For most people, introducing 50 years’ worth of new ideas to Manitoba’s hockey community would constitute a pretty remarkable career.

Matiowski was responsible for many hockey “firsts” in the province - everything from organizing the first-ever provincial women’s hockey tournament in 1955 to founding Western Manitoba’s first summer hockey school in Brandon in 1967.

In fact, Matiowski was originally nominated to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame as a Builder of Hockey, but the selection committee was so impressed with his work in other sports that it asked to induct him as an All Round Builder.

As chairman of the Manitoba Boxing and Wrestling Commission (1980-95), Matiowski was instrumental in researching and updating regulations for the two sports, something that had not been done for 35 years. He also served for 10 years as director of the Canadian Professional Boxing Commission, and remains an inspector/coordinator for the Manitoba Boxing Commission. Over the years, he has also been involved in the organization, promotion and development of numerous other sports, including broomball, figure skating, track and field, fastball and sailing.

But his contributions to the sport of hockey are what really demonstrate how far Matiowski was ahead of his time. He coached and organized women’s hockey in the tiny Manitoba communities of Shoal Lake and Bisset as far back as 1954, and in 1968 he authored a ground breaking report entitled “Task Force on Hockey Violence” for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA).

In 1974, Matiowski toured the Soviet Union as part of a CAHA coaches’ study, and in 1976 he introduced a plan to divide Manitoba into autonomous regions for the organization of amateur hockey. The former MAHA president’s realization model continues to be used by Hockey Manitoba.