OHL’s Draft Eligible Player of the Month for December

Sure the likes of Alex DeBrincat, Matthew Tkachuk, Alexander Nylander and others are away at the World Junior Championships in Finland, but that doesn’t make being recognized for what you do less worthy. With those off to Finland representing their countries, others get some recognition.

So for the month of December, my draft eligible player of the month is North Bay Battalion defenceman Cam Dineen.

In ten December games, the 5’11” defenceman scored twice and added 12 assists while finishing a plus 6. He had points in 8 of his 10 games with four of those games being multi point games.

Dineen was named the games second star versus Niagara on December 18 and first star versus Mississauga on New Year’s Eve. Which is how Dineen does things: Quietly and efficiently.

Dineen is in his rookie season and has 5 goals and 26 assists and a plus six in 34 games on the season. His 31 points are not just tops among draft eligible defencemen, but he leads all defencemen in OHL scoring. Dineen is also third in scoring among rookies trailing only Nylander and Max Jones.

Max Jones also received consideration. With the London Knights’ top line all over in Finland, Jones has picked up the pace in their absence. He scored 6 goals and 9 assists in 11 games – his best month of the season. Jones was held pointless in just one game.

Adam Mascherin of the Kitchener Rangers scored six times along with seven assists, recording at least one point in each of the Rangers’ eight games during December.

In goal, Troy Timpano of the Sudbury Wolves appeared in 8 games. Despite a 3-5-0 record, Timpano was more than solid in his return from injury. He posted a 3.79 goals against average and .901 save percentage while facing 30 or more shots 6 of his eight appearances and 40 plus in 3 of those games.