Toronto, Ont. – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Windsor Spitfires forward Matthew Maggio is the 2022-23 recipient of the Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy awarded to the League’s Overage Player of the Year as voted by OHL General Managers.
The 20-year-old from nearby Tecumseh, Ont. led the OHL with 111 points and 54 goals, joining current Spitfires GM Bill Bowler (1994-95) as just the second player in Spitfires franchise history to be named OHL Overage Player of the Year.
“I feel very privileged to win this award,” said Maggio. “Playing in the OHL for the last five years has been the best time of my life and I’ve been lucky enough to play with some incredible players throughout this journey. I want to say thank you to the Ottawa 67’s and Windsor Spitfires, and everything they have done to help develop me into the player I am today. I’d like to thank my family, friends, coaching staff and my faith for helping to guide me along the way. Most of all I want to thank my teammates because without them this would not have been possible.”
Maggio, who was held pointless in just nine of his 66 games this past season, finished as the front-runner for the award, with Ottawa 67’s forward Logan Morrison coming in as the runner-up.
“Matt has been an elite performer all season,” said Spitfires General Manager Bill Bowler. “He has the ability to produce offence at top speed and we got to witness that consistency every time he was on the ice.”
Maggio tied a Spitfires single game franchise record with his five goals on Dec. 15th in a 6-3 win over the Erie Otters, joining Daniel D’Amico, Paul Gagne and Gerry Leroux as the fourth Spitfire to accomplish the feat. He led the OHL with 311 shots on goal, and scored just four of his 54 goals on the power play.
A fifth-round pick by the New York Islanders last summer, Maggio wraps-up his OHL career with 99 goals, 118 assists and 217 points over 212 regular season contests spent between Windsor and the Ottawa 67’s, who selected him in the fifth-round (86th overall) of the 2018 OHL Priority Selection. Maggio recorded 17 points (7-10–17) in 25 games last spring as the Spits won a Western Conference title and reached Game 7 of the OHL Championship Series.
Maggio recorded an assist with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders in his professional debut on Wednesday night.
The Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the Top Overage Player of the Year as selected by OHL General Managers. Teams were asked to submit a nominee for the award and were not permitted to vote for players from their own hockey club.
First presented in 1984, the Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy was donated by the trainers of the Ontario Hockey League, in memory of the late Leo Lalonde, former Chief Scout of OHL Central Scouting. Leo Lalonde was also formerly the Chief Scout for the Belleville Bulls as well as a scout for the Peterborough Petes.
Maggio is added to a list of other recent recipients of the award that includes Brandon Coe of the North Bay Battalion in 2021-22, Austen Keating of the Ottawa 67’s in 2019-20 and Justin Brazeau of the North Bay Battalion in 2018-19.
2022-23 OHL Awards announcements continue next week when the League recognizes its Matt Leyden Trophy recipient as Coach of the Year.
For an extensive history of OHL award winners, visit ontariohockeyleague.com.
About the Ontario Hockey League
The Ontario Hockey League is a proud member of the Canadian Hockey League which is the world’s largest development hockey league with 60 teams in nine Canadian provinces and four American states. In addition to the OHL, the CHL is made up of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League. The CHL supplies more players to the National Hockey League and U SPORTS than any other league.
OHL Writers 