Colts’ Athanasiou OHL Player of Week

Press Release

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Andreas Athanasiou of the Barrie Colts is the OHL Player of the Week for the playoff week ending April 7 after leading the league with six points in three games scoring two goals and four assists with a plus-minus rating of plus-5.

Athanasiou helped the Colts build a 3-0 series lead against the Oshawa Generals in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals picking up a point in all three games.  In Game 1 last Wednesday night, Athanasiou had two assists including a set-up of Zach Hall’s overtime winner helping the Colts erase a 3-1 third period deficit to grab the 4-3 victory.  Athanasiou recorded his third straight multi-point effort on Friday night in Game 2 of the series scoring once and assisting on two of Mitchell Theoret’s three goals claiming second star honours in the 4-1 win.  In Game 3 on Sunday night, Athanasiou finished off a terrific individual effort scoring to give the Colts a 4-0 win and their seventh straight playoff victory.   

Athanasiou, an 18-year-old from Woodbridge, ON, is playing in his third OHL season and first with the Colts after playing two seasons with the London Knights that included an OHL Championship one year ago.  Selected in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, Athanasiou had 67 points in 66 games during the regular season and now has 13 points so far in the playoffs with a seven-game playoff point streak.

Also considered for the award this week was Colts’ forward and Winnipeg Jets prospect Mark Scheifele who scored once with four assists for five points in three games, and Edmonton Oilers prospect Daniil Zharkov of the Belleville Bulls who scored two goals and two assists for four points in three games.  In goal, Philadelphia Flyers prospect Anthony Stolarz of the London Knights went 2-0-0-0 with one shutout victory posting a goals-against-average of 0.50 and save percentage of .984 in two games against the Kitchener Rangers.

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