skip navigation

Esmark 18U Forward O'Neal Signs CCHL Tender

By AK, 04/14/17, 3:15PM EDT

Share

Signs with Hawkesbury Hawks

The Esmark Stars AAA Hockey Club, of the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL), are pleased to announce that 18U forward Patrick O'Neal has signed a Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) tender agreement with the Hawkesbury Hawks Jr. A Club out of Hawkesbury, Ontario. The Hawks compete in the CCHL's Robinson Division.

The 6’0”/175 lbs. native of Indiana, PA, led Esmark in team NAPHL scoring this season with 22 points (12 goals, 9 assists in 22 regular season games, including 3 power play goals; and 1 assist in three NAPHL playoff games).

He also finished tied for the lead in scoring for the Stars during the overall 2016-17 season, registering 59 points (25 goals and 34 assists), including 3 power play goals and 2 shorthanded goals, in 57 games played.

O'Neal, 18, who completed his first 18U season with Esmark during the 2016-17 season. also appeared in two games with the Johnstown Tomahawks Jr. A NAHL club based out of Johnstown, PA.

"Patrick is built for the junior game,” said Esmark 18U head coach Dave Kosick.  “He is a highly skilled forward with an outstanding shot packaged into a big power forward body ... who wants to succeed.”

A tender is a contract, of sorts, a player signs announcing his intentions to play for that particular CCHL team and that CCHL team only. Once a player signs a tender with an CCHL team, his playing rights belong to that team within the CCHL and he may not be recruited by any other CCHL team. 

The Pittsburgh-based Esmark Stars AAA Hockey Club, and its predecessor programs Pittsburgh Stars and Pittsburgh Viper Stars, are the oldest Tier I (AAA) program in the Mid-Am District (Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania) of USA Hockey and one of the oldest Tier I (AAA) programs in the nation.

For 33 years the Stars program has provided elite amateur ice hockey players the opportunity to be showcased on a local, national and international level.

The CCHL began as a development league founded by the Montreal Canadiens in 1961.  Seeking a place in Ontario for its' prospects, the league was built and used as a prime source until the draft system changed in the late sixties.  By the seventies, CCHL teams were among the best in Canada.  A reemphasis on development took place in the eighties when the league created rules and regulations that ensured younger rosters and an emphasis on development.This philosophy remains today, as the CCHL annually sends a large number of young players to higher levels.

Players from across North America have enjoyed success playing in the Central Canada Hockey League.  Utilizing the league as a stepping stone, each season dozens of players accept Division I and III NCAA hockey scholarships, as well as spots with Canada's U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports, which is the highest level of play at the Canadian university level.

In addition, young players advance every year to the Ontario Hockey League and most seasons there are selections from the CCHL directly to the National Hockey League.

Centrally located in the Ottawa region, the Hawks play a 62 game league schedule. The CCHL was home to dozens of current NHL stars, including Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Patrick Sharp and Jimmy Howard.