Chad Spiller Signs With Alexandria Blizzard
California Stars Midget “AAA” standout signs with the Alexandria Blizzard of the North American Hockey League for the 2010-11 season.
The California Stars are proud to announce that Chad Spiller has officially signed a tender to be part of the 2010-11 Blizzard Squad. The Blizzard are currently 11-14-4, and in playoff contention in the NAHL. The North American Hockey League is the only sanctioned Tier II Junior A league in the United States. Each team in the NAHL only gets to sign (8) players to tenders before the NAHL draft. “Being tendered is a very prestigious thing for a player. Each team only gets to sign so many players before the draft so they are very selective on who those players are. You want those players to be impact players for you immediately. In most instances teams are losing around ten players a season to college, and pro so the first eight players you sign are very important.”commented California Stars Head Coach Brent Agrusa.
Spiller is a Newport News, Virginia native. The 5″10 175lb forward has been a dominate force in the past few months for the stars averaging over a point a game. Spiller is one of two players that have moved across the country to play for the stars this season. “I was excited to get the opportunity to come play here especially when I found out that I would have an opportunity to play for coach Agrusa who use to run the Junior Program in Hampton Roads where I played on the younger Junior B team. I saw first hand how many players off his team moved to NCAA hockey, and even got to skate with NHL draft pick Radoslav Illo who played for Agrusa, and is a Anaheim Ducks draft pick. In the summer time it was exciting to see so many of Agrusa’s former players who were Division I NCAA players, and Pro players come to Hampton Roads to train with him. It was motivating as a player to not just hear words from the coach, but to actually get to meet and train with these players, it made it seem so much more realistic.” commented Spiller.
The 18 year old Spiller came to the Stars wanting to go to the NAHL. “Chad is a very skilled, very talented, hard working player. He is passionate about the game, and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Those are always the type players who make it in this game. I am very happy for him, he is certainly the type of player as a coach that you want to see succeed, because ultimately he deserves to.” commented Agrusa. Spiller will go to a team where one of Agrusa’s former NAHL players Kyle Clay is their leading scorer. “Chad plays a lot like Kyle and when I saw how well that he was doing their I new right away that this would be a great fit for him. Chad is getting a great opportunity as Doc Delcastillo is a top notch coach with many years of NCAA college coaching experience, I am a firm believer that as a player its not where you play, its who you play for that will further your career.” commented Agrusa.