OHL Player of the Week - Cole Cassels

Toronto, ON - The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Vancouver Canucks prospect Cole Cassels of the OHL Champion Oshawa Generals is the Pioneer Energy OHL Player of the Week for the playoff week ending May 17 scoring three goals and six assists for nine points in three games.

Cassels helped the Generals capture their record 13th Robertson Cup title and first since 1997 in a five-game series win over the Erie Otters in the 2015 Rogers OHL Championship Series. Cassels recorded points in all five games against the Otters highlighted by three-straight multi-point performances to end the series. He earned third star honours with two goals in Game 3 of the series last Monday night in Erie despite a 4-3 loss, then helped the Generals take a 3-1 series lead back to Oshawa scoring the overtime winner plus two assists as first star of a 6-5 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday. He finished the series by matching a career-high with four assists as part of the 6-2 victory in Game 5 on Friday night securing a berth in the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup for the Generals who open the championship on Saturday May 23 against the Rimouski Oceanic.

Cassels, a 20-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, played all four of his OHL seasons with the Generals who selected him in the first round of the 2011 OHL Priority Selection. A third round pick of the Canucks in the 2013 NHL Draft, Cassels tied for second in OHL playoff scoring with 10 goals and 21 assists for 31 points in 21 games after recording a career-high 81 points in 54 games during the regular season.

Also considered for the award this week was 2015 NHL Draft top prospect Connor McDavid of the Erie Otters who captured the Wayne Gretzky '99' Award as Playoff MVP with 49 points in 20 games including two goals and four assists for six points in his final three games. Additionally, Los Angeles Kings prospect Matt Mistele of the Generals scored three goals and two assists for five points in three games. In goal, the Generals' Ken Appleby made 82 saves in the final three games of the Rogers OHL Championship Series posting a 2-1 record with a goals-against-average of 3.56 and a save percentage of .882.