last season, the five-foot-eleven speedster tallied eight goals, 32 assists, a plus-six rating and 16 penalty minutes in just 44 regular season games on his way to being named to the All-SPHL Second Team, and added five assists during the 2024 President’s Cup Playoffs. O’Dea was also named as the SPHL’s Player of the Week once last season. Since joining the Dawgs during the 2019-2020 season, the Orland Park, Illinois native is the all-time franchise leader among defensemen for goals (37), assists (83), and points (120), and is just three games away from surpassing former Dawg Travis Armstrong for most games played by a Roanoke defenseman in team history. O’Dea has been among the best offensive producers from the blue line in the SPHL over the past three years, registering 31 goals (most among SPHL defensemen) and 101 points (second-most among SPHL defensemen). In 23 career postseason games for the Dawgs, O’Dea has two goals, 12 assists, and a plus-14 rating to go along with his 2023 President’s Cup championship ring. O’Dea also won the FPHL Ignite Cup with the Columbus River Dragons during the coronavirus-impacted season in 2021. O’Dea additionally played four seasons of college hockey (NCAA-DIII), starting at Concordia College before playing his last three seasons at Western New England University.
“Matty has truly been a Swiss Army knife for us since he came to the Star City in 2019,” said Roanoke head coach Dan Bremner when asked about O’Dea. “Even though we deploy him mostly at defenseman, O’Dea has shown that he can play center or wing and produce at a high-level at those positions, in addition to being one of the league’s best blue-liners. Matty is one of the fastest skaters in this league, and his continued tenacity and top-end athleticism will be crucial once again for the team’s success this season.”
Training camp is set to start October 8, 2024 at Berglund Center Coliseum. Times of sessions open to the public will be released at a later date. The Rail Yard Dawgs open the 2024-2025 season at home on Friday, October 18 against the Fayetteville Marksmen. Opening Night is sponsored by Haley Toyota with K92.3. Single game tickets for the season go on sale online and at the box office on Wednesday, September 18 at 10:00 A.M.
For media inquiries, please contact marketing@railyarddawgs.com until September.
Signed As of September 9:
- Nick Ford
- Joe Widmar
- Tim Kent
- Ryan Hunter
- Jacob Kelly
- Brendan Pepe
- Aidan Girduckis
- John Macdonald
- Brenden Stanko
- Trevor Lord
- Billy Roche
- Hunter Virostek (G)
- Matt O’Dea