AURORA’S JENN VAICUNAS NAMED OJHL TRAINER OF YEAR
April 19, 2022, Mississauga, ON – …. The Ontario Junior Hockey League has named Jenn Vaicunas of the Aurora Tigers the league’s Trainer of the Year for the 2021-22 season, the league announced today.
Vaicunas has been an OJHL trainer for 22 years She spent five seasons with her hometown Newmarket Hurricanes before moving to the “arch-rival” Tigers.
Vaicunas, Aurora Head Coach Greg Johnston and Collingwood Blues trainer Lindsey O’Neil made headlines in February after they helped save a man who suffered a heart attack while playing shinny before an OJHL game in Collingwood.
Vaicunas, who owns the BodyCheck Clinic in Newmarket, has worked in the industry for 25 years. She’s a graduate of The Canadian College of Massage and Hydrotherapy with several accreditations including Level 3 hockey trainer.
With three older hockey-playing brothers, she grew up a fan of the game but never played. Her entry into the OJHL came by chance.
She was treating former NHLer Brad Selwood, who was head coach/general manager of the Hurricanes, in 2000. He convinced her to take the assistant trainer’s job with his team but when she showed up on Day 1 she was thrust into the role as head trainer.
“Brad said ‘the bench is yours’,” she recalls. “And I haven’t looked back since.”
“I love it and I know I help the players. I love them. It’s like having 24 brothers around. And I get to use my brain every day and that’s important, too.”
“I love the thrill of it. I love knowing that I make a difference.”
Highlights with Aurora have included a trip to Russia in 2005 and the 2007 Royal Bank Cup title.
“That’s wrecked me for hockey forever, when you compare everything else to (winning the national championship).”
Vaicunas has been selected by the OJHL to work its combine and all-star events – “to work with the best
“I’ve made some really good friendships across the league over the years, “ she said.
Vaicunas and the other OJHL award recipients will be honoured during 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.
