Saturday, March 26, 2011

CJHL PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE ANNOUNCED

Press Release

The Ontario Junior Hockey League today announced that Zach Hyman of the Hamilton Red Wings has been selected as the league’s nominee for the annual RBC Canadian Junior Hockey League Player of the Year Award in conjunction with Hockey Canada.

Hyman will be one of 10 finalists (one from each member league of the CJHL) in the running to be named the RBC Canadian Junior Hockey League Player of the Year. The award will be presented during the 2011 RBC Cup being held in Camrose, Alberta. Trent Walford of the Newmarket 87’s is the only previous OJHL winner of CJHL Player of the Year, earning the award in 1995-96 after leading the entire country with a 142 point season and 2.84 points/game.

During his third season in the OJHL, Zach Hyman was one of the league’s top scorers throughout the regular season recording 102 points. He would accomplish all this while playing in just 43 games for a points-per-game average of 2.37, one of the top scoring averages in the entire CJHL.

Hyman entered the 2010-11 season as the Red Wings’ captain, scoring ace and the only NHL drafted player in the OJHL, after being selected in the 5th round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, 123rd overall, by the Florida Panthers. Attending the Panthers rookie camp last summer, he would be named the OJHL’s October Player-of-the-Month after recording 27 points in only 10 games played. Finishing second in OJHL scoring with 102 points, Hyman earned North-West Conference 1st All-Star Team honours, as well as being named the OJHL’s Most Gentlemanly Player. All this was accomplished despite missing seven games during the month of November while helping Team Canada East capture the silver medal at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge in Penticton, B.C. Hyman recorded two goals and five points throughout the tournament to finish third in scoring on Canada East and was named Player of the Game during his team’s impressive 4-3 quarter-final victory over Russia.

The 18-year old’s career has exemplified hockey excellence, academic achievement and community involvement. Recently graduating as a high school honours student from the prestigious Tanenbaum CHAT (Anne & Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto), he finished with a 94% average and as an Ontario Scholar. His combination of education and athletic ability, twice being named his high school club’s MVP and once as his school’s Athlete of the Year, has enabled Hyman to receive a full athletic scholarship to attend Ivy League school Princeton University beginning in the fall of 2011, where he plans to study business or medicine while continuing his hockey career.

Away from the rink, the gifted Hyman has already written a series of three children stories, entitled ‘The Magic in Me.’ The stories encourage children to believe in themselves and their abilities, and show that by working hard to make their dreams come true; they can achieve almost anything they set their minds to. The first in the series, “Hockey Hero,” was published this year and is available at certain bookstores throughout Ontario and the United Sates. The second, “The Bambino and Me,” is currently being illustrated and is schedule to be published later this year.

Helping children has never been a chore for the young man and he takes pride in using his abilities to help others. Along with writing the children’s stories, Hyman has donated numerous hockey books to the Florida Panthers Children’s Foundation and works directly within his community as a volunteer, promoting the importance of literacy by reading his book(s) to children in hospitals and elementary schools.

Congratulations to Zach on the nomination and best of luck with all his future endeavours on and off the ice.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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