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Richard o'Brhn Chloniclo Staff As Matt Zilinnhs becomes an 'er' of the Waterloo Siskins, he has $20,000 a your in whom- ships and a million dollars worth of édvice. tilinskas taking scholarship route The 18-yearold Waterloo collo- giate student has a loo-page program from Princeton detailing what he must do over the summer in terms of diet, weightlifting, running and flexibility training. The advice is that he take the program seriously. It comes horn one former Siakin who is also going the scholarship route. Steve McGrinder, who along with Chris Archer is at Miami of Ohio's division 1 school, gave Liinskas a firsthand account of what it's like to show up at training camp in less than peak condition. "Steve said, ‘Make sure you come prepared,” said Zilinskas. "hecauge if you don't it'll be the worst week of your life_.' _ "He needed Mp with ordinmjy things that come naturally," and Zilmskaa. Word is that a player can become so bent out of thare th.at even sitting down mums mm -rtltllMlll.lBll_---"-"""1'"-"i'tr; mmmummmmmwm muomm'mwhwuhww‘ HM” ' hound Mtort, and that suggests a boot camp, rather than country club, stmosphere awaits the unini. It'snot ingtobeeasy,howev» er, to 'dl)',) Princeton', daily regimen. Zilinskas comes home tired from earning student wages at a lumber yard and gets many phone calls horn friends wanting to go out at ni ht. But ifZilinsLa has yet to see traininf camp, he hasn’t seen a US. co lege hockey game, either. Visiting Princeton in January or February would have disrupted his own season. "I've heard it's fut-paced with good pacing and lots of finesse," he said. "It was disappointing I didn't see a game, but I was in a rhythm, practicing every day, and I felt it was beat to wait until the end ofthe season." A _ _ - Princeton's season ended before the Siskins lost a playoff series to the Sernia Ramon Bees. 2ilins. he then made the trip to Prince. town - which is between New York City and Philadelphia - and visited the campus. Princeton was the only US. college Zilinskas made applica- tion to and he was surprised to get accepted while in his Grade 12 year. He'll be away from home for the first time, playing against schools in his division 1 confer- ence such as Yale, Brown, St. Lawrence, C}arkson and .Co.lgat.e. T535 first time, he'lf be playing in arenas where he can't expect his 1.ie.ndt or, his. parents, Min and Rick, to be hi atten- dance. But going there will fulfil a lifelong ,mhrtion. w.. .. Ps "Ever since I was little it was my dream to get a US. scholar- ship," he said. Ontario Hockey league team did nothing to lure him away from his goal. No team drafted him after he put in a 52 'tll', M) assist season in midget Zilinskas attended the kitchen. er Rangers training camp last fall, but didn't overstay the " hour limit that would have made him ineligible for a rhya.ryhi.p. "(Not getting armed) just fueled the fire tor me in my quest tor a scholarship," he said. A: rel of the 31mm: process he ad to give . caution to Prince- ton about his peraottal intend.- " well as why he wanted to go there. He also had to write {our f ThehumonflnT-dflnupeflommmnmmmhshulnhoekeyandomflon. essays. A near80 average at WC! also helped. _ " . Princeton requires prorieiency in another language as a require» ment for a BA. Zilinskas has signed up for French as well as psychology, calculus and environ. mental studies He has two years to_pick a major. , Zilinskas was a role player this past season with the Siskins, but rtrst he had to convince coach Gerry Harrigan to overcome some doubts about him. 7 _ _ _ "Gerry didn't think I had toughnes: in me," Zilinskas said, “and I proved him wrong in training camp. Personally, I thought I had a really good year." By season‘s end, he was on the powgsglay, taking on the punish- ing of standing in front of the net. He had three goals and 11 assists in the playoffs, coming off a 30-goal season. At Princeton, he’s looking " two-hour daily preeticee Teams play their 25-gune schedule en- tirely on weekends. Players have tteeinotieed-aMdrafud-by idu, loans for about a genera- Elisha has many friends go WAN cm 'ae-ire-ri"..'.-"'-"'..'-' host Nationals than on - ing back to days when the Water loo minor atom Saints were Orr tano champions, Steve Rice, Mark Strohack, Scott McPherson and Troy Stephens are all in the OHL now, but Zilmskas prefers hit way. Some OHL teams pay their players' university tuition, Zilins- has points out, but players only stay in the league until they're 20. And the NHL has been draft ing US college and high school players in increasing numbers since 1983. Zilinskas notes that Eric Lin dram. the first overall selection m this year's OHL draft, will likely iris/ Jr, the Sault Ste, Mani) Greyhounds in favor of a scholar ship at. Univertsi.ty of Michigan On that note, there was another piece of advice McGrinder gave, "He said, 'Make sure you concenr crate on your school, too, because that's why you‘re there in the first place'" Zilinskas isn't likely to forget "Ifl get drafted into the NHL I would go, but I would make sure I had my degree first. (Otherwise) it would defeat my purpose"