An Eveleth native from birth, Matchefts played for his hometown high school ice hockey team, earning three consecutive all-tournament team honors in his time there and helping Eveleth High School win state titles in his junior and senior years [REF].
Matchefts returned to Minnesota and spent more than a decade as the coach for both his previous high school and Thief River Falls High School[REF] before being offered the opportunity to succeed Bob Johnson as head coach at Colorado College.