A former 108 Mile resident is closing off his hockey career on a high note.
Reece Forman, who cut his teeth in the 100 Mile Minor Hockey Association, helped North Dakota’s Minot State Beavers win their second ACHA (American Collegiate Hockey Association) title this week.
Forman, a defenceman, played two seasons with the Chase Heat in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, prior to the relocation of the Penticton Lakers to 100 Mile House. He appeared in 99 games for the club, also appearing in an additional five British Columbia Hockey League games with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks and the Prince George Spruce Kings.
After his time in Chase, Forman moved to Nipawin, Sask., where he played for the Hawks in the province’s Junior A league.
During his two-season stint with the Nipawin Hawks, Forman played in 96 games, scoring 28 points. He also played 15 playoff games, including 11 in the 2014-15 run where they lost in Game 7 of the semi-finals to the Melfort Mustangs.
His performances in the Junior A league attracted attention from the Minot State Beavers, who recruited them into their program on a partial scholarship, while he studies in the school’s criminal justice program.
Forman hopes to join the RCMP when he graduates this year and has already been accepted into the policing force’s cadet pool for next year.
The first division of the ACHA, which has seven conferences (Minot play as an independent), can have a pretty high-calibre of play and sometimes will play against NCAA teams. However, the ACHA is club hockey and doesn’t offer scholarships as the NCAA does.
The main goal of the ACHA is to help college hockey programs with low budgets and can’t afford to operate athletics in the same way NCAA schools can. However, some programs have gone on to join the NCAA such as the Penn State Nittany Lions who won six ACHA national titles between 1990 and 2003 and more recently the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Travelling is also a pretty big part of Junior A and B hockey leagues, but Division 1 ACHA hockey takes it a bit to the next level. Minot had to travel to Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada and Utah.
During his four years in the program, Forman has appeared in 94 regular season goals and scoring 11 goals with 29 assists. This season was his last chance of walking away with an ACHA National title to end his hockey career, making it to the final.
The Minot Beavers played the Iowa State Cyclones in the final beating them 3-1 on March 27.
To get to that point, Forman and the Beavers beat the University of Illinois Fighting Illini 5-3 on March 23 and the Adrian College Bulldogs (based in Adrian, Mich.) 3-2 on March 24. They also played and beat the number one ranked team in the ACHA, the Lindenwood University Lions (based in St. Charles, Miss.) 1-0 in the semi-final on March 25.
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