Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League is proud to announce that 2020 NHL Draft prospect Marco Rossi of the Ottawa 67’s is the 2019-20 recipient of the CHL Top Scorer of the Year Award presented by Purolator.
Rossi led all players with 120 points including 39 goals and 81 assists in 56 games helping the 67’s finish first in the Ontario Hockey League’s regular season standings for the second straight season.
“Purolator is delighted to partner with another iconic Canadian brand, the CHL, to recognize the young athletes who inspire others and deliver the entertainment of sport for Canadians across the country,” said Purolator Marketing Director, Melanie Cheng-Kai-On. “Congratulations, Marco Rossi on being named the 2019-20 CHL Top Scorer of the Year. With so many talented young players, winning the CHL scoring title is an incredible achievement. We look forward to watching Marco’s career continue – knowing he’ll deliver many more highlights in the future!”
The 18-year-old from Feldkirch, Austria, has now played two seasons for the 67’s after being chosen with the 18th pick in the 2018 CHL Import Draft. This season he nearly doubled his point total following a rookie campaign in which he registered 65 points in 53 games. He led the entire CHL with a plus-69 rating and was held off the scoresheet just four times producing an impressive 34 multi-point performances highlighted by a six-point output on November 27 scoring his first career hat-trick plus three assists against the Kingston Frontenacs. The sixth ranked North American skater on NHL Central Scouting’s final list also finished the schedule with success in the faceoff circle winning 58.5% of his draws and is a finalist for CHL Player of the Year.
“I want to say thanks to the CHL for giving me the CHL Top Scorer Award and I want to say thanks to the Ottawa 67’s for those amazing two years,” said Rossi. “Thank you very much, stay safe, and stay healthy.”
Since the award was first presented in 1994, Rossi is just the third top scorer to have joined the league through the Import Draft process following Czech Republic born Pavel Rosa for the 1996-97 Hull Olympiques, and Russian Alexander Radulov for the 2005-06 Quebec Remparts. He’s also the first player to win the award in his first season of NHL Draft eligibility since Dylan Strome of the Erie Otters shared the honour in 2014-15. That list also includes Nic Petan who shared the award in 2012-13 with the Portland Winterhawks, Patrick Kane of the 2006-07 London Knights, Sidney Crosby of the 2004-05 Rimouski Oceanic, Pierre-Marc Bouchard of the 2001-02 Chicoutimi Sagueneens, Ramzi Abid of the 1997-98 Sagueneens, Daniel Briere of the 1995-96 Drummondville Voltigeurs, and Marc Savard of the 1994-95 Oshawa Generals. Rossi is now the second member of the 67’s to win the award joining Corey Locke during the 2002-03 season.
Finalists for the award were fellow 2020 NHL Draft prospect Alexis Lafreniere of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Rimouski Oceanic and Minnesota Wild prospect Adam Beckman of the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs.
OHL Writers 