Mitch Marner – 2016 OHL Regular Season MVP, and now 2016 OHL Playoffs MVP.
With a 1-0 win over Niagara in Game 4, the 2015-16 London Knights just completed the most dominant playoff campaign since the Knights of ten years ago with a 16-2 run en route to an OHL championship. The even crazier part of it is that both losses came in round one versus Owen Sound, as that six-game quarterfinal series victory was followed by three consecutive sweeps in the conference semifinals, conference finals, and OHL finals over the Rangers, Otters and IceDogs respectively — a total of 13 consecutive playoff victories, a new OHL record.
Captain Mitch Marner’s role in the Knights success has been recognized in the form of of Wayne Gretzky 99 Award for Most Valuable Player in the playoffs.
Past Wayne Gretzky 99 Award Winners
- 2015–16: Mitchell Marner, London Knights
- 2014–15: Connor McDavid, Erie Otters
- 2013–14: Robby Fabbri, Guelph Storm
- 2012–13: Bo Horvat, London Knights
- 2011–12: Austin Watson, London Knights
- 2010–11: Rob Mignardi, Owen Sound Attack
- 2009–10: Adam Henrique, Windsor Spitfires
- 2008–09: Taylor Hall, Windsor Spitfires
- 2007–08: Justin Azevedo, Kitchener Rangers
- 2006–07: Marc Staal, Sudbury Wolves
- 2005–06: Daniel Ryder, Peterborough Petes
- 2004–05: Corey Perry, London Knights
- 2003–04: Martin St. Pierre, Guelph Storm
- 2002–03: Derek Roy, Kitchener Rangers
- 2001–02: Brad Boyes, Erie Otters
- 2000–01: Seamus Kotyk, Ottawa 67’s
- 1999–2000: Brian Finley, Barrie Colts
- 1998–99: Justin Papineau, Belleville Bulls
Here are the five best all-time OHL playoff campaigns, ranked by PPG, among players to reach the Finals:
| Player | Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | PTS/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rob Schremp | 2005-2006 | London Knights | 19 | 10 | 37 | 47 | 2.47 |
| Connor McDavid | 2014-2015 | Erie Otters | 20 | 21 | 28 | 49 | 2.45 |
| Mitchell Marner | 2015-2016 | London Knights | 18 | 16 | 28 | 44 | 2.44 |
| Justin Papineau | 1998-1999 | Belleville Bulls | 21 | 21 | 30 | 51 | 2.43 |
| Jason Dawe | 1992-1993 | Peterborough Petes | 21 | 18 | 33 | 51 | 2.43 |
Marner led this list nearly all playoffs long before falling back to 2.44 with a one-point Game 4 (blame some great saves from IceDogs goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic tonight). The full list is available here.
Marner’s slap-pass backdoor feed to Christian Dvorak late in the first period stood up as the game winner in the championship-clinching shutout win for the Knights on Wednesday night. Watch Marner receive the J Ross Robertson Cup below.
https://youtu.be/9pc209-MC2o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNSnusT8KcY
Mitch Marner handed the Cup first to Knights draft pick Jacob Buch, who has battled cancer.
— Ryan Pyette (@RyanatLFPress) May 12, 2016
Between the regular season and playoffs, Marner finishes the 2015-16 OHL season with 160 points in 75 games — a 2.13 PPG, which is tops among OHL players in the 2015-16 regular season plus playoffs.
Marner now enters the Memorial Cup tournament riding a sixteen game points streak.
