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GOJHL names awards after Stapleton, Lochead

April 4, 2025

Barry Wright/The Independent

The Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League has renamed some of its awards, including those in honour of
Sarnia’s Pat “Whitey” Stapleton and Bill Lochead of Forest.

The Pat Stapleton Memorial Award will go to the Most Valuable Player in the league’s Western Conference and the Bill Lochead Award will be given to the Western Conference’s Most Gentlemanly Player.

Stapleton, who died in 2020, won a Sutherland Cup with the Sarnia Legionnaires in 1958 before capturing the Memorial Cup with St. Catharines two seasons later. He went on play more than 1,000 pro games in the NHL and World Hockey Association. He was also on the Team Canada roster for the Summit Series against the Russians in 1972 and was part of the WHA stars against the Russians in 1974.

Lochead, 70, won he scoring title with the Sarnia Bees in the 1970-71 season, including 72 goals. He was
eventually drafted by the Red Wings, ninth overall in 1974 and went on to the play seven seasons in the NHL with Detroit, Colorado and the Rangers.

The league’s Western Conference top goaltender will be given the John Faulkner award. The Sarnia native won 74 games with the Sarnia Blast from 2004-08 before embarking on a four-year collegiate career at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

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