Valley First Penticton Vees netminder Corey Milan is going Ivy League.

The veteran stopper has secured a scholarship with Union College, a New York-based school playing in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

The ECAC is a 12-team circuit that includes Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Cornell.

“It’s a great league and this is a great opportunity for me,” Milan said. “It’s a smaller (2,000 students) school that’s in a good location for me. It’s in Schenectady, New York State, which is just an hour away from my parents.”

The situation is a great deal more appealing to Milan than the University of Huntsville-Alabama was.

Milan netted a scholarship to that school last season, but walked away from it after deciding it was a poor fit.

“There was definitely some risk in doing that,” Milan admitted. “There was a risk with injury. If I blew my knee out I’d miss the season and I wouldn’t be getting a scholarship. And goalie scholarships are hard to come by. Most schools only carry three, so I’m very fortunate that it worked out for me this time.”

Milan’s strong play had a lot to do with things working out. In 28 starts this year Milan has 19 wins, a league-leading 2.50 goals-against average and a league-leading .915 save percentage.

“This year I was focussed on getting off to a good start,” Milan said. “Last year I started off slow and got in a zone near the end and I didn’t get my scholarship until the last week of the regular season. This year I was ready to go right from training camp and I’ve kept going strong right up to now.”

Vees head coach and general manager Bruno Campese has been impressed with his 20-year-old goalie.

“I think he’s been good all year,” Campese said. “He’s always been good with lots of activity, but he’s had to work on staying sharp when he’s not seeing much action. He has adapted his game and he has played very well behind our defence.”

With the scholarship now sitting firmly in his back pocket, Milan can focus 100 per cent on his work with the Vees, knowing he’ll have a place to go next season.

“It’s weird,” Milan said. “It’s not something I was trying to focus on. But there is a mental thing where you want to get it out of the way. It’s good to get the pressure gone and just concentrate entirely on the Vees.”

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