After record-breaking season, Hillier ready for NCAA
Labrador City native established new standard at St. Andrew’s; prepared for Merrimack, coach says
Following a record-breaking season of prep school hockey in Ontario, St. Andrew’s College coach David Manning says Labrador City’s Mark Hillier is more than ready for his first season of NCAA Division I college hockey starting in the fall.
Hillier, 18, committed to Merrimack College of North Andover, Mass., just north of Boston, in November.
He’s just completed his third year at St. Andrew’s, the Aurora, Ont., prep school where he was co-captain this season and set a single-season school scoring record.
Hillier potted a combined 52 goals and 112 points in 56 Conference of Independent Schools and high school games within the Greater Toronto Area this season.
Those numbers break the St. Andrew’s single-season scoring record held by Carolina Hurricanes forward Warren Foegele.
To put Hillier’s record into perspective, SAC has five alumni under NHL contracts and three players who have played in the NHL this season, including Foegele. According to Elite Prospects, there are 11 former SAC players in Division I college hockey this season.
“He’s actually more of a passer than a finisher,” said St. Andrew’s coach David Manning, a St. John’s native who’s been piloting the school’s top hockey team since 2008.
“Obviously, he can put the puck in the net. He had 52 goals. But he’s a smart player. There won’t be many coming into NCAA hockey with his hockey IQ.”
Hillier, a 6-0, 185-pound centre, is a former scoring leader and MVP of the provincial bantam AAA circuit for the Western Kings. He relocated from his native Lab City to Corner Brook in 2016 to play in the provincial league.
“He moved to Corner Brook, didn’t miss a beat, and then he came to us and took another step forward,” Manning said. “We don’t take a lot of Grade 10s, but he didn’t look out of place at all.”
Hillier was on the NHL’S Central Scouting Bureau’s mid-term NHL Draft rankings for North American skaters, ranked in the seventh round.
However, he slipped off the recent final draft rankings released by CSB.
“I would think, though,” Manning said, “there’s an outside chance that he will get drafted.”
St. Andrew’s won the Conference of Independent Schools championship for the ninth straight year this season.