BLOOMINGTON (Ill.) - Brett Holmberg, the leading scorer among rookies for the Bloomington PrairieThunder last season, became the third player to sign a contract to return to the team for the 2008-09 campaign, club officials announced Monday.
The 22-year-old Holmberg scored 12 goals and had 19 assists for 31 points in 76 games. He was only one of two players to appear in all 76 PrairieThunder contests and finished fifth on the team in scoring last year.
Holmberg finished 10th in the league among rookies in overall scoring and was one of four players to net a goal in the PrairieThunder's professional hockey record-setting performance for scoring the most goals in the shortest period of time.
The PrairieThunder had four goals during a 35-second span in its game at Flint on April 5. Holmberg scored the fourth goal during the spree. The stick he used to score his goal has been donated to the Professional Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto for display.
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound right winger had four power play goals for the PrairieThunder and one game-winning goal. He also had assists on two short-handed goals
"Brett made great strides during his rookie season and we expect even more production this year," said PrairieThunder coach Jarrod Skalde. "We are going to push Brett to be a 20-plus goal scorer for us."
The Sherwood Park, Alta., native is the fifth player to sign a contract with the PrairieThunder for the upcoming season. He joins Don Parsons and Jon Booras, who were his teammates last season, along with newcomers Scott Fankhouser and Jeff MacMillan as signees. Per team policy, terms of Holmberg's contract were not released.
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