Wisniewski named OHL Defenceman of the Year

The Ontario Hockey League today announced that James Wisniewski of the Plymouth Whalers is the winner of the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s most outstanding defenceman for the 2003-04 season.

Wisniewski scored 17 goals and 53 assists for 70 points in 50 games to help Plymouth to a 32-24-9-3 record this season. The 20-year-old native of Canton, Michigan recorded 21 multiple-point games, including four-point efforts against the Kitchener Rangers on January 17 and Erie Otters on March 6.

Wisniewski was the Whalers first round pick in the 2000 OHL Priority Selection and was a fifth round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. The Whalers captain was named OHL defenceman of the month in October and March and won a gold medal with Team U.S.A. at the World Junior Championships in Finland in January. Wisniewski was previously named to the OHL’s First All-Star Team. He was an OHL All-Rookie Team member in 2001.

The Max Kaminsky Trophy is awarded each year to the Most Outstanding Defenceman as selected by OHL general managers. Teams were not permitted to vote for their own nominee. Players received five points for a first place vote, three points for a second place vote and one point for a third place vote.

Wisniewski received 53 points in the voting, while runner-up Dennis Wideman of the London Knights received 41 points and Andre Benoit of the Kitchener Rangers was third with 40 points.

Previous winners of the Max Kaminsky Trophy include Denis Potvin (Ottawa 1971-72 and 1972-73), Al MacInnis (Kitchener 1982-83), Chris Pronger (Peterborough 1992-93) and Bryan Berard (Detroit 1994-95 and 1995-96). Brendan Bell of the Ottawa 67’s won the trophy last year. The award is named in honour of Kaminsky, who played 10 years in the National Hockey League before coaching the St. Catharines TeePees to the Memorial Cup in 1960.

Photo: Dan Hamilton / VPS