The Maine Nordiques signed a forward from one of the top high school programs in Massachusetts on Monday when 18-year-old forward Makem Demers of Pope Francis High School in Springfield agreed to an NAHL tender.

Demers led Pope Francis to the Massachusetts Super 8 championship game, which it lost to Boston College High School 2-1 in four overtimes. He had 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points, which led the team.

“He has dynamic offensive capabilities, but has also shown he can compete and play a 200-foot game,” Maine Nordiques director of player personnel and head coach Nolan Howe said. “He’s a young man, the last several years, his teams has counted on him in every situation. We are excited to get him into camp and work with him.”

The Nordiques fulfilled their requirement of tenders from the North American Hockey League’s development leagues this past weekend when they signed 17-year old forward Caden Pattison of the Everett Jr. Silvertips of the 18U North American Prospects Hockey League.

The 6-foot-2, 196-pound Lake Stevenson, Washington, native had four goals and three assists in 16 games with the Jr. Silvertips this season.

“We think with his size and skating ability that he’s someone that’s going to come in and compete for a spot on our North American Hockey League team,” Howe said. “We think building our foundation, a lot of it is based on skating ability, and we aren’t necessarily looking at size but their skating ability and their puck skills.”

Howe said a player like Pattison is nice to have because his size and will create room and space for his teammates.  

With the signing, the Nordigues has tendered one player from the 18U NAPHL, 16U NAPHL and the NA3HL. Carter Lane fulfilled the tender from the 16U NAPHL and Cole Ouellette fulfilled the NA3HL tender signing.

Also last week, the Nordiques signed 19-year-old defender Cam Cokinos, who has Tier II hockey experience from playing in both the NAHL and the USPHL’s National Collegiate Development Conference.

With the Johnstown Tomahawks of the NAHL, he had no points and 39 penalty minutes in 12 games, and with the Connecticut Jr. Rangers of the NCDC, he had a goal and 25 penalty minutes in 10 games.

Howe believes there’s untapped offensive potential in Cokinos.

“When it comes to Cam (Cokinos), (director of player recruitment and advancement) Cam (Robichaud) and I, he’s someone we targeted very early on,” Howe said. “He was someone we were very intrigued by with his skating ability combined with his size (6-foot-3 and 194 pounds). It’s a unique blend that’s hard to come by. More importantly, we saw a young man while he was defensively responsible, we believe he hasn’t fully matured his offensive abilities yet and his ability to be a puck moving defenseman.”

Thunder sign Albany Academy standout

The Twin City Thunder announced Monday an NCDC tender signing of forward Anthony Bono out of Albany Academy, a prep school in Albany, New York .

The 19-year old from Saugus, Massauchettes, spent a postgraduate year at Albany Academy, where he had 19 goals and 17 assists in 33 games this season. Before that, he skated four years with St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, Massachusetts, and tallied 39 goals and 42 assists in his high school career.

“He has a good skill set, he can shoot the puck and he gets to the net,” Twin City Thunder NCDC coach Doug Friedman said. “He’s got a lot of those little things, he’s hard to defend against. He’s 6-foot-2, 195 pounds. Again, he’s a big body and he’s tough to defend.”

Bono becomes the third NCDC tender for the Thunder after they signed East Coast Spartans 18U teammates Martin Moioffer and Rocco DiFazio earlier this winter.

His Albany Academy teammate, Andrius Kulbis-Marino signed a tender with the Maine Nordiques last week

Moore sets coaching record with the Steel

Former University of Maine and St. Dom’s hockey standout Greg Moore is already making his mark in his first season as the head coach of the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League, the nation’s lone Tier I junior league.

The Lisbon native has set the Steel’s franchise record for wins for a first-year coach with 35.

The Steel close out the regular season this weekend with a pair of games against the Central Illinois Flying Aces and the Muskegon Lumberjacks. The Steel currently sit in second place in the Eastern Conference with 74 points, one ahead of the Youngstown Phantoms and Cedar Rapids Roughriders.