Willie Corrin finds ice time with Fargo Force
Though listed on the 2010-11 Fargo Force roster as a defenseman, a 2010 graduate of International Falls High School said he found himself going on the offensive this season in the United State Hockey League.
Willie Corrin, whose honors playing prep hockey included being named to the Associated Press All-State honorable mention team for three consecutive years while on the varsity team, completed the first of his planned two seasons in the USHL after the Force had been eliminated in the playoffs late last month by Dubuque.
Corrin said he hopes to gain more experience after another season in the USHL and then attend the University of Minnesota-Duluth to begin playing hockey in 2012-13 for this past season’s NCAA Division I national champions.
He turns 20 in August and would be able to return to the USHL for another season before the age-limit restriction related to players reaching 21 takes effect.
Corrin said he has seen “a huge gain in my play” as he has gotten use to the faster speed on the ice compared to his prep hockey days.
In his first season in the USHL, he said he had to battle for playing time on the ice.
Corrin, who describes himself as an “offensive defenseman,” said he played forward for about half the season to fill a need when the Force faced injuries at that position.
He said being in the USHL also provided him the opportunity to come in contact with a couple of other former Falls High School hockey players — Brady Hjelle, a goalie with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and Jake Youso, a forward with the Waterloo Black Hawks.
Corrin said the possibility existed during this season for him to have gotten into a scuffle with Youso when Waterloo and Fargo had a “line brawl,” but Youso ended up mixing it up with another player on the Force.
Corrin’s final season at Falls High School coincided with John Prettyman’s final year as head coach. Though a defenseman by position, Corrin finished his senior season first on the Broncos in goals (21) and assists (32), and was fourth in scoring in all of Section 7A.
As a USHL player with the Force, Corrin said he stayed with a “billet family” that the team paid for him to live with in the Fargo area.
Corrin said Fargo is “like a lake in spring” with all the flooding that takes place there and has noticeable strong winds with fewer trees in the area than in International Falls.
“The wind is Fargo is awful,” he said.
As for his future plans, he said he shares the dream of many hockey players to become good enough to one day be able to play professionally.
Corrin said he is undecided at this point on a major to pursue at UMD, though he has an interest in working in law enforcement or becoming a game warden because he likes to hunt and fish.
He said he didn’t participate in fall prep sports for the Broncos because that conflicted with his desire to go hunting during that time of year.
His high school sports career also included playing baseball, closing out his senior season as a team captain at catcher.
