Monday, March 18, 2013

Top Scorer Trocheck is Player of Week

Press Release

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that OHL Scoring Champion Vince Trocheck of the Plymouth Whalers is the OHL Player of the Week for the final week of the 2012-13 regular season ending March 17, after leading the league with eight points in three games scoring two goals and six assists with a plus-minus rating of plus-5.

Trocheck earns the weekly honour for the second time this season and closed out the year in dramatic fashion by recording three assists Sunday night against the Windsor Spitfires to overtake the scoring lead with 109 points ahead of Sarnia Sting forward Charles Sarault who finished with 108.  Trocheck’s third assist came on the power play with just 2:36 to play and helped the Whalers to a 4-0 victory.  One day earlier, Trocheck reached the 50-goal milestone becoming just the second player in the league this season to do so following the Sting’s Reid Boucher who finished the season with 62.  He is also the first Whaler in 10 years to score 50 goals following Chad LaRose who netted 61 in 2002-03.  Trocheck combined his milestone goal on Saturday with an assist as part of a 4-3 overtime win over the Spitfires.  His week also included a goal and two assists on Wednesday as second star of an 8-0 win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.   

Trocheck, a 19-year-old from Pittsburgh, PA, is playing in his fourth OHL season and captured the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as Top Scorer in the OHL with 50 goals and 59 assists for 109 points in 63 games.  The Florida Panthers prospect was selected in the third round of the 2011 NHL Draft and won gold with the United States at the 2013 World Junior Championship.  Trocheck is the first member of the Whalers to win the scoring title outright as former Whaler Tyler Seguin shared the honour with Taylor Hall of the Windsor Spitfires with 106 points each in 2010-11.  Trocheck is also just the third American to win the scoring title following Patrick Kane (2007) and Rob Schremp (2006) of the London Knights.

Also considered for the Player of the Week award were Brendan Gaunce of the Belleville Bulls and Matt MacLeod of the Brampton Battalion who each scored five goals and one assist for six point in four games played.  In goal, the Whalers’ Matt Mahalak posted two shutout victories in two starts with a perfect goals-against-average of 0.00 and save percentage of 1.000.


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

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