Saturday 23 December 2017

Mid Season #OHL Awards

While the halfway point of the OHL season isn't officially here till game 340 is played on the 28th the Christmas break is the perfect time for a mid season awards post. I had some help with this year from a few OHL twitter must follows

Steve Mclean: @SteveMclean888 whose soothing voice you may know from the @OHLfanboys podcast

Ryan Noble: @Ryannoble66 The man behind the A Very Barrie Colts Blog

@Generalsupdates who will keep you up to date on all things Oshawa Generals while also posting some interesting stats on his wordpress page here

@Stingupdates is another guy who will keep you updated on all things Sarnia Sting

@PetesUpdates will keep you in the loop for all things Petes hockey.


Most Outstanding Player

We had a unanimous winner for this award but only one other player got more than 2 votes which was the lowest out of any category. Outside of the top 2 it is a wide open race but unlike the actual Most Outstanding Player vote at the end of the year there wasn't a predetermined player from each team up for the award.



Kyrou:
Leaves for the World Juniors leading the OHL in scoring with 58 Points in 30 games.. Eleven games this year Kyrou has had 3+ Points next closest is 7. - Stingupdates

You know when rumours start coming out that the Mens national team is considering you for the Olympic team at age 19... you're doing something right. I watched this kid go off for a 6 point night at the PMC earlier this season.... he's the real deal. - Petesupdates

Kyrou leads the league at the Christmas break with 58 points. Sarnia will continue to feed off of his success. - Ryan Noble

Luchuk:
Put up big numbers in the first half on a team that was without many of its stars for a large chunch. Has now been traded to Barrie where he should get plenty of minutes with some elite level talent for the rest of the year - Peter Kneulman


Thomas:
A breakout season in the assists department last season has seen Thomas keep up the same pace this year but already has 4 more goals in just 27 games than he did all last season.  - Steve McLean


Timmins:
Best defenceman on the best team. Plays and excels in all situations and gets the toughest matchups night after night from Drew Bannister and continues to put up big results. - Peter Kneulman

Frost:
The best player who will be back in the OHL again next year. He has 55 points in just 33 games to lead the best team in the country to a fantastic start. - GeneralsUpdates


Max Kaminsky Trophy Top Defenceman

This was by far the closest vote of the 6 categories as there was a possibility of a 3 way tie going into the final ballot but Steve messed that all up. Could Timmins be the 4th Hound this decade to claim the Max Kaminsky trophy joining Muzzin, Sproul and DeAngelo? Will Durzi continue his torrid start and be the first Attack player since Andrej Sekera in '06 to claim the award?


Timmins
Hands down the most impressive defenseman I've seen this season. Is there anything this kid can't do?  -PetesUpdates

Has great speed and instincts and isnt afraid to play aggressive against the rush and take away a forwards space. Most of his points come at even strength but has shown an ability to take over a game when needed. Rumour has it Jonathan Ang has been playing without a jock since Nov 30th as the city of Peterborough has yet to remove it from the PMC rafters - Peter Kneulman

Durzi
Leads all D-men points and points per game and is 2 nd in goals. Durzi
has already surpassed his previous highs in goals and points - GeneralsUpdates

Boucahrd
1 points is 3rd most among defencemen. 30 assists is 2nd most for blue liners, and he seems to constantly get pucks on net, totaling 142 shots on goal. His 4 game winning goals most in the league for defencemen. - Ryan Noble

has been the best defenceman in the OHL this year for my money. He has to be logging 30+ minutes a night for Dale Hunter. On a London team that isn't scoring a lot (Ranked 13th in goals) he has 42 Points (2nd) in 34 games. He is also 2nd in the OHL in game winning goals with 5. - StingUpdates

Rookie of the Year

The 2nd of 3 unanimous selections it speaks to how dominant Svechnikov has been while in the lineup as he has left no doubt even after missing 6 weeks with a broken wrist.




Svechnikov
I don't think there is any doubt that Svechnikov has been the most impressive rookie this season. 4th league wide for rookie point leaders; Svechnikov has stayed among points leaders even though he has played in half the amount of games other top rookies have played. His 1.31 points per game average is most among rookies and 13th league wide. - Ryan Noble


Hillis
Leads all rookies with 29 points in 33 games despite scoring just 1
goal in his first 13 games. He’s really come on since then and is having
a really solid rookie season. - GeneralsUpdates


Kaliyev
The only 2001 born player on my list, Kaliyev has been nothing short of impressive for the Hamilton Bulldogs this season with 14 goals (tied for the league rookie lead) and 22 points (3rd in the league among rookies). Kaliyev seems to be slowly finding more consistency to his game with a recent stretch of 6 games out of 7 where he scored.  He just recently put up his first multi goal game on December 9.  No doubt he has benefited from a strong Bulldogs roster that leads the eastern conference, it's clear that Kaliyev is a big part of that success and not just riding in a hot teams coattails. - Steve Mclean


Jenkins
Took a while to get going but has he ever figured it out in a hurry... on pace for roughly 55 points. Just the young offensive star SAG needed. - PetesUpdates

Sandin

The Greyhounds are 20-1 with Sandin in the lineup this year. For a 17 year old transitioning to a new country and a new team mid season his has fit in rather seamlessly. Teaming with Mac Hollowell to great the best #2 PP unit in the league he has also been a force in his own zone and his puck skills allow for a quick and seamless transition. - Peter Kneulman

OA play of the year

Luchuk was the run away winner of this award which should come as no surprise. The more interesting things was the fact that 6 different players picked up either a 2nd or 3rd place vote.



Luchuk
He leads the league with 31 goals, 2nd for points with 56, 1st for power play goals with 10 and tied for 2nd with 3 short handed goals. I feel the second half of his season will be even better. - Ryan Noble

 He pretty much carried Windsor's offence by himself. He was a great leader for a young Windsor team and he should help Barrie a ton down the stretch & into the playoffs. - Sting Updates

The man who scored the Memorial Cup winning goal on home ice for the Windsor Spitfires has had an amazing follow up season thus.  On a Spitfires squad where the bulk of the offensive load would fall on his shoulders Luchuk became essentially a goal per game player with and put up 51pts in 30 games only 7 shy of his career high in a full 68 game campaign.  An emotional trade to the Barrie Colts now has Luchuk on arguably one of the top lines in the OHL with Svechnikov and Lipanov.  In his brief 3 game stint with the Colts before the holiday break Luchuk hasn't skipped a beat with 3 goals and 5 points. - Steve Mclean

Helvig
Tops in the league in save percentage. Has elevated his game from last year where he was already one of the best in the league. - Peter Kneulman

Helvig is the backbone of the Fronts and as a Petes fan I've seen it plenty of times before... he can beat you by himself when he's on his game - PetesUpdates

Fazio
The top goalie in the OHL, Fazio gets my #2 OA spot because of how good he’s been for Sarnia this year. He’ll be huge going forward and especially into the playoffs for them. -GeneralsUpdates

Goalie of the Year

5 different goalies picked up atleast 3 points and a very good argument could be made for either one to be in the top 3.



DiPietro
Best goalie in the league, doesnt have the team in front of him like some of the others do but is one of the biggest reasons the Spits have been so good this year. In fact the Spits were the last team to pick up a win from their back up goalie. - Peter Kneulman

Fazio
He leads the league in minutes played & Saves. He ranks 1st in Wins, 2nd in SV%, And 5th in GAA. Sarnia will want to sharpen up a bit defensively after the break but Fazio has shown he can handle it. - StingUpdates

1st in the OHL in wins, 2 nd in save %, and has been as stable of a goalie as there’s been in the OHL this year. Gives Sarnia a chance to win every time he’s in net and it’s no coincidence that Sarnia is over- achieving thus far this season with how well Fazio has played. - Generals Updates

Helvig
lets show some love to the East. Helvig's 2.49 GAA is tied for the best average and his 0.924 GAA is the best for goalies who have played more than 15 games. - Ryan Noble

Helvig has been nothing short of spectacular this season for the Fronts... Jeremys 2.55GAA and a .922SV% has Kingston way higher in the standings than many predicted at the start of the year - PetesUpdates

Villalta
Soo has been so dominant this season. Matthew has been so strong for them. 2.49 GAA is the best in the league - Ryan Noble

Raaymakers
The former Soo Greyhounds star began the season sitting at home and awaiting a trade before eventually winding up in London to play for a Knights team that was desperate for some solid goaltending.  They have gotten that in spades.  London began the season with a record of 1-8-1-0 including 8 straight loses.  Since the Knights picked up Raaymakers he has posted a 17-6-1-0 record along with 3 shutouts and having a stretch of starts that would make Aaron Molnar proud.  One would wonder how low the Knights would have kept sinking had the steady hand of Joseph Raaymakers came riding into town on a white horse. - Steve Mclean

Coach of the year
With multiple teams being fixtures in the CHL top 10 as well as a group of teams exceeding expectations there were plenty of worthy candidates for this one as well.



Bannister
How do you quantify coach of the year? Is it the coach that takes a team with the lowest expectations to the best finish? That would eliminate the coach of the favoured teams just because we under estimated some others. What stands out to me about Bannister is how disciplined of a possession system the Hounds have. They seem to never give up the puck and they are super aggressive on the penalty kill. They have scored more short handed goals on their winning streak then power play goals allowed! - Peter Kneulman

The Soo Greyhounds continue to steam roll their way to the tops of the CHL rankings... Banister has come in, got the guys to buy in right away and the players have run with it. - PetesUpdates

Hatcher
Who saw this coming from Sarnia? They were pegged by most to finish somewhere in the middle of the Western Conference but instead are 2nd in the entire OHL. They have had the league's best offence & have gotten great contributions from guys people didn't really know about. - Sting Updates

Has Sarnia doing a lot better than most anticipated this season. Will be interesting to see how the team does the next couple games

without Kyrou/Ruzicka at the WJ’s. - GeneralsUpdates

Hawerchuk
Dale has found a way to take a terrible team and, with the help of some good picks and trades, make them a threat in the league. He has managed to keep the team fresh rolling all the lines and the team will be able to make a strong push late in the year because of it. - Ryan Noble

Burke
Billy has the young Niagara Burkes playing great hockey. It is not just that they are exceeding expectations but it is the way he has helped the team rebound for a early season lull after a hot start and put them in position to heat back up again. - Peter Kneulman

Safe to say not many people had anticipated the Icedogs being as good as they are currently... the Burke brothers have silenced the critics and put together quite the product on the ice in Niagara. -PetesUpdates

Gruden
Hamilton leads the Eastern Conference. The team always looks so fresh and they have managed to play a disciplined style for the most part. - Ryan Noble

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