Thunder Bay, ON – It was a massive step forward for Paddington this season as he more than tripled his point total from the year before. The ‘05 from Thunder Bay entered the season with 23 points in 48 career games played. He would explode onto the scene scoring 70 points in a 49 game span, a total that was good enough for 2nd in the league behind only his teammate Edison Weeks. Of those 70 points, 32 came from goals which was also 2nd in the league behind only Owen Riffel of the Sioux Lookout Bombers. Paddington was a very consistent player scoring at least 9 points in every month that had a full slate of games. EJ also picked up a couple honorable mentions for Forward of the month, often battling it out with his own teammates to try and secure the award. Having turned 19 last month Paddington has more time left in junior hockey and if he continues the improvement shown this year the sky is truly the limit for the SIJHL’s Most Improved Player.
Honorable mention for SIJHL Most Improved Player goes out to Red Lake Miners’ Luke Decorby and to Dryden GM Ice Dogs’ McLaren Paulsen who were also finalists for this award.