London Knights Sam Dickinson named OHL Defenceman of the Year
One day people may wonder what took National Hockey League teams so long to call his name.
Dickinson was named the Ontario Hockey League Defenceman of the Year on April 24 after putting up the best offensive season by a D-man in London Knights history and also leading the entire league in plus-minus.
Dickinson recorded 91 points in the regular season and was a plus-64.
'It's obviously a huge honour,' said Dickinson. 'I have so many people to thank, from everyone with the London Knights to my teammates to my family.
Dickinson joins a long list of distinguished players and Hall of Famers who have earned the honour.
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Names like Larry Murphy and Al MacInnis headline the Max Kaminsky Trophy over the years.
Dickinson didn't exactly find the position naturally from a young age.
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In fact, he was close to trying to find something else other than hockey to play after being cut from a travel team for the third year in a row.
That's when the coach offered him a pair of goalie pads.
'My journey to get to defence was pretty long,' laughs Dickinson. '(After not making the team) I was told they needed a backup goalie and I figured since it hadn't worked out so far that maybe I'd try out goalie. I was 10 or 11 years old and I was still figuring out whether or not I wanted to play hockey.'
Dickinson stuck it out in net for the entire season and it pushed him in a new direction.
'After my one year of goalie I swore to myself that I'd never strap the pads on again and I've been true to that to this day,' Dickinson admits. 'After that I played defence for a year and then forward for a couple of years and was finally moved back to defence full time when i was 14 or 15.'
Could playing so many positions have led to his high-end ability to see the game?
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'I don't know that I was thinking the game too well at that point,' smiles Dickinson. 'I was just skating around, trying to get the puck and put it in the net.'
An unconventional path but given where that path has taken him, no one would want to change a thing.
Dickinson is the eighth London Knight to be honoured as the league's best defenceman.
The most recent Knight to win the Max Kaminsky trophy was Evan Bouchard in 2019.
Danny Syvret, John Erskine, Bob Halkidis, Rick Green, Rob Ramage and Brad Marsh are the other London names on the trophy.
Marsh and Ramage were co-winners in 1978.
Dickinson and the Knights are preparing for Game 1 of the OHL's Western Conference Championship series on Friday, Apr. 25 at 7 p.m., at Canada Life Place.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at 980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
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