By Ken Oda, Minot Minotauros
The Minot Minotauros of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), are proud to announce that goaltender Tyler Parks has committed to play NCAA Division I Hockey for the St. Lawrence University Saints next season. Parks is the first player to commit to a D1 program in Minotauros’ season and a half of existence.
Minotauros head coach Marty Murray said, “Tyler has been a huge part of our team. We’re excited to see him reach his goal of playing D1 hockey.” Murray continued, “this has been a big week for our program with seven players being named to Top Prospects [the NAHL’s all-star event] and now our first D1 commit, its good to see the boys being recognized for their hard work.”
The Tauros turnaround has been fueled by strong play from Parks. He has earned a record of 16-10-2 on the season with a SV% of .922 which is good for 8th in the NAHL. Parks has been especially strong when the game is on the line, not allowing a goal in 10 overtimes and winning seven of nine shootouts. Parks was quick to thank Murray and assistant coach Mick Berge noting, “they’ve worked a ton to help me get to this point in my career both on the ice and calling schools for me. I really can’t thank them enough.” He also wanted to thank his goalie coach from last season Jason Power who “really helped set me up to succeed this year.”
Parks is excited about what the commit means for his future, “St. Lawrence is a great school, I love that the coaches seem to have my best interest at heart.” Though Parks is ready to start the next chapter of his career he certainly has not lost any enthusiasm for playing in Minot saying “I’m happy the process is over, it’s a huge weight off my shoulders, now I can focus on this season and going after the Robertson Cup.”
