North Iowa forward Sato signs NAHL tender
June 7, 2016
The North Iowa Bulls, proud members of the NA3HL, are pleased to announce that Kohei Sato has signed an NAHL tender with the Janesville Jets, who compete in the NAHL’s Midwest Division.
Sato, a forward from Nishitokio, Japan was the most dominant goal scorer of the 2016 NA3HL Silver Cup National Championship Tournament in which he tallied seven goals in five games for the eventual Champion North Iowa Bulls.
In 64 NA3HL regular season games Sato amassed 58 points on 29 goals and 29 assists. Seven of Sato's 22 goals in 2015-16 were game winners.
"The speed that Kohei brings to the game is difficult for teams to contain. If you give him space to wind it up he will be by you in a flash. I have not coached a faster player in my career. He has worked on his ability to finish which was evident by his leap in production in his second year with us,” stated North Iowa head coach Todd Sanden.
Kohei Sato is the second Bulls player to sign a tender in the NAHL this year following Sean Mallonee's signing with the Amarillo Bulls. The North Iowa Bulls wish Kohei much success with the Janesville Jets.
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. Each team is granted ten (10) tenders, which include one tender exclusively used on players from the NA3HL - plus or minus any trades - which became active on Nov. 1. Tendered players are not eligible for the NAHL draft, which will be held on June 7, 2016.
