ECHL

Newfoundland's O'Brien Named ECHL Player Of The Week

Newfoundland's O'Brien Named ECHL Player Of The Week

O’Brien scored five goals and added five assists for 10 points in three games last week.

Nov 30, 2021 by Joe Babik
Newfoundland's O'Brien Named ECHL Player Of The Week

Zach O’Brien of the Newfoundland Growlers is the Inglasco ECHL Player of the Week for Nov. 22-28.

O’Brien scored five goals and added five assists for 10 points in three games last week.

The 29-year-old had four points (1g-3a) in a 6-3 win at Adirondack on Wednesday, added an assist in a 4-2 victory at Maine on Friday and picked up five points (4g-1a) in a 6-0 win at Worcester on Sunday.

A native of St. John’s, Newfoundland, O’Brien is tied for the ECHL lead with 15 assists and is tied for fifth with 21 points in 15 games this season.

O’Brien has recorded 178 points (75g-103a) in 158 career ECHL games with Newfoundland, Wichita and Ontario. In 2018-19, he received the ECHL Sportsmanship Award and was named Most Valuable Player of the 2019 Kelly Cup Playoffs after notching 29 points (16g-13a) in 23 playoff contests, helping the Growlers to the Kelly Cup title. O’Brien has added 106 points (40g-66a) in 226 career American Hockey League games with Toronto, Bakersfield, Binghamton, Chicago, Manchester and St. John’s.

Prior to turning pro, O’Brien tallied 168 points (79g-109a) in 126 career games in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with Rouyn-Noranda and Acadie-Bathurst.

On behalf of Zach O’Brien, a case of pucks will be donated to a Newfoundland youth hockey organization by Inglasco, the exclusive puck supplier of the ECHL. Since beginning its sponsorship of the award in 2000-01, Inglasco has donated more than 45,000 pucks to youth hockey organizations in ECHL cities.

Runner-Up: Josh Dickinson, Toledo (3 gp, 3g, 5a, 8 pts.) and Justin Almeida, Wheeling (3 gp, 6g, 2a, 8 pts.).          

Also Nominated: Patrick Grasso (Adirondack), Gavin Gould (Allen), Hugo Roy (Atlanta), Patrick Polino (Cincinnati), Will Graber (Fort Wayne), Liam Pecararo (Greenville), Yauheni Aksiantsiuk (Idaho), Craig Martin (Jacksonville), Logan Lambdin (Kalamazoo), Nick Pastujov (Kansas City), Logan Nelson (Rapid City), Justin Florek (South Carolina), Anthony Nellis (Trois-Rivières), Jay Dickman (Wichita) and Ross Olsson (Worcester).