The league is pleased to announce the Eastern Conference award winners for the 2025-26 season.
2025-26 Eastern Conference Awards
Video below
Russell Masterson Memorial Award (Most Valuable Player)
SAM TONELLI – Fort Erie Meteors
The 4th-year forward from Port Colborne was the league’s top scorer with a career best 88 points, and his 58 assists were tied for most in the league. Drafted by the London Knights in 2021, Sam was named GOHL Player of the Month for January — during which he scored his 200th career GOHL point . He finished the season with 22 career game winning goals — tied for the most in GOHL history.
Brent Rubel Memorial Award (Rookie of the Year)
ALEXANDER FORREST
Cambridge Redhawks
The Kitchener native led all GOHL rookie defencemen with 37 points, which ranked second among all league rookies. The 2nd round pick of the Kitchener Rangers in 2025 had 17 multi-point games — including a season-high 5-point game in October — helping the Redhawks to their first regular season conference title in franchise history. His 15 goals tied a franchise record for most goals in a season by a defenceman. Alexander — a second round pick of the Kitchener Rangers in 2025 — was named GOHL Rookie of the Month for October.
Dave Dunham Award (Most Valuable Defenceman)
RYLAN MASTERSON – Fort Erie Meteors
Rylan is just the second defencemen in GOHL history to win this award in consecutive seasons (Jonah Boria – SCF, 2022 & 2023). In his second season as team captain, Rylan led all Meteors defencemen in assists (25) and points (31). On February 27th, the 5th-year veteran from Niagara Falls became just the 57th player in GOHL history to play in 200 games, and finished his career with 204 games played, 3rd most in Meteors franchise history.
Marty Turco Award (Most Valuable Goaltender)
LOGAN SNYDER – Pelham Panthers
The 2nd-year netminder from Simcoe led all Eastern Conference goalies with 4 shutouts which matched the franchise record he set last season and extending his career franchise record to eight. A Brantford Bulldogs draft pick in 2023, Logan set new franchise records for wins in a season (19-tied), lowest GAA in a season (2.27) and highest save percentage in a season (.936). His efforts helped the Panthers to a 4th-place finish in the Eastern Conference standings — the highest finish for the franchise since 2019.
Cecil Jones Memorial Award (Most Gentlemanly Player)
SAM LOCKYER – St. Catharines Falcons
The first-year forward opened the season with a 10-game point streak and finished second in team scoring with 48 points for his hometown team, helping the Falcons to a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference while accumulating just 14 minutes in penalties. He led the team with 3 shorthanded goals and his 4 game winning goals were tied for most on the team.
Joe Veroni Memorial Award (Best Defensive Forward)
CAMERON FRIES – Cambridge Redhawks
The four-year veteran was second in team scoring for his hometown club with 66 points, highlighted by a 10-game point streak in January-February. His defensive efforts contributed to the Redhawks allowing just 2.3 goals per game. Drafted by the Sarnia Sting in 2022, Cameron had six game winning goals on the season, giving him a franchise record 15 for his career.
Tom Kelly Memorial Award (Coach of the Year)
TODD BERTUZZI – Cambridge Redhawks
In his first season as Redhawks head coach, Todd led the team to a league-best record of 45-5-0-0 — representing a 18-win improvement from 2024-25 for the club. The former first-round NHL draft pick and veteran of 1159 NHL games guided his team to several franchise records, including a 23-game winning streak to start the season — the second longest such streak in GOHL history. The 45 wins tied the GOHL record for most wins in a season.
A representative from each team had the opportunity to submit nominees for their respective conferences and were permitted to nominate players from their own teams. Votes were submitted by representatives from each team for their respective conference awards. Voters were not permitted to cast votes for any nominee from their own team.
