Matia Marcantuoni was miserable.

The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect was toiling with the Tucson Roadrunners in the American Hockey League and staring down a demotion to a club in the lower ranked ECHL back in 2016.

"The team was in South Dakota in the absolute middle of nowhere," said the former Kitchener Rangers forward, who went on to play for four different minor pro teams in four years. "Once I got to pro, the whole grind, lifestyle and politics just turned me off. You're just a piece of meat. It got to a point where I got so tired of feeling like I was luggage."

So, that season Marcantuoni walked away.

"I lost passion for the sport," said the 24-year-old. "Even when I went to the rink, I wasn't happy. I was tired of other people controlling my destiny."

When hockey ended, Marcantuoni turned to his passions - fitness and fashion - for his next step and, within about a year, developed his own streetwear clothing line called Deception.

Now, people from all over the world are wearing his clothes.

"I started from scratch with zero experience," he said. "I just decided one day I wanted to start a clothing line and did my research and now I'm selling globally."

Marcantuoni is a one-man show.

He designs the European-inspired men's line - which includes jeans, T-shirts, sweaters and jackets - and does all the sales and marketing. The Toronto native also oversees production, which is done in China, spearheads the company's social media campaign and even models the clothes.

His threads are in stores in Ontario, West Edmonton Mall and Amsterdam but most of his sales are online to customers from countries that include Australia, Dubai, Singapore and Germany, among others.

Dominican-American singer Yashua has donned Deception duds in concert while members of Major League Soccer's Toronto FC have also been spotted in Marcantuoni's gear.

"I've gone to clubs in Toronto and seen guys wearing my jeans," he said. "That's pretty cool."

The goal is to expand to more stores and to continue to spread the brand worldwide.

As for hockey? It's a distant memory.

"Honestly, I don't even watch it," said Marcantuoni, who was a fourth-round draft pick by the Penguins in 2012. "I enjoy the sport but ever since I stopped playing I haven't even looked at a hockey stick. I don't even care about it."

He does however have fond memories of his time on East Avenue, where he played from 2010-14.

"It's pretty crazy looking back now to think I was 16 years old and playing in front of 7,000 fans," he recalled. "I really appreciate those moments. Even though my hockey career is done, I learned a lot of life experiences that I put toward my business such as being professional."

But the biggest win is regaining some stability in his life.

"It's so rewarding to be putting my energy toward something that I'm actually seeing results in," he said. "Whereas with hockey, you can train your life away and sometimes you'll just stay a fourth liner."

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jbrown@therecord.com

Twitter: @BrownRecord