Vancouver Stealth Re-Sign Eight Players

The Vancouver Stealth has announced that the team has re-signed eight players including defenseman and captain Curtis Hodgson to a one-year agreement and defenseman Matt Beers to a two-year agreement. The team also re-signed goaltender Eric Penney to a two-year contract, defenseman Bradley Kri and transition players Justin Salt, Jarrett Toll and Conrad Chapman to one-year contracts while transition player Brandon Cleland signed a two-year deal. All signings are pending league approval.

“We are obviously very excited to have this group back with us this coming season,” said Stealth President and General Manager Doug Locker. “It’s especially big for us to have Matt (Beers) returning after being away last season as he is such a big piece for us defensively. Curtis (Hodgson) had a very strong season on the floor and did a tremendous job as our captain and we are extremely fortunate to have a player of his caliber back for another season with the Stealth.”

Hodgson is the longest serving Stealth player, playing all 10 seasons with the Stealth organization. The captain is the franchise’s All-Time Leader in games played with 179, fourth in loose balls with 601 and tenth in penalty minutes with 96. The defenseman played in all 18 games last season, collecting 45 loose balls, causing 12 turnovers to go along with 5 points.

Beers has played five seasons, all with the Stealth. He missed the 2015 season due to work commitments. The 25-year old has collected 337 loose balls, caused 64 turnovers and scored 52 points in 80 career regular season games. Despite missing last season, he ranks second all-time in franchise history with 271 career penalty minutes and holds the Stealth record for most penalty minutes in a single-season with 70.

Penney is coming off a solid rookie campaign with Vancouver in which he suited up in all 18 games and started in five of them. The 21 year old recorded his first career NLL win on April 12 when he was awarded the game’s first star after a 59 save performance against the New England Black Wolves. Penney was acquired in an off-season trade in 2014 from the Buffalo Bandits.

2015 marked Salt’s fourth season with the Stealth as the transition player put up career highs last season in goals (10), assists (9), points (19), loose balls (75) and caused turnovers (19).

Kri finished his second season in Vancouver. The defenseman played 14 games last season, causing 19 turnovers, collecting 48 loose balls while scoring 5 points.

Transition players Brandon Clelland, Conrad Chapman and Jarrett Toll played their first years with the Stealth in 2015. Clelland played 10 games for the Stealth in his rookie year. He scored 2 goals, collected 30 loose balls and caused 6 turnovers. Chapman suited up in 8 games for Vancouver in 2015. The rookie notched 5 points, gathered 22 loose balls and caused 6 turnovers. Toll was signed as a free-agent on April 1. He tallied 2 points, 19 loose balls and caused 5 turnovers in 5 games.