McCARRON NAMED TOP DEFENCEMAN

Press Release

The Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) today announced that Patrick McCarron (photo credit - Mike Ivall/OJHL Images) of the St. Michael's Buzzers has been named the recipient of the OJHL Baycon Construction Top Defenceman Award.

McCarron finished the 2012-13 OJHL season leading all defencemen in scoring with 58 points, despite missing three games while at the World Junior 'A' Challenge.  The lanky rearguard's 49 assists were more than any other defenceman in the league had points and were the fourth best assist total among all OJHL players.

Captaining the Buzzers during his third season with the club, the 6'3", 195 lbs. McCarron finished second in overall scoring on the team, while playing a physical game that included 74 penalty minutes.  Logging heavy minutes on the back-end, he was prominent in the Buzzers allowing just 151 goals against, sixth lowest in the OJHL, as well as scoring 224 goals, tied for fifth best overall.  A leader both on-and-off the ice, McCarron helped the Buzzers capture a second consecutive South Division regular season title with a 37-15-3 record for 77 points, while also tying the South-West Conference champion Buffalo Jr. Sabres with 19 road victories.

Manning the point for the league's sixth best power play unit, McCarron keyed the Buzzer's attack from the back-end, factoring in on 31 of the club's 53 power play goals, including a league-leading 27 power play assists.  He also fired home four power play goals, which tied for eighth in the OJHL among rearguards.

Other highlights of McCarron’s award-filled season include representing Team Canada East and being named an alternate captain for his team at the 2012 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge held in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and being named a member of the South Division All-Stars (McCarron would miss the event) at the Central Canada Cup All-Star Challenge that was held in Wellington, Ontario.  After being named 2nd Team All-Prospect last season, McCarron would earn 1st Team All-Star honours this year and would be named the South-West Conference Gongshow Gear Player-of-the-Month in October.  He is currently committed to join the Cornell University Big Red beginning with the 2013-14 season.

The OJHL Top Defenceman Award is awarded annually to the defenceman adjudged to have demonstrated the greatest all-round ability at his position throughout the regular season.

Chris Raguseo of the Whitby Fury is the runner-up in the OJHL Award balloting to McCarron.

The captain of the Whitby Fury, Chris Raguseo led the club's defensive corps in scoring and finished fifth in scoring on the club with 36 points, ranking eighth among all OJHL defencemen

The OJHL Scholastic Player-of-the-Year and Rookie-of-the-Year Award recipients will be announced next week.

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