ST. MIKE’S SOMERS, TRENTON’S BANCROFT SHARE OJHL SCORING TITLE
April 11, 2022, Mississauga, ON – …. Dalton Bancroft of the Trenton Golden Hawks and Brad Somers of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Buzzers will share the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s 2021-22 scoring title, the league announced today.
Both forwards finished the season with 92 points. Bancroft picked up a goal and an assist in Trenton’s final game to create the tie.
It’s the second straight time there have been co-recipients. Kyle Bollers of the Brantford 99ers and Harrison Israels of the Oakville Blades shared the honour after each netted 86 points during the 2019-20 season. Bollers now plays at Ryerson University while Israels is at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The 2020-21 OJHL season was cancelled due the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bancroft started the season with a bang, earning OJHL Warrior South-East Conference Player of the Month honours for October and a commitment to NCAA Division I Cornell.
Somers won the same monthly award for December.
Both are captains of their teams.
Bancroft, the son of ex-NHLer Steve Bancroft, has gotten his share of goals, starting with his first rep teams at the DD level in Madoc.
“At that age, you’re either scoring 10 goals a game or none at all,” he said with a laugh. “We had the big population of 1,500 people.”
Bancoft graduated to the Quinte Red Devils AAA program in his second year of atom, eventually playing on a Quinte U16 team that had 12 players selected in the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection. That group included former Wellington Duke Zach Uens, who signed with the Florida Panthers out of college this spring
“My first year in this league, as a 17-year-old, you don't get as many chances or play as much as guys like me now, a fourth-year player,” he said. “The first year was a learning curve. Just trying to play the body, be a role, depth player. As I’ve moved through junior, the points just started to come.”
There’s no trade secret behind Bancroft’s shot that produced 37 goals this season.
“Like everyone, we’re training throughout the summer,” he said. “All the usual stuff; on the ice twice a week and moved it up to four times later on. Everyone’s on rollerblades. Did a lot of that and hands’ work in parking lots – wherever I could find pavement in Madoc.”
Somers was not available for comment.
Bancroft and Somers will be honoured along with the other OJHL award recipients at a ceremony before Game 1 of the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series in early May. The OJHL is announcing its 2021-22 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
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 CJHL 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 125 commitments in 2019-20– including more than 45 NCAA Division I scholarships.
