Mark Hillier will be a freshman at Merrimack College in 2020.
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The Labrador City native, a former star with the Western Kings in the provincial AAA bantam hockey league, committed to playing for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 hockey program after a short visit to Andover, Massachusetts, earlier this month to check out the opportunity.
“I was very impressed with the school when I went down there,” Hillier said. “It’s not a very big school and the campus is fairly small, and I decided that’s the type of place where I wanted to be, so it was a pretty easy decision to make after I went down there.”
Hillier is in his sophomore season with the Aurora, Ont.-based St. Andrews Saints of the Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association. He will play a third season with the Saints before heading to the United States, where he expects the hockey environment will be a great grooming ground for him in his desire to play professional hockey after his academic goals have been achieved.
Hillier, a 15-year-old with a knack for filling the net, left Corner Brook to join the Saints because he believed it was a hockey climate that would lead to a journey to the NCAA Division 1 setup.
Being a Saint has been a move he doesn’t regret when he knows it won’t be long before he’s wearing a Merrimack College Warriors jersey.
It’s still two years away, but Hillier is excited about seeing where his game takes him. He knows the game gets tougher with each step, but that’s part of what drives him to keep working on being a complete player and a good teammate.
“It’s the highest level, so I’m obviously going to be playing against the best players there and that’s obviously going to be a challenge, but that’s what’s going to help me get to possibly professional after that,” he said.
Hillier has been hitting the ice with the Saints three times per week to prepare for the opening of his sophomore season in early November.
“My focus is on getting stronger on the ice and doing whatever I can to make sure I’m prepared for my first year after I graduate,” he said. “I’m always up to any new challenges, so I’m excited about it.”
