EVERETT — Brian King set several goals when he joined the Everett Silvertips as a 16-year-old prior to the 2014-15 season.
Perhaps his greatest goal was an off-ice goal: to be the valedictorian at Everett High School.
On Saturday he fulfilled that goal as the EHS Class of 2017 graduated at the same Xfinity Arena where King spent his afternoons during the school year.
“Coming out and having to balance hockey with my academics is something that I put as a goal for myself and I’ve been working towards,” King said. “To finally be able to come to this point and see myself rewarded is great and is a reminder of all the hard work and effort I’ve put in and all the support I’ve received along the way. It’s really a great honor.”
King finished high school with a 4.0 grade-point average including AP classes in English, calculus and physics. He scored 1490 on the SAT.
In May King was named the Western Hockey League Scholastic Athlete of the Year at the annual awards luncheon in Calgary. It was the second consecutive year a Tips player was the Western Conference nominee as former Everett defenseman Tristen Pfeifer was the runner-up in 2016.
“My parents are supporting me all the way and my counselor, Kendall Berry, at Everett High,” King said. “We came in as a the Silvertips as a whole group of guys. We were all set up with our classes and they made sure we were keeping up with our work. And of course (Tips academic coordinator) Darren (Parsons) and the Silvertips being there with the tutoring opportunities and all that – they put education as a big point in our organization. So it was really great to have all that help there when I needed it. I couldn’t have done it without any them.”
King is currently taking an online class in German through BYU and plans to continue taking online classes in the fall. He has three more years of junior hockey eligibility.
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