Friday, December 7, 2012

GJURICH NAMED SW PLAYER-OF-THE-MONTH

Press Release

The OJHL announced today that Buffalo Jr. Sabres forward Tyler Gjurich has been named the Gongshow Gear South-West Conference Player-of-the-Month for November after leading all OJHL players throughout the month with 22 points in only nine games played.

The 20-year olds performance, including a league-leading 15 goals, helped lead the Jr. Sabres to the top of the West Division standings with a 7-1-1 record on the month, as well as earn a spot on the CJHL Top 20 rankings for the first time in franchise history, currently sitting #10 in the country. Gjurich would record points in eight of his nine games played, notching five points on two occasions; a one goal, four assist performance versus Mississauga and a four goal, one assist outing versus West Division rival Georgetown. He scored goals in six of his nine games during the month, including four power play goals, two shorthanded goals and two game-winners, to jump to the top of the OJHL goal and scoring charts.

Gjurich was honoured when informed of the award, "First off, I need to thank my teammates. Without them, especially my linemates, I could not have had the success I had. Our team had a great month, so to have contributed to that means more than any individual honour. Lastly, it is personally satisfying to have been awarded this great honour being an American playing in a great Canadian junior league."

Jr. Sabres General Manager and Head Coach Michael Peca was pleased to see his star forward receive the well-deserved recognition, "Tyler has been a leader for us all year long. It’s been a pleasure to get the opportunity to coach such a gifted goal scorer like him. I'm not sure I've seen more than a handful of players at the pro level (all levels) shoot the puck like he does. It's incredible. He has become more than just a scorer for us as he has developed into one of our best penalty killers on a team ranked #1 in the OJHL right now. Special kid."

John Carpino of the North York Rangers was runner-up to Gjurich as the OJHL South-West Conference Player-of-the-Month. Carpino posted six goals and thirteen points, including two game-winning goals, in 10 games played for the Rangers during November.

 (Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

No comments: