Former Blue Hens netminder Nick Matarese ’08 whose helmet design work was recently featured on NBC Sports Network, was invited to the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto to formally donate the pieces into the Hall’s Archives. Nick developed two helmets, one for the NHL Winter Classic on NBC Sports between the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators and another for the NHL All-Star Game Elite Women’s 3-on-3 game. Team Canada’s Ann-Renne Desbiens wore the All-Star helmet during the team’s victory over the United States in the game on Jan. 24 in St. Louis. Both helmets will now be on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Nick and his family were invited to Toronto for the formal donation and to get a first hand tour of the archives on Saturday Feb. 1.
Nick played for the Blue Hens from 2004 – 2008 and served as an assistant coach from 2009-2019. Nick is the founder and creative director of, The Barn, a 57x national award winning creative agency. The Barn has branded The Walt Disney World Marathon, The AFL All-Star Game, multiple professional sports teams, and breweries.
The agency has also completed head-to-toe work for adidas, NBC Sports, CCM, the Vegas Golden Knights, the Jacksonville Jaguars, WORX, and Rockwell tools. Nick has spoken at Fortune 500 companies, national design conferences, and has had his podcasts featured by HOWUniversity. Nick authored a book on building a profitable sports brand; he has also been quoted in books on creative strategy, has been honored as a Delaware Business Times 40 under 40 member. In 2017, The Barn was recognized by Technical.ly as Delaware’s Design/ Dev. Firm of the Year.
UD Hockey is proud to have Nick as one of its esteemed program alumni!
