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Windsor Spitfires’ center Wyatt Johnston could become just the second player in franchise history to capture three major Ontario Hockey League awards.
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The 18-year-old Johnston has already secured the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the league’s top scorer. On Wednesday, Johnston was named one of two finalists for the Red Tilson Trophy, which is voted on by the media and goes to the league’s Most Outstanding Player. He was also announced as one of two finalists for the William Hanley Trophy as the league’s Most Sportsmanlike Player.
The only player in franchise history has won three major league awards is former captain and two-time Memorial Cup champion Ryan Ellis. In 2010-11, Ellis won the Red Tilson Trophy along with the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the league’s top defenseman and the Mickey Renaud Captain’s Trophy.
Normally, there are three finalists for each award. However, due to an unbalanced schedule caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the league named a Western Conference finalist and an Eastern Conference finalist for many awards including Belle River’s Brett Brochu. The London Knights’ netminder was named one of two finalists for Jim Rutherford Trophy as OHL Goaltender of the year, which is named after the former Spitfire general manager.
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A first-round pick by the NHL’s Dallas Stars last year, Johnston would be just the fourth player in franchise history to win the Red Tilson Trophy along with Ellis, Ernie Gooden (1980-81) after he scored a league record 87 goals, which remains a single-season league record, and goaltender Glenn Hall (1950-51).
North Bay overager Brandon Coe, who finished fifth in the league scoring behind Johnston with 101 points, is the Eastern Conference nominee.
“Being nominated for the most outstanding player is definitely a pretty good feeling based on how many great players there are in this league,” said Johnston, who played in all 68 games and had 124 points on the season while picking up just 26 penalty minutes .
“It would be very cool to have my name on the same trophy as the past winners with many of them becoming prominent NHL players.”
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The only other Spitfire in league history to win the William Hanley Trophy was Kyle Wellwood, who had 100 points in 2002-03 and did not record a single penalty minute during the season. Kingston’s Shayne Wright is the Eastern Conference nominee for the award. He had 94 points in 63 games while picking up 22 penalty minutes.
“It would be cool to join Kyle Wellwood as the second Spitfire to win the most sportsmanlike award,” Johnston said. “Windsor has a great history, so it would be cool to do something that only one other player has done.”
The 19-year-old Brochu was having an outstanding campaign before an ankle injury forced him to miss the final 19 games of the regular season.
He still finished with a 29-11-2-0 record with a 2.75 goals-against average and .911 save percentage.
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“It’s definitely a great honor being recognized for such a special award,” said Brochu, who was a member of Canada’s world junior team.
Brochure is up against Hamilton’s Marco Costantini, who is the Eastern Conference nominee, for the award. Brouchu would be the first goalie from Essex County to win the award since Amherstburg native and former Spitfire Mikey DiPietro claimed it in 2017-18.
The only other player with area ties up for an award is Hamilton’s Nathan Staios. The former Spitfire first-round pick is up for the Max Kaminsky Trophy after leading all league defensemen in scoring with 66 points in 59 games. Sault Ste. Marie’s Ryan O’Rourke is the Western Conference nominee for the award.
Award winners will be announced throughout the month of May.
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