The North Iowa Bulls, proud members of the NA3HL, are pleased to announce that Kohei Sato has signed a tender with the Janesville Jets of the North American Hockey League. Sato, a forward from Nishitokio, Japan, was the most dominant goal scorer of the 2016 NA3HL Silver Cup National Championship Tournament in which he tallied seven goals in five games to lead the Bulls to their third Silver Cup and third national title in four years. In 64 NA3HL regular season games, Sato amassed 58 points on 29 goals and 29 assists. Seven of Sato's 22 goals in 2015-16 were game winners.
This is the second NAHL tender for Sato – he inked his first tender with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights in early June of last year, but played just three NAHL games before returning to lead the Bulls to another national title. Just last month, he used his talents in a brand-new championship venue, competing in both the 100-meter and 200-meter sprint races at the Iowa high school state track and field championships. His signing brings the number of NAHL commitments in the Bulls' five-year history to 20, and he becomes the first Bull to sign more than one NAHL tender in his career.
"The speed that Kohei brings to the game is difficult for teams to contain," says Bulls head coach Todd Sanden. "If you give him space to wind it up he will be by you in a flash. I have not coached a faster player in my career. He has worked on his ability to finish, which was evident by his leap in production in his second year with us."
Kohei Sato is the second Bulls player to sign a tender in the NAHL this year, following Sean Mallonee's signing with the Amarillo Bulls. The Jets have built quite a resume themselves in their seven-year run, reaching the Robertson Cup playoffs six times. In the 2014-15 season, they finished with 100 points in the NAHL standings and won 49 regular-season games, briefly setting a record for the best season in league history. The North Iowa Bulls wish Kohei much success with the Janesville Jets.