The Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) today recognizes the Western Conference All-Stars and All-Rookie teams for the 2021-22 regular season.
The forward unit includes the Hugh McLean Award winner as Top Scorer in the Western Conference & CHOK Award for Western Conference MVP in Jeff Burridge of the London Nationals. The London native returned to the GOJHL in 2021-22 and had a massive season as captain of his hometown squad netting 31 goals and 50 assists for a 81 points this season. He is joined by a pair of Chatham Maroons in Lucas Fancy & Cameron Symons who were first and second in points total for the Maroons with 65 & 59 points respectively this season.
On defence, the Western Conference is represented by Owen McGowan of the London Nationals & Spencer Lecot of the Lasalle Vipers. Lecot had 33 points on the campaign which included 5 powerplay goals and two game-winners for the Vipers. McGowan did a bit of everything for the Nationals as he had 10 goals and 32 assists this season with 4 powerplay goals and a pair of game-winners himself.
The Western Conference All-Star Goaltender is Ryan Polidori of the Leamington Flyers. While the Flyers had some heavy power from the younger members of their forward unit, the veteran presence of Polidori was on display all season long with his 23-7 record this season with a 2.35 GAA & .927 SV%.
Congratulations to all of this season’s Western Conference All-Stars
The 2021-22 Western Conference All-Rookie Team was dominated by the young talent of the Leamington Flyers on the forward unit. The trio of Flyers were the top three scorers for a Leamington team that would finish in the top spot in the regular-season standings. Connor MacPherson would take the top point total on the squad with 57 points in his 48 games played this season including an even point distribution of 27 goals and 30 assists, He was named the winner of the Southland Insurance Award as Rookie with the Most Points & Roy Bruhlman Memorial Award for Western Conference Rookie of the Year this season. He is joined by his brother Ryan MacPherson who had 52 points this season with 14 goals and 38 assists, this included 9 powerplay assists and 5 game-winning goals this season. The Flyers trio is rounded out by Gavin Grundner who also recorded 52 points this season with a team-leading 29 goals this season including 4 game winners of his own. It’s clear to see the future of the Flyers offence is well situated.
On the back end, Noah Szabo had an impressive first season for Chatham as he tied for the team lead in defensive points with 29 which included 23 assists. The steady threat on the back end for the Maroons is a force to keep an eye on for years to come. He is joined by Oliver Bonk of the St. Thomas Stars who had 5 goals and 27 assists including 4 powerplay goals this year. The 6’1 defenceman was also named the CIMCO Refrigeration Award winner as the Most Outstanding First Year Defenceman.
In between the pipes for the Western Conference All-Rookie team is Owen Flores of the London Nationals. To say it was a busy season for the London netminder would be an extreme understatement as he was spectacular in the Nationals crease this year with a 12-2-0 record and a .928 SV% and 2.20 GAA but he also split his time with the London Knights in the latter half of the season when they had a shortage of goaltenders and continued his solid play at both levels.
Congratulations to all of this season’s Western Conference All-Rookie Team members.