Starting this Friday, the Springfield Jr. Blues will be hosting their annual Draft Camp. Springfield has used this camp to identify relatively unknown players, help them reach their potential as a hockey player and assist them in receiving NCAA scholarships. The camp is open to all hockey players.
This week, the Springfield Jr. Blues will be highlighting a recent success story everyday from past Draft Camps, including when they attended, their success in Springfield and where they are at currently in their hockey careers.
#16 Ryan Leibold-Forward
In May of 2015 Leibold, who was 16 years old at the time, made the drive from Ashburn, Virginia to Springfield to attend the camp. In the 3-day camp, Leibold earned an invite back to Springfield’s Main Camp in June and had an opportunity to make the roster.
After the Main Camp, Springfield had Leibold return to his team in the NAPHL, the Washington Little Capitals, where they would keep an eye on his development. After an impressive start to the season, Springfield then tendered the forward in November of 2015 for the 2016-17 season.
In his rookie season with Springfield, Leibold had 13 goals and 19 assists while being the only Springfield player to play in all 60 games and earned the Springfield Jr. Blues Standard of Excellence award. Ryan had just as good of a season off the ice, earning a 4.1 GPA this season and a 4.0 cumulative High School GPA and was named to the Honor Roll every semester in High School along with the National Honor Society. For his accomplishments, he was awarded the NAHL Academic Achievement Award for the 2016-17 season
Due to his play in Springfield and his progression as a player, he received a scholarship offer and made his commitment to play college hockey at Army-West Point for the 2018-19 season. His play in Springfield also caught the eye of the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL, as they drafted him in this year’s USHL Draft.
The Draft Camp begins Friday at The Nelson Center with games at 5:00pm and will run through Sunday. The camp is FREE for fans to attend and will feature and equipment sale on Saturday morning from 9am-12pm.
