Otters’ Labardo OHL Player of the Week

Press Release

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that J.P. Labardo of the Erie Otters is the OHL Player of the Week for the week ending January 20 after leading the league with seven points in two games scoring twice with five assists and recording a plus-minus rating of plus-2.

Labardo recorded a career-high four points on Friday night scoring two goals and two assists as second star despite a 7-6 loss to the Sarnia Sting.  On Saturday night in Saginaw he extended his personal point-streak to five games matching a career-high when he assisted on the first three Otters’ goals Saturday including Stephen Harper’s game-winner claiming third star honours in the 4-2 win over the Spirit.

Labardo, a 20-year-old from Bolton, ON, is playing in his fifth OHL season and first with the Otters.  Currently third in team scoring through 44 games, Labardo has already set new career-highs in all offensive categories this season with 15 goals and 30 assists for 45 points.

Also considered for the award this week was Eric Locke of the Saginaw Spirit and Tanner Richard of the Guelph Storm.  Both players recorded six points last week with Locke scoring four goals and two assists in two games, and Richard scoring three goals and three assists in three games.  In goal, Mathias Niederberger of the Barrie Colts posted a 2-0-0-0 record with a goals-against-average of 2.40 and save percentage of .950 highlighted by a 58-save performance Saturday in a 6-3 win over the Kitchener Rangers.

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