Andy Reist celebrates a game-winning goal with Cobourg Cougars teammates Trevor Hoskin and Riley Pitt at the Cobourg Community Centre earlier this season. Reist and Hoskin trail only Ryan Forberg of the Markham Royals in the OJHL scoring race this season. (Photo by Shawn Muir / OJHL Images)
By Ron Valentine
During the 2022-2023 Ontario Junior Hockey League season, one player reached the 100-point mark: Toronto Junior Canadiens’ captain Tyler Fukakusa. He had 105 points in 53 games.
Fukakusa is now a freshman at NCAA Division I RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology). Named Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week on Oct. 9, the reigning OJHL MVP has three goals and five assists in 16 games this season.
The last player to reach the century figure before him was Toronto Patriots captain Andrew Petrucci, who posted exactly 100 points during the 2017-18 campaign. He completed a five-year run at RIT last spring.
This season, the frontrunner to reach the 100-point mark is Ryan Forberg of the Markham Royals. Before the holiday break, he had 66 from 36 appearances including a five-point game and four four-point and six three-point nights.
The 20-year old Thornhill native has a maximum of 20 games remaining to reach that coveted figure, which means he needs 1.7 points per game. It’s not an easy figure to attain but well within reach for Forberg if he stays on his current pace of 1.83 per game. He’s projected to finish with 103 points, according to eliteprospects.com
Two Cobourg Cougars, team captain Andy Reist and Trevor Hoskin look like they also have a good chance.
Reist, a 19-year-old from Waterloo, who will be attending NCAA DI NCAA Niagara University next season, has 59 points from 30 contests. The Cougars have 22 games left so he needs 41 points. He is currently averaging 1.97 per game.
Hoskin, a 19-year-old native of Belleville, has recorded 58 points from 30 games for 1.93 PPG needs 42 more.
Both Cougars missed games representing Team Canada East at the World Junior A Challenge in Truro this month. Hoskin was named to that tournament’s All-Star team.
Trenton Golden Hawks captain Adam O’Marra (58 points in 35 games) and the Royals’ Gavin Rocha (57 in 36) both have 20 remaining games but would have to score better than two points per game.
The only player currently averaging over a pair of points per contest is Markham’s Ben Lalkin, who looked like a lock to reach the century mark early on but has missed several games through injury and while playing at the World Junior A Challenge. The former Ontario Hockey League forward has 52 points in 23 games.
Last season, Burlington Cougars’ captain Jack Richard, now a Niagara University Purple Eagle, cracked the 50-goal barrier, finishing with 53, eight ahead of his nearest rival, Rhys Chiddenton of the Georgetown Raiders, and 11 more than the Jr. Canadiens’ Matthew Wilde. Both are freshmen on NCAA DI scholarships, Chiddenton at Bemidji State in Minnesota and Wilde at RIT.
So far in 2022-23, Lalkin has 30 goals from 23 games, so a goal per game in each of his last 20 will put him at the century mark.
On 29 goals, Forberg will have to net 21 in his final 20 games. David Elmy of the St. Michael’s Buzzers has scored 26 in 33 games so needs 24 in his last 23.
Also with a chance of reaching 50 is Hoskin: 25 scored with 22 games to go. To date, 21 players have scored 20 goals or more. Last season, 18 players reached the 30-goal mark.
The OJHL regular season resumes tonight with two games. The Toronto Patriots visit Minden and the Haliburton County Huskies and St. Michael’s hosts the Stouffville Spirit in Toronto.
Follow Ron Valentine on X @ronandlynda
