Former Fort Wayne Youth Hockey Star Reggie Millette Making His Mark in USHL

Former Fort Wayne Youth Hockey Star Reggie Millette Making His Mark in USHL

From skating with his sister at the old mcmillen ice arena, to playing in the best juniors league in america..

Reggie millette's path to the u-s-h-l was certianly unique to say the least..

And his journey is still far from over..

Petar hood has the story on this rising summit city hockey star..

?nat pop- "now lagerback is drilled by reggie millette!"?

Reggie millette: "when i was younger, the role models for me were drug dealers and whatnot.

And then once i got hockey, i was like okay, i've got new role models that are doing good in life.

They can't go to jail for fighting in hockey, so might as well just try to do this this way."narr: nowadays, when reggie millette gets into fights, they're almost always on the ice.

But that wasn't always the case..

Pamela mcnair: "when he was young, he was getting in a lot of trouble.

He was like a boy's boy.

Lots of testosterone.

Didn't want to sit down.

Was always moving.

I saw that, if he didn't use that energy for something good, it could go a not-so- good direction."narr: so, after moving her energetic young grandson from jacksonville, florida to fort wayne, pam mcnair decided he needed to play a sport.

They tried football, basketball, baseball, even karate... until one day, millette strapped on a pair of skates for the first time..millette: "my sister did figure skating once we got to fort wayne, and i used to go watch her do her thing on the ice and it was kind of boring, so one day some guy came up to me in the bleachers and said, 'here's some speed skates for you.'

And then i was like, okay cool, now i can get on the ice with my sister and kind of just rip around there, so that was really the beginning of it."narr: and from there, it didn't take long for millette to fall in love with ice hockey..mcnair: "we finally took all my furniture out of the kitchen, so that he would have room to just stand there and stickhandle.

And he would be up at five, six o'clock in the morning.

We're laying in bed like, 'oh my god, wish he would stop.'

But you don't want to tell a kid that's actually practicing to stop."

Narr: reggie wasn't stopping for anything.?nat pop- "mvp goes to #15, reggie millette!"?

Narr: that work ethic allowed him to quickly rise through the ranks of youth hockey.

In fact when millette was just 12 years old, he moved to michigan so he could play against some of the best competition in the country..

Mcnair: "hated to see him go, missed him a lot, but knew it was necessary.

And super proud and glad where he's landed."

Narr: yeah, and where he's ultimately landed is in the top junior hockey league in the united states.?nat pop- "and he scores!"?narr: millette spent this past season with the dubuque fighting saints of the u-s-h-l, where the forward's physical style of play caught the attention of college coaches.

And just recently, reggie committed to play division one hockey at american international college..millette: "it's probably been a dream since 2010 when i got on the komets, like the travel team.

I started watching boston college for a while, and that was my favorite team for a while.

Since then i really wanted to play division one."

Narr: and starting in 2021, he'll get his chance to do just that.

Reggie's goal is to play profesionally, and millette says his biggest motivation is his little brother kj, who still lives here in the hoosier state..

Millette: "for him, i want him to see, my brother's an african american, he played hockey, had all these obstacles and he kept going forward with it.

So for him, i want him to know that if an obstacle comes, you can get around it, go over it, go under it, somehow you can get past."narr: and as far as having a role model like reggie millette goes, i'd say kj should consider himself pretty lucky.?nat pop- "they score, it's millette right off the draw!"?narr: in fort wayne, petar hood, fox 55 sports..