April 17, 2023, Mississauga, ON – …. Tyler Fukakusa of the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Toronto Jr. Canadiens has been voted the OJHL’s Most Valuable Player for the 2022-23 season, the league announced today.

The Canadiens’ captain was earlier named to the OJHL’s First All-Star Team and as the recipient of the league scoring championship and Most Gentlemanly Player award.

The second-year forward from Mississauga scored 35 goals and added a league-high 70 assists for the regular season champion Jr. Canadiens – while accumulating only 42 minutes in penalties during 53 games. 

Fukakusa’s 105 points were 11 more than the second-best pointgetter, Rhys Chiddenton of the Georgetown Raiders.

During his 88-point rookie campaign in the OJHL, the now 20-year-old Fukakusa committed to NCAA Division I RIT in Rochester, NY.

The 5-foot-10  forward from Mississauga joined the Toronto Jr A Canadiens  in the fall of 2021 after playing with the Toronto Red Wings U18 program in 2019-20.

“We are very proud of Tyler and everything he has accomplished during his time in our program,” said Jr. Canadiens Head Coach Vince Bellissimo, the OJHL’s Coach of the Year. “We had a very special group of 2002s with us at JRC and Tyler was obviously a catalyst for the type of character, dedication and leadership in which we have built our program on.”

“Tyler is a 200-foot player with an abundance of offensive ability. His elite blend of skating, compete and IQ is what separates him. He also has a very good stick and his ability to strip pucks from people or win battles in tight spaces is unmatched at the Jr. A level. We all look forward to watching him at the Division 1 level with RIT and we believe, if he can continue to develop on this trajectory, he will be a very good pro one day.”

General Manager Blake Ricci agrees wholeheartedly. 

“Tyler Fukakusa will go down as one of the best players in Toronto Jr. Canadiens history,” Ricci told the OJHL, “after only getting in two seasons with the program due to his 18-year-old season being cancelled. When we needed a big play or goal, Tyler answered the bell time after time.”

“It is bittersweet for me as this award marks the culmination of Tyler's Junior career. However, I am very excited to monitor his program at the NCAA D1 level of which I am fairly confident that we will see Tyler playing professionally in the not-too-distant future. Congratulations, Tyler!”

Fukakusa has also been honoured for his work off the ice. 

“Tyler has been with us for four summers now,” a district supervisor at Two Men & A Truck wrote in a online testimonial last summer. “Tyler is always at work on time, works hard, has a great attitude and is a leader.  Everyone loves to work with him.  He always exceeds our customers' expectations.”

“It’s a good summer job,” Fukakusa told the OJHL. “I’m going to be busy working out and trying to get on the ice as much as I can in the next few weeks. But whenever I  can get a shift in I will. It’s good on the body, because you’re moving all kinds of furniture.”

Fukakusa will be honoured along with the other OJHL award recipients at a ceremony before Game 1 of the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series in Collingwood this week.

About the OJHL – “League of Choice”

The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the Canadian Junior Hockey League with 22 member clubs. A proud member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Ontario Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL had more than 90 NCAA, U SPORTS, CHL and professional commitments in 2021-22 – including more than 25 NCAA Division I scholarships.

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