Colts’ Kevin Labanc wins OHL scoring title

Kevin Labanc of the Barrie Colts is officially crowned the 2015-16 Ontario Hockey League scoring champion.

The San Jose Sharks prospect earns the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy along with the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy which is awarded to the league’s Top Scoring Right Winger.

Labanc scored 39 goals and 88 assists for 127 points in 65 games to lead all OHL players while setting a franchise single season points record.

The 20-year-old from Staten Island, NY, recorded 42 multi-point games during the 2015-16 campaign and surpassed his own Colts record for assists in a season helping Barrie capture their second straight Central Division title.

He becomes just the second member of the Colts to win both awards following Sheldon Keefe in 1999-2000 who previously held the club’s single season scoring mark with 121 points in 66 games.

Labanc was originally chosen by the Colts in the sixth round of the 2011 OHL Priority Selection before joining the club in 2013.  The three-year veteran played in 198 career games accumulating 269 points which ranks fourth among Barrie’s all-time greats.  Labanc recently signed his entry-level contract with the Sharks who chose him in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL Draft.

The Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy was donated by the Toronto Marlboro Athletic Club in memory of Eddie Powers and was first awarded in 1945-46 to Tod Sloan of St. Michael’s who scored 79 points in 25 games.  Dylan Strome of the Erie Otters was last year’s recipient with 129 points in 68 games scoring 45 goals and 84 assists.  Other notable winners include Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin who tied for the league’s scoring title before being chosen first and second overall respectively in 2010, while fellow first overall NHL picks John Tavares (2009), and Patrick Kane (2007) are also recent winners.

The Jim Mahon Trophy was first presented following the 1971-72 season by the players and management of the Peterborough Petes in memory of their right winger Jim Mahon who was accidentally killed that summer.  Mitch Marner of the London Knights was last year’s recipient with 126 points in 63 games scoring 44 goals and 82 assists.

Check out highlights of Labanc’s January 2 performance matching a franchise record with seven points against the North Bay Battalion: