NEWS

April 29, 2022, Mississauga, ON – ….   The Ontario Junior Hockey League has named Dalton Bancroft of the Trenton Golden Hawks its Most Valuable Player of 2021-22 season, the league announced today. The award was voted on by league general managers and a panel of media members.

“Obviously, pretty special after playing in the league for this long,” Bancroft said, “It’s something you work for.”

“You never really think about it when you’re one of the young guys; that you will have a chance, when you see the guys you play with.  Now, being one of the older guys that the young guys look up to and kind of lean on to learn some stuff, it’s pretty cool to be in those shoes now.”

Bancroft and Brad Somers of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Buzzers shared the OJHL 2021-22 scoring title. Both forwards finished the season with 92 points. Both were captains of their teams. Both were also named to the OJHL’s First All-Star Team.

Bancroft started the season with a flurry, earning OJHL Warrior South-East Conference Player of the Month honours for October and a commitment to NCAA Division I Cornell.

The son of former NHLer Steve Bancroft scored 37 goals and assisted on another 55  while playing in all of Trenton’s 54 games this season. His goals included five while shorthanded and five on the Trenton power play.

The 21-year-old from Madoc split the 2018-19 OJHL season between the Wellington Dukes and Golden Hawks. The 6-foot-2 forward has been in Trenton ever since, save for last year’s COVID-shuttered OJHL season: Bancroft would play with the Amherst Ramblers in the Maritime junior league, scoring 14 goals and assisting on 11 others in 22 games.

“He’s just been unbelievable … a great leader and captain for us,” said Peter Goulet, the Head Coach and General Manager in Trenton. “He learned a lot as the year went on. It’s great to see his growth. He wasn’t set in his ways. He was always willing to listen and learn. I think that’s amazing.”

“I figured he was a (NCAA) DI player when I got here. He did everything we asked: he changed his diet, he changed his work ethic. He didn’t kill penalties for me until this year. He had to learn how to play without the puck and be better defensively. He did all that.”

“I can't say enough about this young man. Where he ends up will be up to him and the work he puts in. But he has a chance to make some money in the game.”

 

Tyler Fukakusa of the Toronto Jr. Canadiens was voted runner-up in MVP balloting. The 5-foot-10 forward from Mississauga joined the Toronto Jr A Canadiens this season after playing with the Toronto Red Wings U18 team in 2019-20. 

His rookie year of junior year was spectacular. Fukakusa was named the OJHL Warrior South-East Conference Player of the Month for February 2022 after he tallied a league-best 27 points during 13 games. 

In March, he committed to the NCAA Division I RIT Tigers  in Rochester, NY beginning with the 2023-24 season. Fukakusa finished the season with 21 goals and a league-best 67 assists in 53 games, tops on the JRC roster. He helped lead them to the OJHL’s overall regular season championship and the South Division title.

Bancroft and the other OJHL award recipients will be honoured during a ceremony before Game 1 of the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series next week. The OJHL is announcing its 2021-22 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.

About the OJHL – “League of Choice”

The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the Canadian Junior Hockey League with 22 member clubs. A proud member of the CJHL and Ontario Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL had more than 125 commitments in 2019-20 – including more than 45 NCAA Division I scholarships.

Photos: OJHL Images