The Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) today launched the third annual Fan Favourite Award balloting.
The Fan Favourite Award was presented for the first time following the 2011-12 season and see’s OJHL fans vote online to choose their favourite OJHL star. All fans will be allowed to submit players names in an online form found on the homepage of the OJHL website, www.ojhl.ca. The winner will be the player that receives the most submissions (votes) through the course of the online voting.
Voting begins today (January 30, 2014) and will run throughout the playoffs, ending at 5pm EST on Monday, March 31, 2014. The winner of the third annual Fan Favourite Award will be unveiled prior to game one or two of the OJHL Championship Series during the 4th Annual OJHL Awards Ceremony.
Once again this year, the award will be presented to the winning player by a selected fan from the winning player’s city, on-ice, during the award ceremony prior to game one or two of the OJHL Championship Series.
Through two seasons of voting, almost 40,000 votes have been cast for more than 350 players representing all OJHL member clubs during this time. Previous OJHL Fan Favourite Award recipients (runner-up in brackets): 2011-12 Andrew Doyle, Stouffville Spirit (Christian Finch, Stouffville Spirit) 2012-13 Travis Dermott, Newmarket Hurricanes (Adrian Ignagni, St. Michael's Buzzers) As the end of the 2013-14 OJHL regular season approaches, other annual awards remain in competition.
All OJHL year-end awards are voted upon by the OJHL Awards Committee, that is comprised of a select group of eight General Managers (two/division) and twelve Media Members (three/division).
2013-14 OJHL Awards in competition are as follows (last season's winner in brackets/italics):
Most Valuable Player (Tyler Gjurich, Buffalo Jr. Sabres)
Goaltender-of-the-Year (Charlie Finn, Kingston Voyageurs)
Baycon Construction Top Defenceman (Patrick McCarron, St. Michael's Buzzers)
Rookie-of-the-Year (Tyler Gjurich, Buffalo Jr. Sabres)
Top Prospect - Selected by NHL Central Scouting (Matt Buckles, St. Michael's Buzzers)
Most Gentlemanly Player (Dean Klomp, Lindsay Muskies)
Coach Canada Most Improved Player (John Carpino, North York Rangers)
Coach-of-the-Year (Michael Peca, Buffalo Jr. Sabres)
Executive-of-the-Year (Michael Peca, Buffalo Jr. Sabres)
Trainer-of-the-Year (Jack Williams, Buffalo Jr. Sabres)
Humanitarian-of-the-Year (Tyler Feaver, Whitby Fury)
Scholastic Player-of-the-Year (Jordan Dunin, Newmarket Hurricanes)
Top Scorer (Tyler Gjurich, Buffalo Jr. Sabres)
Top Goaltender - Lowest Goals Against Average (Charlie Finn, Kingston Voyageurs)
Playoff Most Valuable Player (Shane Conacher, St. Michael's Buzzers)
1st & 2nd OJHL All-Star Teams
1st & 2nd OJHL All-Prospect Teams
The OJHL Awards will be unveiled throughout the course of the playoffs with the first awards, Top Scorer and Top Goaltender announced immediately following the completion of the regular season based on final regular season statistics.