Luke Reid made his first ever tweet Tuesday.
In it, the Battlefords AAA Stars defenceman officially announced that he had committed to the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks men’s hockey program.
“I’m super excited about it,” Reid said.
“The entire program in Grand Forks is incredible. They have a great facility, a great coaching staff and so many great players that have played at the school over the years.”
The 15-year-old from Warman wasn’t actively looking at the college hockey route, especially after he was drafted in the second round by the Victoria Royals in last year’s Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.
That changed dramatically when the Fighting Hawks contacted him and his family.
“I had talked to some schools here and there but there wasn’t really any major discussions with them, as I had always thought about playing in the WHL,” Reid said.
“When North Dakota got in contact after seeing me in a couple of games, we started to look more seriously at playing in the NCAA.”
The Fighting Hawks, who play in the National College Hockey Conference, have won eight national championships with their most recent title coming last spring.
Some of the notable alumni that have played at the school include Ed Belfour, T.J. Oshie, Zach Parise and Jonathan Towes.
The programs always has a number of high-end National Hockey League draft picks, with this year’s squad including Vancouver Canucks first round choice Brock Boeser and Colorado Avalanche top prospect Tyson Jost.
“It was a pretty a mix of everything that stood out for me when I made my decision,” Reid said. “The arena they play in (the Ralph Engelstadt Arena) is incredible and the team is always in the mix to win it all every year.”
“My mom’s family is from the Minot area so they are very familiar with the North Dakota program. They’ll drive a couple of hours to see games sometimes, so it just felt right to head there.”
Reid has 14 points in 25 games in his second season for the Stars, which is just one point off of his total from his rookie campaign in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League.
Since he’s not expected to head to North Dakota for a couple of more seasons, Reid plans to start off his junior hockey career next year in either the British Columbia Hockey League or the United States Hockey League.
“My rights aren’t currently held by any teams in those leagues, so we’ll kind of figure things out as it goes and the staff at North Dakota will help me out with deciding what’s best for me, along with my family advisor,” Reid said.
“The biggest thing I’ll be working on here before that happens is to improve my speed and work on my hockey IQ. As I move up to higher levels of hockey, it’ll be very important to be better in that part of the game.”
When it comes to the present, Reid will be looking to help the 12-16-2 Stars clinch a playoff spot, as they are currently locked in a four-way tie for 6th place in the standings.
They picked up a 7-2 road win over the Swift Current Legionnaires Thursday, but dropped 8-4 and 6-1 affairs to the host Regina Pat Canadians on Saturday and Sunday.
“We played really well in the games in Swift Current, and although we had a tough time in Regina, but I felt like we took a lot of positives out of those two games,” Reid said.
“We were only the second team to score four or more goals against Regina this season, and that says a lot about what we have on our team.”
Jaden Shewchuk and Logan Spence both scored twice for the Stars in Swift Current, while Jordan Mish and Tyson Myers each had three point nights.
Shewchuk had two goals and an assist Saturday in Regina and also had his team’s lone goal Sunday.
The Stars will be back in action Thursday, as they’ll pay a visit to the Prince Albert Mintos.
They will return to the Civic Centre Sunday afternoon for a 2 p.m. battle with the Notre Dame Argos.
