Slovakian Forward Aurel Naus has signed a contract to play Professional Hockey for HK Martin of the 1. Liga league in Slovakia. Martin plays in the second highest league in Slovakia and has had several players move on to the NHL, AHL and KHL.
Naus joined the Generals as a Free Agent before the 2018-2019 season and was a big contributor from Day 1. He finished his season in the NA playing in 55 games and registering 14 goals and 16 assists for 30 points. He also added an assist in 4 playoffs games for the Generals.
“Great kid who worked extremely hard. He made a big impact on our organization this past year. Always smiling, always working hard and just a great kid to be around. He also worked extremely hard in all 3 zones. It was a bit of an adjustment to go from playing on the big sheet back home to the smaller sheet here but once he figured it out he was huge for us all year, playing on the both the Power Play and Penalty Kill. Really excited for Aurel to sign professionally and I think he will have a lot of success and move up pretty quick.” Said Generals Head Coach Joe Lovell.
“When you bring in players from other Countries you never quite know what you are going to get. Aurel came over speaking zero English but quickly learned the language and by December you could have full conversations in English with him. Really funny kid who is loved by his teammates. Aurel did everything we asked of him and filled a ton of roles for us. He always wanted to play professionally back home so it is great that he is getting this opportunity right out of Junior hockey. We are really excited for Aurel and are looking forward to tracking his career.” Said GM Bryan Erikson.
Aurel is the first player from the 2018-2019 Generals to sign a professional contract in addition to the 21 players from last years team that committed to play NCAA hockey.