Bender Participates In Elite Summer-Fall Leagues

Submitted Photo

Oct 29, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

Cloquet freshman Koby Bender recently finished participation in the Minnesota Elite Prep Development League based out of Eagan Minnesota. Bender who will be a freshman this fall for the Lumberjacks was also part of the Minnesota Advance Team this past summer.

Bender played this fall for the Northeast team of the Elite League, the league finished play last Sunday in Eagan as team Northeast tied their last game of the season 4-4 with team West of the metro area.

Bender led Northeast in scoring this fall; finishing with 8 goals and 9 assists for a total of 17 overall points. Lucas Small and Bender each had 8 goals for team Northeast this fall but Bender added 9 assists whereas Small finished with 6 assists. Bender’s best single game performance came against team North Dakota when he scored two goals and added two assists for a four point game.

Bender was also part of the Reebok High Performance Select Camp this summer in St. Cloud where 102 players took part in the camp and competed for a spot on the Minnesota Advanced Team roster. The Advance team selection was based on performance at the camp and 21 players were chosen to participate in the National USA Hockey Camp in Rochester New York.

Bender, along with his teammates traveled to New York and played with the top elite players across the country who were all 15 years of age. All of the players at the National Select Camp were evaluated for upcoming International play on upcoming USA hockey Teams.

Bender participated in the USA Developmental Camp in July and was part of team Grey which went 1-4 in pool play. Bender finished with 2 goals and 3 assists in pool play and was in the top 30 in scoring out of more the 230 participants in the USA Hockey Camp.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com