Hard work pays off for Cirelli
Memorial Cup hero named newest Oshawa Generals captain
Woodbridge native Anthony Cirelli has been named newest captain of the Oshawa Generals.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
For Oshawa Generals head coach Bob Jones, it was an easy decision.
“I think there’s numerous reasons why we chose him,” he says of Anthony Cirelli, who was recently named the club’s captain. “We like his character, we like his work ethic. He’s a very likeable guy, he’s very good in the community. Overall, his biggest strength is there are no weaknesses in his character or his game.”
And it’s that strength in both character and game that have gotten Cirelli, a Woodbridge native, to where he is today, from AA minor midget hockey player to Memorial Cup winning, NHL-drafted, captain of an OHL team in just over a year.
You think it’s crazy? Just ask the young 18-year-old.
“It feels a little bit surreal here, over what’s happened in the past two years, but I’m just going to take it and go with it and see where it leads me,” Cirelli says.
At the start of last season, Cirelli went from being a fairly unrecognized free agent, playing for the minor midget AA Mississauga Chargers, to breaking the Oshawa Generals roster with an impressive performance at training camp.
Throughout last season, Cirelli would garner 13 goals and 23 assists in the regular season to help Oshawa on their way to the OHL Championships. And everyone remembers the Memorial Cup.
Not only would Cirelli net the tieing goal to send the final game to overtime with the Kelowna Rockets, the game winning goal would also find its way into the back of the net off his stick.
His 2015 performance would play a significant factor in his being drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the third round of last’s year NHL Entry Draft.
He’s kept the momentum going this season, which has seen Oshawa pushing through their first year of a big rebuild. Cirelli currently leads the team with 41 points (13 goals and 28 assists).
“I think he’s been our best player each and every game that he’s worn that C,” Jones said.
Cirelli follows Josh Brown, who captained last year’s historic team, and Michael Dal Colle, who led the team through the first part of the season before being traded to the Kingston Frontenacs at the start of 2016.
“It’s a huge honour to be the captain of this team,” he says. “A lot of great players have worn the C in this organization and it’s just a huge honour to be the leader of this team.”