Rochester forward Oakland signs NAHL tender
Rochester forward Ben Oakland was the MVP of the 2022 Fraser Cup Championship.
The Rochester Grizzlies of the NA3HL are pleased to announce that forward Ben Oakland has signed a North American Hockey League (NAHL) tender agreement with the Minnesota Wilderness of the NAHL’s Midwest Division.
Oakland, 19, recently led the Grizzlies to the 2022 NA3HL Fraser Cup Championship title, recording 12 points in nine Fraser Cup Playoff games. That included five goals in the Fraser Cup Championship Tournament, which resulted in MVP honors for the event.
The 6’2/185 lbs. native of Boise, ID, began the 2021-22 season in the NAHL playing for the Amarillo Wranglers, where he recorded four points in 27 games played during the first half of the season.
Oakland then joined the Grizzlies in late January and ended up playing in 10 NA3HL regular season games, recording nine points (4 goals, 5 assists). He would also be called back up to the NAHL on February 4th to play with the Austin Bruins before returning to Rochester for the stretch run.
During the 2020-21 season, Oakland played his rookie season of junior hockey in the NAHL with the Austin Bruins, recording six points in 35 games played.
Prior to playing junior hockey, Oakland played youth hockey in the NAPHL for the Northstar Knights 18U team during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, where he recorded 10 points in 24 games played in his NAPHL career.
Click here to see a list of NA3HL tenders for the 2021-22 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 two (2) tenders exclusively used on players from the NA3HL - plus or minus any trades - which became active on November 1st. Tendered players are not eligible for the 2022 NAHL Draft.
