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Hockey: A Hard Day's Knights: Willms takes home national title, commits to Stony Brook
By Sammy Robben, Special to the Gazette
When the puck hit the ice and the buzzer went off, Atlanta Knights goalie Derek Willms, a 2010 Coppell graduate, felt the relief of having blocked a last-second shot and the joy of being part of the Tier III Junior National Champions.
The title was the culmination of a standout season for Willms.
"Derek was a constant professional and always working hard," said Scott Fankhouser, Knights head coach. "He had the focus of a professional and had a routine that never changed. He played well, was constantly developing and it was a culmination of everything he had worked for at the right time."
With Atlanta, Willms was named Eastern Junior Hockey League Goalie of the Month in January en route to his squad winning an AJHLS South and then National Title. Willms played 21 games, winning 15. He was Atlanta's leading goalie with only one shootout loss and 431 saves against 55 goals scored.
Since the 2011-12 season was the Knights first as a Junior A team, Fankhouser took on a "defensive first" philosophy.
That philosophy showed throughout last month's tournament as the Knights played top-ranked teams like the Helena Bighorns and the Billings Bulls, who are ranked first and third in the American West Hockey League, respectively.
Willms shut out the Bighorns, 1-0, and beat the Bulls, 4-2, to advance to the finals.
"To be a championship team at this level of hockey, everything really has to come together perfectly at the right time, and that's what we were able to do," Willms said. "I have to give credit to our coaching because our team's systems were executed to perfection throughout the tournament. Our defense played superb, making sure all the shots came from the perimeter, which made my job a lot easier."
The Knights played the Long Island Royals in the finals.
Atlanta held leads of 2-0 and 4-2 in the game, but Long Island made a push each time, moving to within 4-3 in the late stages of the third. The Royals made one last rush down the ice with less than 10 seconds remaining, but Willms made the stop to give the Knights a 4-3 victory and the title.
"That was the first time all tournament where I really got nervous," Willms said. "Thank God that shot hit me in the chest because my heart was pounding. We were able to run out the rest of the clock to win the game, and it was just a huge sense of relief and excitement.
"It was what we had worked for the entire year and we accomplished our goal."
That goal was achieved recently, but it started more than a decade ago.
Originally inspired to start playing hockey by the Dallas Stars 1998-99 Stanley Cup win, Willms' hockey career has been one of tough choices in order to make his goal of playing collegiate hockey come true. After a successful year with the Knights, Willms will continue to play at Stony Brook University.
"I always wanted to play in college, then I learned about junior hockey and how that was the road I needed to take to make collegiate hockey a reality," Willms said. "It was a tough decision because it meant taking a couple years off from school, but I knew it was what I wanted to do. After winning the Tier III Junior A Nationals, I committed to play at Stony Brook."
While playing Junior A hockey, Willms has continued to take courses in community college and maintained a 4.0 GPA along the way.
"He had confidence he could do it," said Shalone Willms, Derek's mother and Coppell technology department chair. "It was different because it was not like the normal high school graduation with college plans, but it was exciting."
While at Stony Brook, Willms will major in engineering.
He will continue to play hockey as well, but his experience with the Knights is sure to be one he will not forget.
"The bounces just kept going our way," Willms said. "I am very proud of the way our team played and I cannot think of a better way to end my junior career."
Staff Writer Kevin Hageland contributed to this article
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