Willick will head to UNB

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Well . . . that didn’t take long!
Dylan Willick, who captained the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers this season, arrived in Fredericton on Wednesday. Three days later, he announced that he will attend the U of New Brunswick in the fall and play for the Varsity Reds, who are the CIS’s defending champions.
Willick, 20, has used up his junior hockey eligibility. Knowing that he wants to take engineering, the Prince George native had narrowed his choice to McGill University in Montreal or UNB.
He visited McGill earlier in the spring; in fact, he was in the Bell Centre to watch the Canadiens drop a 6-1 series-ending decision to the Ottawa Senators on May 9.
“I’m not really a big city person,” Willick said on Sunday, adding that he really wanted to see Fredericton before he made a decision.
“Once I saw it, it all clicked,” he said. “It’s kind of like a Victoria feel because it’s all government buildings . . . some old brick buildings. It’s a mix between that and Prince George foliage, because it’s all big trees and foresty.”
The Varsity Reds have won six straight Atlanta University Sport regular-season pennants and three straight playoff championships. They also have won four CIS titles over the past seven seasons.
Head coach Gardiner MacDougall is preparing for his 14th season at the helm.
“He seems like a good guy,” Willick said, before chuckling and adding: “Of course, coaches can be a little bit different in the offseason when they’re not yelling at you so much.”
“He and his staff seem good,” Willick continued. “It’s almost reminiscent of what we had (in Kamloops), with one guy who is more focussed on the skills and plays, and the other guy is more focused on making sure he gets the effort out of the guys.
“They complement each other nicely and they’re easy guys to talk to.”
At this point, Willick doesn’t know anyone on the Varsity Reds’ roster, although it includes former WHL players Cam Braes, Daine Todd and Ben Wright. Willick does, however, know a couple of other players who may decide to attend UNB.
“I’m hoping somebody else comes along for the ride,” he said.
All of this, of course, signals a new chapter in Willick’s life. After four years, he is having to step out of junior hockey’s bubble and get on with his life.
“I’m really excited now that I know exactly where it is that I am going,” he said. “There’s a lot of planning involved now in getting down there and figuring out everything.”
He also is settling into a new job, something he has never done.
“In previous years,” he exlained, “I held off on the job front and focused on hockey. But there’s a big move ahead and it’s not cheap to move across Canada.
“I’m 20 years old and I had to get my first job.”
He’s working at Jasco Rentals on Tranquille Road and admitted that “it’s been fun for me. I’m learning a lot, which is always fantastic.”
Because he has committed to UNB, it doesn’t mean his dream of playing professionally is over. He still could get a pro tryout and, he said, if that happens he will check his options.
“I have to figure out how all that works,” he said. “From what I hear and understand . . . (MacDougall) is letting them go to camps and will have spots open when they come back.
“If the opportunity comes up for a tryout, I’ll have to talk to them first . . . as long as everything worked out, I would definitely go and give it a shot.
“If it worked out, it worked out. Right?”
Willick played four seasons with the Blazers, putting up 157 points, 80 of them goals, in 266 games. This season, he had 30 points, including 16 goals, in 51 games. He lost a chunk of the season to a broken ankle suffered on Nov. 2 in a 2-1 shootout victory over the visiting Prince George Cougars.
Willick was named the Blazers’ captain on Dec. 5, while he was rehabbing the broken ankle that he sayd yesterday now is 100 per cent.
Prior to this season, he had played 71, 72 and 72 games, so durability was never a problem.

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A look at the uniforms the U of New Brunswick Varsity Reds will
wear in a two-game series with a Russian team later this month.

The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds are going to play a touring Russian side on Dec. 30 in Saint John and Dec. 31 in Fredericton.
And get a load of the uniforms the Varsity Reds will be wearing. They are commemorative 1972 Team Canada sweaters.
From a UNB news release:
“While wearing the maple leaf on their chests, the V-Reds also will wear the numbers of players from the 1972 Summit Series Canadian team on their backs, along with the name of the player they're representing.
“V-Reds Captain Chris Culligan, who normally sports No. 57 in his UNB uniform, will wear Phil Esposito's No. 7 for the two games against Team Russia, with Esposito's name on the bottom of the jersey.”
You should know, too, that Esposito is scheduled to attend both games and to be involved in ceremonial faceoffs.
"We wanted to not only honour the team from 1972, but also to honour the players who were a part of that team," said UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall. "Having a V-Reds player wearing the number of a player from the '72 team along with that player's name will be a pretty neat part of the whole moment."
The Russians are expected to ice a team comprising mostly junior-aged players in the eighth annual Peterbilt New Brunswick Pete Kelly Challenge.
Before playing UNB, the Russians will meed two NCAA teams — the Providence College Friars and the RPI  Red Hawks.
This will be the first time in UNB’s history that the Varsity Reds will have played a Russian side.
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Forward Charles Inglis, who was released by the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers on Dec. 12, has signed to play for the AJHL’s Whitecourt Wolverines, who made the announcement Thursday.
Inglis, 20, had five assists in 11 games with the Blazers, who had acquired him from the Red Deer Rebels for a conditional draft pick. The Blazers released him following a 5-2 loss to the Oil Kings in Edmonton. The Blazers were his fourth WHL team, as he also played for the Saskatoon Blades and Prince George Cougars.
The Wolverines (19-11-8) are tied for fourth in the AJHL’s North Division, but are only eight points out of first place. Whitecourt resumes play Jan. 4 when it is at home to the Drayton Valley Thunder.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From Tri-City Americans D Mitch Topping (@mitchtopping): “So I paid the Rick Tabbaracci and hopped in the Thomas Kaberle back to my Phil Housley!”

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