Another Boland Chooses Varsity Reds

(FREDERICTON, NB) When Tyler Boland steps on to the Aitken Centre ice for the first time as a Varsity Red, he’ll be adding to a family legacy.

Boland, who’s signed a U SPORTS Letter of Intent, and will join the two-time, defending U SPORTS men’s hockey champions in the 2017-18 season, is following in the footsteps, or skate strides, of his cousin.

Trevor Boland was a standout forward for the Varsity Reds for four seasons, scoring 79 goals and 62 assists in 99 games between 1991 and 1996. He’s UNB’s all-time regular season goal scoring leader. During the 1992-93 season, Trevor Boland averaged a goal a game over 26 games.

“UNB has been a school and a program I’ve known about most of my life,” says Boland. “I have some family history here.”

If his junior career is any indication, Tyler promises to be as prolific as Trevor, if not more.

Tyler played four seasons with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Rimouski Oceanic, scoring 97 goals and 115 assists in 246 regular season games.

He exploded offensively in his final season(2016-17), with 48 goals and 55 assists to lead the Oceanic. He finished second in the league’s scoring race by a single point.

“I’ll bring my offensive ability and can contribute in any role the team needs me to,” says Boland. “Positivity and a team first mind set are the way I approach every aspect of the game.”

Varsity Reds head coach Gardiner MacDougall is excited to have Boland joining the defending national champs.

“He’s a highly skilled player that makes plays and is a difference-maker when he has the puck,” says MacDougall. “He’s improved every season in the Quebec League, something we like to see in players, and he has a knack to score and create offence.”

Like others in this year’s recruiting class, Boland admits the fact UNB is hosting the 2018 Cavendish Farms University Cup was something that attracted him.

“I watched the final game, as UNB hoisted the U Cup, while I was still in Rimouski,” he says. “I always want to surround myself with winners, and with the history of this program I believe this is the best spot for me.”

Boland joins Tristan Pomerleau, Olivier LeBlanc, Kris Bennett and Hayden Hodgson in the Varsity Reds recruiting class of 2017.

UNB opens its pre-season schedule on Friday, September 15, when they face UPEI, in Montague, Prince Edward Island.

The Varsity Reds host Dalhousie on Friday, September 22, at 7:00pm, before travelling to Boston College to take on the Eagles, one of the NCAA’s top men’s hockey programs, on September 30.

The Varsity Reds regular season home opener is Wednesday, October 4, at 7:00pm, against the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus.