BROOKS, AB (February 27, 2017) – Brooks Bandits defenceman Cale Makar (Calgary, AB) has won the Alberta Old Time Hockey Players Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) for the 2016-17 regular season, it was announced today by league commissioner Ryan Bartoshyk.
Makar, 18, is the third Bandit in franchise history to win the award, after Cam Maclise in 2012-13 and co-winner Jarret Granberg in 2008-09.
The 5’10”, 175lb defenceman is projected by NHL Central Scouting as a potential first-round NHL draft pick this coming summer, and sits ninth in the AJHL scoring race with 63 points (19 goals, 44 assists) in 50 games played, leading all defencemen in the league. His 63 points are a franchise record for a defenceman, and he sits 1 goal and 1 assist back of the franchise defenceman records for each of those statistics as well.
Makar was named captain of Team Canada West at the 2016 World Junior A Challenge, and was a member of the gold medal-winning iteration of that squad at the 2015 event.
It’s the second AJHL award trophy for Makar, who was also named the recipient of the Dick White Trophy in the 2015-16 season as league Rookie of the Year after posting 55 points (10 goals, 45 assists) in 54 games in his debut season.
That year, Makar went on to win the CJHL Rookie of the Year Award, was a unanimous selection to the AJHL South All-Rookie team, and one of two defenceman on the AJHL South All-League Team.
He was also named Top Defenceman at the 2016 Western Canada Cup and the 2016 RBC Cup, while also winning the RBC Cup’s Top Scorer and Most Valuable Player awards, and being named to both events’ All-Tournament Teams.
Makar is currently committed to the University of Massachusetts to begin his NCAA hockey career.
He first joined the Bandits as an affiliate player with the Calgary Flames of the Alberta Midget Hockey League (AMHL) in 2014-15, where he dressed in 3 regular season games before joining the team for the entirety of its 20-game playoff run.
He is also a nominee for the league’s W.G. (Bill) Scott Memorial Trophy as Top Defenceman, for which the winner is still to be announced.