Saturday, February 4, 2012

PUCCIARELLI NAMED PLAYER OF MONTH

Press Release

The OJHL announced today that Newmarket Hurricanes goaltender Jason Pucciarelli (photo credit - Craig Campbell/HHOF) has been named the Gongshow Gear North-West Conference Player-of-the-Month after posting a 6-1 record throughout the month of January.

Pucciarelli helped the North Division leading Hurricanes to a 9-2 overall record during the month to maintain their overall lead in the North-West Conference. The lanky netminder’s totals included a 1.57 goals against average and a .938 save percentage, while allowing only 11 goals in his seven starts. Four of Pucciarelli’s six wins took place against division rivals, topped by a 34 save, 2-1 victory over the Aurora Tigers. The totals improved his overall record to 15-3-3 with a 2.22 goals against average, fifth best in the league, and a .933 save percentage, eighth among all OJHL netminders.

Pucciarelli was quick to credit his coaches and teammates when informed of the honour, “It’s an honour to be chosen as the North-West Player of the Month for January. There are some great players throughout the league so being recognized is a big accomplishment for me. I feel my season this year has gone well so far. Newmarket has been a great environment for developing my game and defensively we have been excellent which really makes playing my best game that much easier. Our time off over the winter break let us get some rest and come out playing fresh in January which accumulated some big wins for our team. The staff in Newmarket has been excellent with making sure we have everything we need and that we are prepared for every game so we can give our best performance every night.”

Hurricanes General Manager and Head Coach Brian Perrin explained Pucciarelli’s importance to the club, “We are pleased that we have two quality goalies in Jason Pucciarelli and Matt Wintjes. With Matt being injured recently it gave Jason an opportunity to play a majority of the games in January and he played extremely well. Jason has worked hard all season and has played well throughout. With being selected to Team Canada East, Team North for the Central Canada Cup and now the North-West Player of the Month, he has made us proud that he is a member of the Newmarket Hurricanes.”

Stephen Genua of the Georgetown Raiders was runner-up to Pucciarelli as the North-West Conference Player-of-the-Month. The third-year forward recorded 17 points in 7 games played, helping lead the Raiders to first place in the West Division.

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

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