Monday, January 2, 2012

Whalers’ Beau Schmitz Named OHL Player of the Week

Press Release

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that defenceman Beau Schmitz of the Plymouth Whalers is the OHL Player of the Week for the week ending January 1 after scoring four goals and one assist for five points in three games with a league-high plus-minus rating of plus-8.

Schmitz helped the Whalers win three straight games coming off the winter break and becomes the first defenceman in the OHL to claim the award this season.  He also became the first defenceman this season to record a hat-trick when he netted three including the game-winner as first star of a 7-4 win over the Windsor Spitfires on New Year’s Eve.  Earlier in the week Schmitz scored a goal in a 7-3 win over the Saginaw Spirit on Friday night, and recorded an assist as part of a 6-1 win over the London Knights on Wednesday.

Schmitz, a 20-year-old from Howell, Michigan, is playing in his fourth OHL season.  The Whalers’ captain is currently fourth in scoring among OHL defenceman with 31 points in 37 games which includes a career-high 11 goals.  He is also tied for fifth overall with a plus-minus rating of plus-21.

Also considered for the award this week was Andy Andreoff of the Oshawa Generals and Riley Brace of the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors.  Both players picked up seven points in three games with Andreoff scoring once with six assists, and Brace scoring twice with five assists.  In goal, Franky Palazzese of the Kitchener Rangers went 3-0-0-0 with a goals-against-average of 2.00 with a save percentage of .944.

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

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