Isaac Sooklal of the Haliburton County Huskies shoots during the 2023 OJHL All-Star Skills Competition at Eddie Bush Memorial Arena in Collingwood. The OJHL grad is playing for Wilfrid Laurier University this season. The skills competition and OJHL All-Star Celebration return to Collingwood in January. (Photo by Amy Deroche / OJHL Images)
December 8, 2023, Mississauga, ON – The Ontario Junior Hockey League today announced the details of the second annual OJHL Skills Competition that will be staged during the 2023-24 OJHL All-Star Celebration presented by Dairy Farmers of Ontario.
The weekend event is scheduled for January 12 and 13, 2024 in scenic Collingwood, Ont.
The OJHL Skills Competition will be held Friday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m.
The Skills Competition events will consist of the Hardest Shot, Accuracy Shooting, Fastest Skater, a Speed-Skate Relay and the finale the 18-player Showdown. Points will be awarded for each event to determine which conference’s team reigns supreme in the 2024 OJHL Skills Competition.
In addition, awards will be presented for top individual performances in player categories consisting of Hardest Shot, Most Accurate Shot, Fastest Skater and Top Goalie. Each winner will receive an award, bragging rights and a gift from Dairy Farmers of Ontario.
The Skills Competition will be managed by Top Shot Hockey. The Ontario company operates skills challenges for Junior A, professional and minor hockey leagues. The company, which runs the ECHL all-star skills event, designed and produced the electronic targets used in the accuracy challenge by the NHL at its events in Tampa and San Jose.
Team Mark Giordano won the inaugural event in 2023.
Individual skills event trophy winners were:
- Hardest shot – Luca Fasciano (Toronto Patriots), 92 km/h
- Accuracy shooting – Matt Cato (Trenton Golden Hawks), four targets on seven shots in 13.7 seconds
- Fastest skater –Tyler Fukakusa (Toronto Jr. Canadiens), 12.94-second lap
- Top goaltender – Noah Pak (Collingwood Blues), stopped eight of nine shots
The participants for each skills competition event will be selected by the coaches of each team and will be announced in early January just prior to the All Star Celebration.
Saturday’s schedule will kick off with the OJHL Alumni Game at 10:30 a.m, followed by the Hudl-Instat OJHL Prospects Game at 1 p.m, which will feature the league’s top players born in 2006 and 2007.
The main attraction, the OJHL All-Star Game, will start at 5 p.m. and feature the top players from around the 24-team league as selected by the league’s Competition Committee.
Tickets for the OJHL All-Star Celebration will go on sale next week.
All net proceeds from the weekend events will go to the OJHL Foundation, which focuses on delivering the First Assist Program to aid players with mental health and life skills training.
More information on the event, including ticket sales, rosters and coaches for the three games and skills competition, will be released in the coming weeks.
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 24 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 has had more than 40 commitments to 40 NCAA Division I scholarships already this season.
About the Dairy Farmers of Ontario – “Milk Up”
Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) is the marketing board for the largest sector of Ontario agriculture. Their mission is to provide leadership and excellence in the production and marketing of Canadian milk for a dynamic, profitable growing dairy industry. Ontario’s more than 3,400 dairy farmers, their families and employees are proud to produce high-quality milk for Canadians. For more information, visit www.milk.org.
