Sunday, January 12, 2014

Shier commits to Union

Press Release

Toronto Lakeshore Patriots alternate captain Kevin Shier (photo credit - Dave Powers/OJHL Images) has confirmed his commitment to join the Union College Dutchmen beginning with the 2014-15 ECAC season.

Shier, 20, is a native of Toronto and begins the 2014 portion of the schedule leading the Pats with 44 points in 36 games.

He finished tied for sixth in scoring at the recent Central Canada Cup All-Star Challenge held in Terrebonne, Quebec in which he – along with two other Patriots and coach Jason Fortier – represented the South-West Conference of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Predictably, Kevin is thrilled with the commitment to the school located in Schenectady, N.Y. (near Syracuse).

“I’m definitely over the moon,” Shier said. “As soon as I went down there I kind of fell in love with the school. It has everything I want in a university and it was a really easy decision once the offer came down. I’m really excited.”

Shier became a bit of a folk hero in the area when he was part of a group of men that helped save the life of 33-year-old U.S. National Guardsman Tim Schield from a burning car while visiting the campus in mid-December, 2013.  Please CLICK HERE to read the story.

How much the event affected Union’s decision is not known, yet they were clearly impressed by the well-spoken, easily likeable and hard-working young man.

“The one thing that they said was that they really liked my character,” Shier said, “whether they got that from the story or from talking to my coaches I really couldn’t say, but they never really brought up the event when they made the offer.”

Kevin has established himself as one of the top-end offensive talents in the league, with a clear willingness to work and be coached in order to be a more complete player.

Union College is currently ranked No. 9 in the countryand leads the ECAC with a record of 12-3-3 as of New Years.

Back in Toronto, though, Kevin now has only one thing left to occupy his mind.

“Obviously team goals always come first,” Shier said, “individually I’m really happy to know where I’m going, to not have the fear of the unknown, but now I’m grateful to be able to focus on having a strong finish and hopefully we can do big things as a team.”

Congratulations to Kevin on the commitment and best of luck the rest of the season!

(Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

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