Fredericton, NB. - The UNB Varsity Reds would like to announce the addition of three WHL graduating captains to their team for the upcoming 2009-10 season. These players include forward Taylor Procyshen from the Tri-City Americans, forward Jeff Lee from the Edmonton Oil Kings, and defenseman Ben Wright from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Procyshen is from Emerald Park, Saskatchewan, and spent the last four seasons with the Americans helping them win back to back US Division Championships. He is a three-time 30 plus goal scorer in the WHL and finished off a career best year with 36 goals and 45 assists for a total of 81 points. He was the offensive leader for his team in several categories including top scorer and was one of the top scorers in the WHL. Overall Procyshen had 108-100-208 in 259 career WHL games.
The speedy winger was the 2009 winner of the prestigious Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Award as the WHL Humanitarian of the Year. Procyshen will join his former Tri-City team captain Alex Aldred at UNB where he will be enrolled in the Faculty of Business.
Lee is coming off a career best breakout season with the Edmonton Oil Kings where he scored 22 goals and added 40 assists for 62 points in 72 games. The 6’2” 210 lb forward from Calgary, Alberta, helped the second year franchise make the play-offs for the first time ever and was the team’s leading scorer. After his WHL season ended, the hard-working Lee was called up to Springfield of the AHL and played two games. He recently attended the Edmonton Oilers Summer Camp. Prior to joining the WHL, Lee had played two seasons for NCAA University of Alaska Fairbanks. Lee will also study business at UNB.
Wright will be a key addition to the Varsity Reds blue-line after spending parts of six years with Lethbridge where he has been their top scoring defenseman for the past three years. He was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets as a fourth round selection in the 2006 NHL draft. He had a career best 10-37-47pts in 2007 and has career totals of 24-111-135 points in 259 games along with a 404 penalty minutes.
The 6’2” – 210 lb native of Foremost, Alberta is a former team MVP and winner of his team’s Best Defenseman and Most Popular Player Awards. He was selected to Team WHL in 2007 to play in the ADT Team Russia series. Wright will also study business at UNB where he will join up with former team-mate Kyle Bailey.
UNB Head Coach, Gardiner MacDougall, was especially pleased with the WHL “hat-trick” addition. “All of these players will be key parts of our team and for our program. They all have outstanding hockey pedigrees, they have been leaders for their teams and their communities and they are hungry to continue their development in a successful environment and here at UNB.”
The Varsity Reds have been to the last three national championship finals and have been successful in capturing two gold medals. They will also host the CIS championships in both 2011 and 2012.
UNB has recruited heavily out of the WHL and had seven WHL graduates in their line-up for their 2008-09 National Championship season. Since coming to UNB in 2000-2001 Coach MacDougall has recruited 27 players from the WHL including 18 from the Province of Alberta. |