The 2016-2017 AJHL Scoring Champion and winner of the Ernie Love Trophy is Matt Forchuk of the Canmore Eagles. The 20 year-old team captain scored 32 goals, 65 assists and 97 points to capture the scoring title.
Matt Forchuk recorded a league leading 33 powerplay assists and led all AJHL scorers with an average of 1.7 points per game. In 56 games, he was held off the scoresheet only nine times. Forchuk was fifth overall in goals scored (32) and second in assists (65).
Forchuk was awarded as the Viterra AJHL Star of the Game nine times throughout the season. He was also a recipient of the Canalta Hotels Player of the Week Award in October and the Alberta Ford Dealers Player of the Month in September.
The Okotoks, Alberta native completed the regular season on a 13 game point streak totaling 28 points. Eagles teammate Logan Ferguson placed second overall in the AJHL Scoring Race with 94 points (32G, 62A). The Canmore Eagles had three players in the top ten of the AJHL Scoring Race.
Throughout his AJHL career, the third year veteran scored 201 regular season points for the Eagles. Forchuk finished fourth in scoring during the 2015-2016 AJHL season.
Matt Forchuk has committed to Quinnipiac University of the NCAA Division I.
The last Eagle to capture the Ernie Love Trophy was Andy Hyvarinen in 2007-2008 with 101 points in 60 games.
The Canmore Eagles finished the regular season second overall in the Viterra AJHL South Division; their highest placed finish since the 2002-2003 season. The Canmore Eagles will meet the Olds Grizzlys in Round One of the 2017 Gas Drive AJHL Playoffs starting Thursday, March 9th in Canmore.
A complete schedule for the 2017 AJHL Gas Drive Cup Playoffs is available on the AJHL website AJHL.ca. Each of the Round One divisional best-of-five series will begin on Thursday, March 9th. The top seven teams in each division qualify for the AJHL Playoffs with the highest ranked seed awarded home ice advantage.
