Bobcats add offensive defenseman

May 17, 5:28 PMFargo Hockey ExaminerTimothy How

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Sam Rendle moves the puck up ice for Grand Rapids
High School (Shannon Merritt: grhshockey.com)

The Bismarck Bobcats advanced to the 2009 Robertson Cup Final Five in the North American Hockey League this past season. The Bobcats immediately made a big splash moving towards the 2009-2010 season when defenseman Sam Rendle signed a tender to play in Bismarck next season.

Rendle is an offensive minded defenseman from Grand Rapids, Minnesota who has brought his game to a new level as of late. As a high school sophomore, Rendle got his name out there when he scored an overtime goal in the Class AA state semi-final game to lead Grand Rapids High School to the state championship game for the second consecutive season. He finished his sophomore season with three goals and 11 assists for 14 points.

Rendle led the Thunderhawks of Grand Rapids High School as a junior and senior captain the past two seasons. As a junior, Rendle was third on the team in points. He scored six goals and added 21 assists that year for a total of 27 points. Rendle scored 14 goals in his senior campaign at Grand Rapids High. He also added in 25 assists to lead the team in points. He also led Section 7AA in defenseman scoring.

This postseason, Rendle competed in the Minnesota Great Eight Festival for section 7A/7AA. His extremely high level of play earned him a spot on Team Minnesota for the Chicago Showcase. Rendle continued his excellent play in Chicago when he helped lead team Minnesota to the title. Colleges from the Eastern United States have shown interest in Rendle, but at this point he is not committed.

The Bobcats finished the regular season with a record of 43-13-2 and went 7-6 in the playoffs. Rendle should fit in greatly with a Bobcats team that didn’t see their defensive group scoring a lot of points. John Clark led the defensemen in scoring with one goal and 16 assists for 17 points in the regular season. No Bobcat defenseman had more than five points in the playoffs.

Bismarck will join the rest of the North American Hockey League in the league’s Entry Draft on Wednesday, May 20th at 1:00 p.m. CST.