Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that forward Taylor Hall of the Windsor Spitfires is the Boston Pizza OHL Player of the Week for the week ending May 10. Hall scored three goals and one assist for four points in three games with a plus-minus rating of plus-3 and was named the recipient of the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the Most Valuable Player of the OHL Playoffs.
Hall and the Spitfires capped the 2008-09 season Friday night winning the J. Ross Robertson Cup with a 2-1 overtime win in game five of the Rogers OHL Championship Series over the Brampton Battalion. In the final game, Hall assisted on the first Spitfires goal by Dale Mitchell at 13:06 on the power play during the second period. After the Battalion tied the game with a late third period goal, it was Hall that scored the series-clinching goal on the power play at 2:09 of the extra frame as second star of the game. Earlier in the week Hall was named second star for scoring two goals in game three of the series Monday night despite the 4-2 loss to the Battalion. The Spitfires will compete at the 2009 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Rimouski, Quebec. They will play their first game on Saturday May 16 at 4:30 pm against the QMJHL Champions. The tournament begins Friday May 15 at 7:00 pm featuring the host Rimouski Oceanic and the WHL Champion Kelowna Rockets.
Hall, a 17-year-old from Kingston, ON, is in his second OHL season with the Spitfires. He led the OHL in playoff scoring with 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 20 games. Eligible for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Hall wins the award for the third time this season. He was previously recognized for the week ending March 22 and October 26.
Also considered was Andrei Loktionov of the Spitfires who also recorded four points in three games with two goals and two assists. He was named first star of the 4-1 game four win over the Battalion Wednesday night scoring two goals. He finished second behind Hall in playoff scoring with 33 points including 11 goals and 22 assists. Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battalion scored two goals and one assist in three games to finish the playoffs with 31 points including 11 goals and 20 assists in 21 games. In goal, Andrew Engelage of the Spitfires posted a 1.99 goals-against-average and a .944 save percentage in three games, highlighted by a first star performance in the series deciding game Friday night with 37 saves.
2008-09 Boston Pizza OHL Players of the Week
