Tryfon purchased the Newmarket Hurricanes and moved them to Milton four years ago. He is the president and governor of the franchise.
“For what we’ve accomplished as a group in such a short period of time, I’m proud of it,” Tryfon told the OJHL. “The foundation we set out to put together, in terms of making Milton a destination where players want to play and we’re competitive and putting together a strong program? That seems to have rooted and taken hold, so I’m proud of it.”
“The amount of kids we’ve moved on in such a short period of time to the NCAA and U SPORTS, I’m quite frankly surprised in a good way and thankful to the coaching staff for the work they are doing.
“The merch stuff and our in-game experience? We hedged, ‘like is Milton the right community?’ We’ve certainly proven that it is. We have, I would say, the loudest fans that I’ve seen in the league. They’re very, very passionate.”
There were 1,011 at a playoff game in Milton last night.
Sales of merchandise have brought in $150,000-200,000 since the stunning Menace logo was introduced in 2019. The Hockey News placed it in a top-10 listing of logos from outside the NHL.
On the ice, the Menace won the OJHL West Division playoff banner a year ago.
Tryfon is now onto “the next four years”. His game-planning includes “taking it to the next level” by improving relationships between the Menace and NCAA schools as well as U18 players and their teams. Motion graphics and animation are in the works.
“You always want to be moving forward, innovating forward,” he said.
Tryfon will be honoured along with the other OJHL award recipients at a ceremony before Game 1 of the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series in late April. The OJHL is announcing its 2022-23 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
TOMORROW: Humanitarian of the Year
About the OJHL – “League of Choice”
The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the Canadian Junior Hockey League with 22 member clubs. A proud member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Ontario Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL had more than 90 NCAA, U SPORTS, CHL and professional commitments in 2021-22 – including more than 25 NCAA Division I scholarships.
For more information on the Ontario Junior Hockey League, follow us on Instagram (@OJHLOfficial), Twitter (@OJHLOfficial) and Facebook (OJHLOfficial)
