Oregon forward Stafford signs NAHL tender

The Oregon Tradesmen of the NA3HL are pleased to announce that forward Blake Stafford has signed an NAHL tender agreement with the Colorado Grit of the NAHL’s South Division. 

Stafford, 19, just completed his first season playing in the NA3HL. The 6’3/187 lbs. forward finished the year with 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists) in 12 regular season appearances. He also had a goal in two games at the 2023 Fraser Cup Championship. 

The Sun Prairie, Wisconsin native has appeared in a NAHL sweater in the past two seasons for both the Oklahoma Warriors and Minnesota Wilderness. In those 40 games he has recorded a pair of points. 

Prior to playing junior hockey Stafford spent a season in the NAPHL, playing for the Madison Capitols 16U squad. In the 2018-19 season he played in 16 games and scored four goals. He also played for the Chicago Mission and Omaha AAA Hockey Club programs in his youth years. 

Click here to see a list of NA3HL tenders for the 2022-23 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 2023 NAHL Draft.