[{"id":85080,"date":"2026-05-13T13:36:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/?p=85080"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:36:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:36:29","slug":"rangers-sam-oreilly-claims-wayne-gretzky-99-award-as-ohl-playoff-mvp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/article\/rangers-sam-oreilly-claims-wayne-gretzky-99-award-as-ohl-playoff-mvp","title":{"rendered":"Rangers\u2019 Sam O\u2019Reilly Claims Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as OHL Playoff MVP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kitchener, ON \u2013 <\/strong>Tampa Bay Lightning prospect\u00a0Sam O\u2019Reilly<\/a>\u00a0of the Kitchener Rangers is this year\u2019s recipient of the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as Most Valuable Player of the OHL Playoffs. The award is determined by votes cast by accredited writers and broadcasters covering the Championship Series.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly potted an empty-net goal to seal a 4-2 final in Tuesday\u2019s Game 4 at Sadlon Arena, giving him a club-leading 17 goals and 28 points over 18 playoff games. He won 57.7% of his faceoffs throughout the postseason and was integral in Kitchener producing an outstanding penalty kill that functioned at 88.7%.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly joins former London Knights teammate Easton Cowan (2024) in becoming a dual winner of the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL\u2019s Most Outstanding Player and Wayne Gretzky 99 Award in the same season.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly is the third player in Rangers history to win the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award following Justin Azevedo (2008) and Derek Roy (2003).<\/p>\n

Wayne Gretzky 99 Award winners:
\n2026 \u2013 Sam O\u2019Reilly (Kitchener Rangers)<\/strong>
\n2025 \u2013 Kasper Halttunen (London Knights)
\n2024 \u2013 Easton Cowan (London Knights)
\n2023\u00a0\u2013 Michael Simpson (Peterborough Petes)
\n2022\u00a0\u2013 Logan Morrison (Hamilton Bulldogs)
\n2019 \u2013 Nick Suzuki (Guelph Storm)
\n2018 \u2013 Robert Thomas (Hamilton Bulldogs)
\n2017 \u2013 Warren Foegele (Erie Otters)
\n2016 \u2013 Mitchell Marner (London Knights)
\n2015 \u2013 Connor McDavid (Erie Otters)
\n2014 \u2013 Robby Fabbri (Guelph Storm)
\n2013 \u2013 Bo Horvat (London Knights)
\n2012 \u2013 Austin Watson (London Knights)
\n2011 \u2013 Robby Mignardi (Owen Sound Attack)
\n2010 \u2013 Adam Henrique (Windsor Spitfires)
\n2009 \u2013 Taylor Hall (Windsor Spitfires)
\n2008 \u2013 Justin Azevedo (Kitchener Rangers)<\/strong>
\n2007 \u2013 Marc Staal (Sudbury Wolves)
\n2006 \u2013 Daniel Ryder (Peterborough Petes)
\n2005 \u2013 Corey Perry (London Knights)
\n2004 \u2013 Martin St. Pierre (Guelph Storm)
\n2003 \u2013 Derek Roy (Kitchener Rangers)<\/strong>
\n2002 \u2013 Brad Boyes (Erie Otters)
\n2001 \u2013 Seamus Kotyk (Ottawa 67\u2019s)
\n2000 \u2013 Brian Finley (Barrie Colts)
\n1999 \u2013 Justin Papineau (Belleville Bulls)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kitchener, ON \u2013 Tampa Bay Lightning prospect\u00a0Sam O\u2019Reilly\u00a0of the Kitchener Rangers is this year\u2019s recipient of the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as Most Valuable Player of the OHL Playoffs. The award is determined by votes cast by accredited writers and broadcasters covering the Championship Series. O\u2019Reilly potted an empty-net goal to seal a 4-2 final…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":540,"featured_media":85081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2041],"tags":[{"term_id":2528,"name":"OHL Championship","slug":"ohl-championship","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2528,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1"},{"term_id":2490,"name":"sam o'reilly","slug":"sam-oreilly","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2490,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":21,"filter":"raw","term_order":"36"},{"term_id":841,"name":"all news","slug":"all-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":844,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1317,"filter":"raw","term_order":"604"},{"term_id":1261,"name":"playoff mvp","slug":"playoff-mvp","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1265,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1845"}],"class_list":["post-85080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-ohl-championship","tag-sam-oreilly","tag-all-news","tag-playoff-mvp","category-2041","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/05\/13133617\/KR-OReillyPlayoffMVPWeb-Large.jpeg",1280,720,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/540"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":85073,"date":"2026-05-13T00:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/?p=85073"},"modified":"2026-05-13T00:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:28:15","slug":"game-recap-kitchener-rangers-complete-sweep-crowned-2026-ohl-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-rangers\/article\/game-recap-kitchener-rangers-complete-sweep-crowned-2026-ohl-champions","title":{"rendered":"Game Recap: Kitchener Rangers Complete Sweep, Crowned 2026 OHL Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n

BARRIE, ONT \u2013 <\/strong>The Kitchener Rangers and Barrie Colts were knotted at two midway through the third period, a stalemate broken by Christian Humphreys who tipped-home a Carson Campbell point shot to put the Blueshirts in the lead for good en route to their fifth OHL championship in franchise history.<\/p>\n

OHL Playoff MVP Sam O\u2019Reilly would find the empty net to secure a 4-2 final in front of 4,367 at Sadlon Arena as the Rangers rule the OHL for the first time since 2008, finishing the postseason with a record of 16-2. The J. Ross Robertson Cup title comes 18 years to the day of their last triumph in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a dream come true, it\u2019s been unreal to work with these boys, these kids, we have a great bunch of kids,\u201d said Rangers Head Coach Jussi Ahokas. \u201cHow they committed to everything, all in all they loved to be with each other. Coming to a place where winning is a whole belief, we cherish winning here, it\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Luca Romano and Gabriel Chiarot put the Rangers in the lead 2-0 before Barrie battled back with a beautiful goal off the stick of Emil Hemming. Rookie forward Eamon Edgar\u2019s first of the playoffs knotted the score before the Rangers pulled away in the third.<\/p>\n

Members of the media voted O\u2019Reilly as this year\u2019s winner of the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award after he produced club-leading 28 points (17-11\u201328) over 18 contests. His presence down the middle was integral in helping Kitchener put together an 88.7% penalty kill in the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just extremely grateful for the opportunities i\u2019ve been able to have over the last three years,\u201d said O\u2019Reilly post-game.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rangers outshot the Colts 34-20 as Barrie netminder Ben Hrebik stood tall with yet another 30+ save performance. He rounded-out the postseason with a league-leading 650 saves, maintaining a .922 save percentage accompanied by a 2.66 goals-against average for the Eastern Conference champions.<\/p>\n

Kitchener teammates O\u2019Reilly and blueliner Jared Woolley become the second and third players in OHL history (since 1980) to win three consecutive OHL championships, joining Scott Timmins who won in 2008 with Kitchener followed by back-to-back titles with the Windsor Spitfires in 2009 and 2010.<\/p>\n

Rangers captain Cameron Reid was presented with the J. Ross Robertson Cup by OHL Commissioner Bryan Crawford. Kitchener hoists the J. Ross Robertson Cup for the fifth time following previous titles in 2008, 2003, 1982 and 1981. Their path to supremacy included a four-game sweep of the Saginaw Spirit, five-game series wins over the Soo Greyhounds and Windsor Spitfires before a four-game championship sweep of the Barrie Colts.<\/p>\n

The Colts finished the season as Central Division champions for a second straight year before claiming the Bobby Orr Trophy as Eastern Conference champions, overcoming a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Brantford Bulldogs in seven games. They were missing key forwards in Cole Beaudoin and Joe Salandra to injury throughout the final series. Overage veterans Calvin Crombie, Brad Gardiner and Mason Zebeski played their final OHL contests while fourth-year veteran Kashawn Aitcheson, who has signed an NHL contract with the New York Islanders, likely played his final OHL game.<\/p>\n

The Rangers will chase Canadian Hockey League glory at the 2026 Memorial Cup presented by Kubota Canada set to take place from May 22-31 in Kelowna, British Columbia. They hit the ice on Friday, May 22nd against the host Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League on TSN.<\/p>\n