Springfield, Illinois – The Springfield Jr. Blues, proud members of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), are pleased to announce the tender signings of four players for the upcoming 2021-22 season: Noah Holt, Connor Smith, Cole Schneider and Fisher Scott!
While these player signings have already been announced on our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), we wanted to give each of these young men a proper introduction. We begin by spotlighting Noah Holt, a right handed forward from Brookville, OH who played this past season for the Ohio Blue Jackets 18U AAA. Holt, who signed his tender agreement back on February 18th, recorded 18 goals and 33 assists during the 2020-21 campaign, improving upon his 10 goals and 21 assists from 2019-20. He has spent the last four seasons within the Blue Jackets organization.
Our next spotlight takes us up to the state of hockey as we look at Connor Smith, a right handed forward out of Hugo, MN who played this past season for the Totino-Grace High School hockey team. In 19 games played, Smith tallied 14 goals and 26 assists and finished second on his team in scoring with 40 points. After two years at Totino-Grace and one season with White Bear Lake, Smith has tallied 22 goals and 41 assists in 51 career Minnesota High School hockey games.
We head south to shine light on our next tender: Cole Schneider. Schneider, a right handed shot from Long Grove, IL, should be a familiar face and name to Jr. Blues fans. He spent nearly the entire 2019-20 season here in Springfield, appearing in 39 games and scoring 4 goals and 7 assists. With the Jr. Blues unable to play this past season, Cole played down in Texas for the El Paso Rhinos (NA3HL) and in 39 games played he tallied 25 goals and 35 assists with a +38 rating. Schneider will be reunited with former teammate Carson Jones who also played with the Jr. Blues during the 19-20 season.
And our final spotlight today is on Fisher Scott, a defenseman out of Carbondale, CO who plays for the Colorado Thunderbirds organization. A left handed blue liner, Scott appeared in 13 games for the Thunderbirds 16U AAA team and added 3 assists after notching 1 goal and 6 assists for the 15U AAA team in 2019-20. Scott, a 2004 birth year, is the youngest member of our group of tender signees this year.
Holt, Smith, Schneider and Scott join a strong core of tender signees for the 2021-22 season that includes: Caden Eaton (Fox Motors 18U AAA), Jared Kaplowitz (Nashville Jr. Predators 18U AAA), Carter Schram (Meijer AAA 18U), Mac Gadowsky (Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 18U), Nick Sewecke (Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 18U), Matthew Smith (CarShield AAA 18U), Coby Weber (CarShield AAA 18U), Carson Jones (North Iowa Bulls), Mason Hoehn (Richmond Generals), Sam Saccone (New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs), Carter Cloutier (Colorado Thunderbirds 18U AAA), Charlie Killian (Peoria Mustangs), and James Callahan (Benilde-St. Margaret’s School).
We want to congratulate each of these young men for joining an extended Jr. Blues family that includes over 350 NCAA alumni and over 150 professional alumni. We look forward to seeing all of you on the ice this summer!
A tender is a contract, of sorts, a player signs announcing his intentions to play for that particular NAHL team and that NAHL team only. Once a player signs a tender with an NAHL team, his playing rights belong to that team within the NAHL and he may not be recruited by any other NAHL team.Tendered players are not eligible for the NAHL draft, which is held each year in the summer.
