Senior Season — 2015-16
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Philadelphia Flyers
2012 NHL Draft
5th Round • 141st Overall |
Willcox posted a career-high 13 points on two goals and 11 assists, including a streak of five consecutive games with at least one point early in the season. He continued to be one of the team's best defensive defenseman and blocked a team-high 63 shots to run his career total to more than 200. After the season, Willcox signed an NHL contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. He was tabbed for the Bill Doran Sportsmanship Award at the Big Red's postseason banquet after being whistled for just one penalty while logging top-four minutes on the blue line for a fourth straight year. He was routinely matched up against the opposition's top forward combinations, yet he still had a plus rating during the regular season en route to All-Ivy League first team honors. His 120 career games was highest among active members of the team, including extensive minutes as a top-four defenseman for all four years on the power play, penalty kill and at even strength.
Junior Season — 2014-15
Willcox continued to assert himself as one of Cornell’s best defensemen. His plus-2 rating in 21 games was the highest among the team's blueliners, despite logging heavy minutes against some of the opposition's top forwards. The stay-at-home defenseman flashed some offensive instincts Nov. 21 against Yale when he scored a power-play goal in a 3-2 triumph. Willcox picked up the primary assist on Eric Freschi’s goal against Denver on Dec. 5, then picked up another power-play point with the primary helper in Cornell’s final goal of a 5-1 rout Jan. 16 at Union.
Sophomore Season — 2013-14
Willcox once again shouldered a lot of minutes on the blue line for the Big Red, often paired with offensive threat Joakim Ryan. While Willcox primarily plays a stay-at-home style, illustrated by his team-leading 70 blocked shots, he effectively jumped into the play offensively at times and scored his first two collegiate goals. The first came into an empty net Nov. 21 against Brown at Lynah Rink. The second came just five days later against Niagara, when he finished off a feed from Dustin Mowrey to start the scoring in the Big Red's 4-2 victory. Willcox then notched his first career multi-point game Jan. 31 at Yale, assisting on both goals in regulation time before the Big Red went on to win in overtime, 3-2. He made a particularly nice cross-ice pass to John Knisley on the second goal, which was eventually scored by Jeff Kubiak.
Freshman Season — 2012-13
Willcox immediately stepped in as a top-four defenseman, logging substantial minutes both on the penalty kill and at even strength. He was the only Big Red freshman and only one of six players overall to appear in all 34 games. Willcox was on the ice for 20 of the Big Red's 50 even-strength goals, which ranked second on the team among defenseman (behind only Nick D'Agostino). Three of his five points came on the ice at Princeton's Hobey Baker Rink. The first came in the regular season, when he had the secondary assist on John Esposito's power-play goal on Nov. 9. He then added an assist in each game of the Big Red's two-game sweep of the Tigers in the ECAC Hockey Championship first-round series.
Prior to Cornell
Willcox spent two seasons with the Junior A Merritt Centennials of the British Columbia Hockey League, a popular pipeline to Cornell. He posted 10 goals and 27 assists for 37 points in 105 games over those seasons from the blue line, including four power-play goals. He was named the team’s Top Defenseman and Academic Scholar in 2012, as well as the Most Promising Player in 2011. He was selected as a BCHL Second Team All-Star during the 2011-12 season and also played five games with gold medal-winning Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge in November. NHL teams took notice, and the Central Scouting Bureau placed Willcox on the Draft Watch List — 114th in the Midterm Rankings and 90th in the Final Rankings. He was eventually selected by the Philadephia Flyers in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft with the 141st pick.
Personal
Reece Kenneth Willcox is the son of Darryl and Barb Wilcox, and he has a younger brother. He is enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences.
