Hamilton Bulldogs clean up in Ontario Hockey League coaches’ poll
Published April 21, 2022 at 5:47 pm
Five Hamilton Bulldogs, including triple-honouree Mason McTavish and hometown defenceman Arber Xhekaj, have earned a first-place finish in their league’s annual coaches’ poll.
The Bulldogs, who began the Ontario Hockey League playoffs with a 5-2 victory against the Peterborough Petes at FirstOntario Centre on Thursday (April 21), have their sights set on bigger hardware. But the OHL regular-season champions also dominated the OHL coaches’ poll, which was released on Thursday. The poll gives coaches the opportunity to recognize the top three players in 20 different skill categories within their own conference.
McTavish, the Anaheim Ducks first-round choice who also wore the Maple Leaf in the Beijing Olympics men’s hockey competition, was rated first in most dangerous in the goal area, best shot and hardest shot in the Eastern Conference. Spending time in the NHL, American Hockey League and international play limited McTavish to 29 OHL games for Peterborough and Hamilton, but he talled 20 goals and 47 points.
Hamilton had a second multiple honouree, through Freelton native and Mississauga Steelheads captain Ethan Del Mastro. The Chicago NHL defence prospect was chosen as the best defensive defenceman and best penalty killer, on the strength of helping the Steelheads finish second to Hamilton for fewest goals allowed.
Bringing it back to the Bulldogs, centre and 100-point scorer Logan Morrison was named the top playmaker. Morrison’s century season included 66 assists, the fifth-most in the league. Morrison also received a second-place nod for the conference’s smartest player, and fellow centre Jan Mysak, a Montreal Canadiens prospect, was voted the second-best faceoff man.
Two-way wing Ryan Humphrey was named the conference’s most underrated player. The 18-year-old from Northville, Mich., was a team-best plus-49, and scored more than 90 per cent of his 62 points at even strength.
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Xhekaj, the overage defenceman, was named the conference’s top bodychecker, marking the second time in a row a Bulldogs player has received the honour. Navrin Mutter, who was part of a Hamilton’s ante to the Kitchener Rangers to add Xhekaj in a deadline deal in January, received the honour in 2019-20.
Mutter was also adjudged the Western Conference’s second-best bodychecker after finishing the season in Kitchener. It was his third top-3 finish in that category.
Defenceman Colton Kammerer was also named the Eastern Conference’s best shot blocker — which was a particular specialty of Bulldogs head coach Jay McKee during his NHL playing days.
Goaltender Marco Costantini was named the second-best puckhandling goalie. Costantini also led the OHL with a 2.32 goals-against average.
Hamilton finished the regular season on a 15-game point streak. That enabled the Bulldogs to set franchise records for wins (51) and points (107), while also scoring the most goals in the league (296) and allowing the fewest (174).
The Bulldogs 1-0 series lead against the Petes will be intact through the weekend, due to booking conflicts at FirstOntario Centre. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is on Monday at 7 p.m., while games 3-4 go back-to-back in Peterborough on April 27-28.
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