Esmark 18U forward Petroff signs NAHL Tender

The Esmark Stars AAA Hockey Club of the T1ER North American Prospects Hockey League have announced that Esmark Stars 18U AAA Hockey forward Aiden Petroff has signed a North American Hockey League (NAHL) tender agreement with the New Hampshire Mountain Kings.

The 17-year-old forward from Natrona Heights, PA, recorded seven points (3 goals and 4 assists), in 8 T1ER North American Prospects Hockey League regular season games and 5 Dixon Cup Playoff Games in helping lead the U18 Stars to the League's Regular Season and Playoff Championships.

Overall the 5'11" / 170 lbs. forward tallied 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists), including one power play, one shorthanded goal and three game-winning goals, in 53 games played for Esmark's U18 AAA Midget Major squad.

The 2023-24 season was Petroff's first season with the Esmark Stars program.

"Aiden is an extremely talented hockey player with an elite level skill set,” said Esmark 18U head coach Dave Kosick. "He combines an elite level skating ability, with an elite level stick handling skill set and a marksman shooting talent ... all skills that Junior A teams desire."

Petroff becomes the seventh member of the 2023-2024 Esmark Stars AAA Hockey program to sign a tender with a Junior A club for the upcoming season.

Petroff joins 18U teammates Alex Thomas (Colorado Grit), Timur Naletov (Danbury Hat Tricks), Max Rutkowski (Oklahoma Warriors) and Mykyta Yalovyi (Lone Star Brahmas), as well as 16U Esmark forwards Emmet McClaine and Vitaliy Ulianov, who both signed with the Johnstown Tomahawks, in signing tender agreements with the NAHL teams.

New Hampshire is in the NAHL's nine-team East Division along with the Danbury Hat Tricks (CT), Johnstown Tomahawks (PA), Maine Nordiques, Maryland Black Bears, New Jersey Titans, Northeast (MA) Generals, Philadelphia (PA) Rebels and Rochester (NY) Jr Americans.

The Mountain Kings play in the Tri-Town Ice Arena in Hooksett, NH, and are led by Head Coach Cam Robichaud.

Click here to see a list of T1ER tenders for the 2023-24 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 T1ER - plus or minus any trades - which became active on November 1st. Tendered players are not eligible for the 2024 NAHL Draft.