North Iowa goalie Skinner signs NAHL tender
January 29, 2019
The North Iowa Bulls of the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) are proud to announce goaltender Dysen Skinner has signed a North American Hockey League (NAHL) tender agreement with the Minnesota Magicians of the NAHL's Midwest Division.
The Billings, Montana native is the third member of this year's team to sign a tender with an NAHL team.
Heading out of the most recent weekend, Skinner had an 11-3-1-0 record, winning his final eight decisions of 2018. Prior to his time with the Bulls, he made an impression in the North American Prospects Hockey League, as a member of the Sioux Falls Jr. Stampede's 18-and-under squad in 2017-18.
Skinner's tender agreement does not mean an automatic call-up, but his NAHL playing rights have been committed to the Magicians. He will start next season in Minnesota and will not be eligible for this spring’s NAHL Draft. Any NAHL appearances he makes during the remainder of this season will also be made in a Magicians uniform.
Skinner is another ladder of development success story, as he played the 2017-18 season with the Sioux Falls 18U team in the NAPHL.
Skinner is set to join a team led by an accomplished goaltender in his own right. Head coach and general manager A.J. Bucchino was himself an NCAA Division III All-American in net at Wisconsin-River Falls and spent four years in the pros following a brief junior career with the Des Moines Buccaneers. Bucchino's team is the current frontrunner in the NAHL's Midwest Division, with a 27-10-1-0 record and eight points clear of second-place Fairbanks and a game in hand on the Ice Dogs.
More than 30 North Iowa Bulls players have reached the NAHL since the team’s inaugural season in 2011-12. Three of those players are currently active in NCAA Division I hockey, with several others playing for professional teams. More than 50 NA3HL alumni suited up in the NAHL a year ago, with that number expected to rise this season.
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 4, 2019.
