Author: Dominic Tiano

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that defenceman Will Petschenig of the Saginaw Spirit is the 2015-16 recipient of the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy awarded annually to the OHL’s Humanitarian of the Year.

Petschenig, a 21-year-old from Manotick, ON, made an immediate and lasting impact in the Saginaw community as a member of the Spirit during the 2015-16 campaign creating the program “A Heart Like Mine” with the hope of reaching out to children and families who are grieving the loss of a loved one.

“On behalf of the Children’s Grief Center of the Great Lakes Bay Region and the Saginaw Spirit, I am honoured to receive the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy for OHL Humanitarian of the Year,” said Petschenig. “I would like to thank Charley Porter and the Spirit staff for sharing my vision with “A Heart Like Mine” and Camille Nitschky from Children’s Grief Center for giving me the opportunity to meet some great kids. When we started “A Heart Like Mine”, I wanted to do something to honour my dad, and making kids happy was the best way I could do that. I will continue to stay in contact with the kids and be there for them if they need me. Seeing the kids happy and smiling is what makes me happiest.”

In October, 2013, Petschenig lost his father, Dan, who passed away suddenly at the age of 50.  To honour his father, “A Heart Like Mine” was started to share and create memories with others by offering families the opportunity to enjoy a Spirit game.  Throughout 2015-16, Petschenig personally invited over 30 families to share a unique VIP experience that included free tickets, a pregame dinner with Will, watching warmup from the Spirit bench, access to a behind the scenes tour, Zamboni ride, and a post-game meet-and-greet with Will and his teammates.  Petschenig developed friendships and memories with over 50 kids, ‘Will’s Warriors’, sharing an unfortunate common bond through his program and in his countless hours volunteering at the Great Lakes Bay Region Grief Center.

“Will Petschenig’s “A Heart Like Mine” program with the Saginaw Spirit has been invaluable to our kids at the Children’s Grief Center of the Great Lakes Bay Region,” said Camille Nitschky, Director, Children’s Grief Center of the Great Lakes Bay Region. “He is one of the most outstanding young men I have ever met.  He has connected with our kids at the Children’s Grief Center of the Great Lakes Bay Region in a way that has lifted their spirits, mentored good team building character, taught them how to thrive as an athlete and person and to never give up on their dreams.”

A four-year OHL veteran, Petschenig joined the Spirit in September and was named alternate captain after playing three seasons with the Oshawa Generals where he captured a Memorial Cup title in 2015.  He finishes his OHL career having played in 233 regular season games collecting 11 goals and 48 assists for 59 points including a career-high 22 points in 68 games with the Spirit.  As a member of the Generals, Petschenig was a two-time nominee for the Dan Synder Memorial Trophy.

“On behalf of the entire Saginaw Spirit family, we congratulate Will and his courageous Warriors for winning this award,” said Spirit President and Managing Partner Craig Goslin. “Will exhibits his passion for helping others in so many things he does and has strong values in the overall manner that he makes decisions in his life. We are all very proud of Will and look forward to working with him well into the future, to pass on and continue to help the “Will’s Warriors” kids and “A Heart Like Mine” project.”

Each year the OHL awards a player that has demonstrated outstanding qualities as a positive role model in the community with the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy.  The Ontario Hockey League Board of Governors announced in 2004 that the OHL Humanitarian of the Year award would be renamed in recognition of the former Owen Sound Platers captain, who was twice named his team’s Humanitarian of the Year in recognition of his tremendous efforts in supporting community activities.

Petschenig becomes the first member of the Spirit to earn the award.  Past recipients include Chris Terry and Ryan Hayes who represented the Plymouth Whalers with back-to-back awards in 2009 and 2010 respectively, before Jack Walchessen and Andrew D’Agostini of the Peterborough Petes won in 2011 and 2012.  Ben Fanelli (Kitchener 2013), Scott Simmonds (Belleville 2014), and Nick Paul (North Bay 2015) are the most recent award recipients.

The 2016 OHL Awards Ceremony takes place on Tuesday June 7 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto where Petschenig will be formally presented with the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy.  He will also be the OHL’s nominee for Humanitarian of the Year at the annual CHL Awards presented on Saturday May 28 at the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Red Deer.

2015-16 Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy Nominees:

Barrie Colts – Michael Webster*

Erie Otters – Patrick Fellows
Flint Firebirds – Alex Peters

Guelph Storm – Marc Stevens
Hamilton Bulldogs – Niki Petti

Kingston Frontenacs – Chad Duchesne

Kitchener Rangers – Nick Magyar*

London Knights – Mitch Marner

Mississauga Steelheads – Stefan LeBlanc

Niagara IceDogs – Brent Moran

North Bay Battalion – Mathew Santos

Oshawa Generals – Matt Latin

Ottawa 67’s – Jacob Middleton

Owen Sound Attack – Jacob Busch

Peterborough Petes – Daniel Nikandrov

Saginaw Spirit – Will Petschenig

Sarnia Sting – Patrick White

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds – Zachary Senyshyn

Sudbury Wolves – Conor Cummins

Windsor Spitfires – Patrick Sanvido*

*repeat nominee

Toronto – The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) is pleased to announce the appointment of longtime OHL General Manager and Coach George Burnett as General Manager of the Flint Firebirds and Joe Stefan as the Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Development.  Each have signed three year contracts.

“The League is entrusting George Burnett with the hockey operations of the Flint Firebirds and we believe his experience will provide the players, parents, billets and team staff with stability and expertise,” said David Branch OHL Commissioner.  “Burnett will be backed by a strong team in hockey operations, including Joe Stefan who is well known to Flint Firebirds players and families.”

George Burnett, 54, is a native of Port Perry, ON and has spent his life managing, coaching and playing hockey.  His junior hockey coaching career began with the Oshawa Generals in 1989 and has included coaching in both the AHL and the NHL.  Most recently, Burnett was the Coach and General Manager of the Hamilton Bulldogs and which followed 9 years with the Belleville Bulls. He played for the OHL’s London Knights and the CIS’s McGill Redmen.

“I am excited to be joining the Flint Firebirds organization and dedicating 100% of my time to the management of the team,” said George Burnett. “The Flint Firebirds have a bright and promising future and I look forward to being part of the team and the Genesee County community.”

In addition, the League announced that Joe Stefan is returning to the role of Assistant General Manager of the Firebirds with the added responsibility of Director of Player Development.

Joe Stefan, 50, a native of Brantford, ON began his OHL coaching career with the Plymouth Whalers as an assistant in 2007 after joining the club’s staff as a scout in 2005.  He worked seven seasons behind the Whalers’ bench also holding the title of associate coach.  As a player, Stefan competed for the OHL’s Brantford Alexanders and the Hamilton Steelhawks from 1983-86 before a minor pro career that included four seasons in the IHL and more than 10 seasons in the British National League.

“It is great to be returning to the Flint Firebirds and having the opportunity to work with George Burnett,” said Joe Stefan.  “I look forward to continuing to work with the team, players and families on their ongoing player development.”

An announcement on coaching is expected imminently.

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that New Jersey Devils prospect Mackenzie Blackwood of the Barrie Colts is the 2015-16 recipient of the OHL’s Goaltender of the Year award.

Blackwood played in 43 games this season posting a record of 28-13-0-0 with three shutout victories along with a goals-against-average of 2.72.  He also tied for the league-lead with a .921 save percentage while backstopping the Colts to their second straight Central Division title.

“It is an honour to receive this award considering the amount of great goalies throughout the league,” said Blackwood. “I would like to thank my teammates who battled in front of me all year, my coaches for helping me develop into the player I am today, and the whole Barrie Colts organization for the great opportunities that they have allowed me to experience over the past three seasons.”

The 19-year-old from Thunder Bay, ON, was chosen by the Colts in the fifth round of the 2012 OHL Priority Selection.  He played three full seasons in Barrie and accumulated 84 career wins which ranks second in franchise history behind Brian Finley’s 88 recorded between 1997-2001.  Blackwood becomes the third Colts goaltender to win the award following Finley in 1999, and Paulo Colaiacovo in 2004.

“This is a substantial accolade for Mackenzie; something that he worked hard to achieve over the past three seasons with the Colts,” said General Manager Jason Ford. “He was a virtual unknown; off the radar when we drafted him in 2012, and he has worked on his game on and off the ice diligently to make himself a world class junior goaltender.  As an organization we are extremely happy for him and it’s nice to see him honoured this way.”

During the 2015-16 campaign Blackwood made at least 30 saves in 28 of his games including a season-high 49-save performance on March 4 in a 6-3 road win over the Niagara IceDogs.  The 6’4’’ netminder earned Vaughn OHL Goaltender of the Month honours during November, and was recognized in the annual Eastern Conference Coaches Poll as the second Best Shootout Goalie, while tying for first in the Best Puck-Handling Goalie vote.  This season Blackwood also competed for Team OHL in the CHL Canada Russia Series earning a 25-save shutout before representing Canada at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship.  Selected by the Devils in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft, Blackwood signed his entry-level contract with the club in December.

The OHL Goaltender of the Year is awarded to the league’s most outstanding goaltender as selected by OHL General Managers.  Teams were not permitted to vote for a goaltender from their own hockey club.  Goaltenders received five points for a first place vote, three points for a second place vote and one point for a third place vote.

Blackwood received 49 points in the voting process ahead of runner-up Devin Williams of the Erie Otters who finished with 47 voting points, followed by Carolina Hurricanes prospect Alex Nedeljkovic of the Niagara IceDogs who received 46 voting points.

The award was first presented in 1987-88 to Rick Tabaracci (Cornwall) with other notable winners including Manny Legace (Niagara Falls 1993), Ray Emery (Sault Ste. Marie 2002), Steve Mason (London 2007), the league’s only back-to-back winner Mike Murphy (Belleville 2008-09), Mark Visentin (Niagara 2011), Michael Houser (London 2012), Jordan Binnington (Owen Sound 2013), Alex Nedeljkovic (Plymouth 2014), and Lucas Peressini (Kingston 2015).

Blackwood will be formally presented with the OHL’s Goaltender of the Year Award on Tuesday June 7 at the OHL Awards Ceremony held at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.  He is also the OHL’s nominee for CHL Goaltender of the Year to be announced on Saturday May 28 at the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Red Deer.

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Kris Knoblauch of the Erie Otters is the 2015-16 recipient of the Matt Leyden Trophy awarded annually to the OHL’s Coach of the Year.

Knoblauch guided the Otters to an OHL-best 52-15-1-0 record earning a second straight Midwest Division crown along with the club’s first Hamilton Spectator Trophy as regular season champions since 2001.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever won this award without a general manager or scouting staff gathering a lot of talent, but also more importantly is having good leadership within your room,” Knoblauch said. “I think our older players who have been with us a long time, Nick Betz and Devin Williams, or our captains like Dylan Strome, they are probably more responsible for the team having the success that we had this year.”

With Knoblauch at the helm, the Otters became the first team in OHL history to amass three consecutive 50-win campaigns.  The 2015-16 Otters tied the 2013-14 franchise mark of 52 wins in a season, and set a new franchise record with 27 road wins surpassing the 2014-15 mark of 23.  Since joining the Otters midway through the 2012-13 season, Knoblauch has accumulated a record of 166-68-7-4 for 343 points and a winning percentage of .700.

“This is a well-deserved honour,” said Otters General Manager Dave Brown. “Kris is a great teacher, excellent mentor and exceptional communicator and I think the results speak for themselves with what he has accomplished during his tenure with the Otters.”

Prior to joining the Otters, the 37-year-old from Imperial, Saskatchewan, served behind the bench for the Western Hockey League’s Kootenay Ice as an assistant coach from 2007-10 before taking over head coaching duties from 2010-12 winning the WHL’s Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL Champions in 2011.  He began his major junior coaching career in 2006-07 serving as an assistant coach for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders.  Knoblauch’s playing career included four years in the WHL from 1995-99 before competing five seasons with the University of Alberta from 1999-2004 winning a CIS National Championship in 2000.  Knoblauch was a seventh round pick of the New York Islanders in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.

The Matt Leyden trophy has been awarded annually to the OHL’s Coach of the Year as selected by his peers since 1972.  The award is in recognition of the contributions of Matt Leyden, past President of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1965-67, and former manager of the Oshawa Generals who spent more than 50 years with the team.

In a first round of balloting, teams vote for the top coaches, within their own conference. The top three nominees from both the Eastern and Western conferences are declared finalists. A second round of voting is then conducted on a league wide basis where teams vote for any of the six finalists. At no time during the voting can a team vote for their own candidate. Coaches receive five points for a first place vote, three points for a second place vote and one point for a third place vote.

Knoblauch finished first in the voting process with 73 points, ahead of first year OHL head coaches Rocky Thompson of the Windsor Spitfires who finished in second place with 36 voting points, and Mike Van Ryn of the Kitchener Rangers who finished in third place with 22 voting points.

The first Otters coach to earn the award, Knoblauch follows a list of past Matt Leyden Trophy recipients that includes Sheldon Keefe (Sault Ste. Marie 2015), D.J Smith (Oshawa 2014), Mike Vellucci (Plymouth 2013), Greg Gilbert (Saginaw 2012), Mark Reeds (Owen Sound 2011), Dale Hunter (London 2010), and Bob Boughner (Windsor 2009).  Boughner, Hunter, and Vellucci are among the list of 10 coaches who have won the award multiple times along with Brian Kilrea, Bert Templeton, George Burnett, Peter DeBoer, Gary Agnew, Terry Crisp, and Craig Hartsburg.

The Matt Leyden Trophy will be formally presented to Knoblauch at the 2015-16 OHL Awards Ceremony taking place on Tuesday June 7 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.  He will be the OHL’s nominee for Canadian Hockey League Coach of the Year to be announced on Saturday May 28 as part of the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup.