IceDogs nominate team captain for top award
Lodnia is Niagara representative for Red Tilson Trophy after leading OHL club with 62 points
One player who started the season with the Niagara IceDogs and one who wrapped up 2019-20 with the team are in the running to be selected as the Ontario Hockey League’s most outstanding player.
Right-winger Ivan Lodnia, who started the season in the American Hockey League with the Iowa Stars, is Niagara’s nominee for the Red Tilson Trophy, while centre Phil Tomasino, who went to the Generals at the trade deadline, is Oshawa’s choice for the prestigious honour.
Lodnia paced the IceDogs on the attack in his overage season, scoring 27 goals and collecting 62 points in 41 games. The third-round selection of the Minnesota Wild in the 2017 National Hockey League draft, 85th pick overall, was named team captain after Akil Thomas was traded to the Peterborough Petes.
Tomasino, whose blockbuster deal restocked Niagara’s depleted draft cupboard with nine picks, put up 43 points in 26 games in the Oshawa lineup on 18 goals, 25 assists. This after netting 22 goals and adding 23 assists in 36 games with the IceDogs.
Each of the league’s 20 teams nominates a player they think is most deserving of an award honouring the memory of Albert (Red) Tilson, the 1942-43 Ontario Hockey Association scoring champion who was killed in action in
Europe during the Second World War.
The award has been presented since 1945 and winners have been selected in a vote by accredited broadcasters and sportswriters who cover the league.
Whoever receives the most votes will be the OHL’s nominee for Canadian Hockey League player of the year honours.
Recent Tilson Trophy recipients include Sudbury Wolves goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukonen, in 2019, Sarnia Sting forward Jordan Kyrou, in ’18, Erie Otters forward Alex DeBrincat, in ’17, London Knights forward Mitch Marner, in ’16, and Erie forward Connor McDavid, in ’15.
Having a mid-season pickup representing a team on the Red Tilson Trophy ballot isn’t all that unusual, especially not in Niagara. Forward Jason Robertson, acquired from the Kingston Frontenacs, and Sam Miletic, from the London Knights, were Niagara’s nominees in 2019 and ’18, respectively.
An IceDog has yet to win the Tilson Trophy in the 22-year history of the franchise, including 13 year, in St. Catharines and nine more in Mississauga.
’DOG BISCUITS: Over-age defenceman Elijah Roberts has committed to taking the sport media program at Ryerson University in Toronto.
The 21-year-old Brampton native played three seasons in Niagara after two years with the Kitchener Rangers, netting 23 goals and collecting 85 assists for 108 points in 294 regular-season games.