La Crosse forward Lackey signs NAHL tender
April 20, 2018
Clayton Lackey had three goals in the 2018 NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament.
The La Crosse Freeze of the NA3HL are pleased to announce that rookie forward Clayton Lackey has signed a North American Hockey League (NAHL) tender agreement with the Lone Star Brahmas of the NAHL’s South Division.
Lackey, 19, is coming off a tremendous first season in the NA3HL. The 5’7/175 lbs. native of Scottsdale, Arizona, led the Freeze in scoring this season with 77 points (43 goals, 34 assists) in 41 regular season games. Lackey was selected as the Central Division Rookie of the Year and also named to the NA3HL All-Central Division Team.
He was selected to and played in the 2018 NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament where he had three goals in three games.
In the post-season, he led the Freeze the Central Division playoff championship and had 10 points in 8 playoff games, including three goals at the Fraser Cup as the Freeze made it all the way to the Fraser Cup Semi-Finals.
“Clayton plays with excellent pace, tenacity and IQ. Lone Star is getting not only a skilled forward, but a high character team player. I am very proud of what Clayton has accomplished this season as a Freeze player and look forward to watching him take his game to the next level,” said Freeze head coach Jon Vaillancourt.
Prior to playing in the NA3HL this season, Lackey spent the 2016-17 season with the Chicago Mission 18U team and the season prior to that was spent playing in the NAPHL with the Arizona Bobcats 18U team.
“We are excited for the addition of Clayton for next season. He is a high character young man who is willing to do anything to help his team win. We love that about him. Not only does he have a good skill set, but he plays with pace and has great hockey sense,” said Lone Star assistant coach Justin Hale.
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 5, 2018.
