Sarnia's Tomi Karhunen earns OHL Player of the Week Award

Congratulations to Tomi Karhunen for being named this week's OHL Player of the Week! This is Tomi's first year playing Junior and he has not disappointed. Karhunen has started 20 of 23 games this year for Sarnia; his 13 wins (11-2 in his last 13 starts) are third in the league while his .913 save percentage is tied for 7th. Karhunen is eligible for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and has had many NHL scouts buzzing.

In attending November 11th's Sarnia-Kingston game, I spoke to numerous people in the crowd, who were all incredibly happy with Tomi's play. One fan referred to an October 26th game vs. Saginaw, one of his four 40-save games, in which Tomi "stole" the game with 43 saves. Others mentioned to me that Sarnia had been starving for good goaltending for quite some time and that next to Steven Stamkos, Karhunen was largely responsible for Sarnia's recent rise in the standings.

Sarnia's Karhunen named Boston Pizza OHL Player of the Week
Created: Nov 19, 2007

The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Sarnia Sting goaltender Tomi Karhunen is the Boston Pizza OHL Player of the Week for the week ending Sunday November 18 after backing the Sting to three road wins last week with a 1.33 goals against average and .953 save percentage.

Karhunen started the week with 24 saves in a 5-3 win over the Peterborough Petes on Thursday. He followed up with a 35-shutout performance and was named second star in Sarnia’s 6-0 win over the Kingston Frontenacs on Sunday and wrapped up the road trip with 22 saves in a first star performance that gave Sarnia a 3-1 win over the Ottawa 67’s on Sunday.

The 19-year-old native of Joensuu, Finland improved his season record to 13-7-0-0 with a 2.85 goals against average and .913 save percentage and two shutouts in 20 games. He is the first goaltender to win the OHL Boston Pizza Player of the Week award this season.

2007-08 Boston Pizza OHL Players of the Week

September 23 - John Tavares, Oshawa Generals

September 30 - Alex Pietrangelo, Niagara IceDogs

October 7 - Dustin Jeffrey, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds

October 14 - John Tavares, Oshawa Generals

October 21 - Nick Spaling, Kitchener Rangers

October 28 - Yannick Weber, Kitchener Rangers

November 5 - Brett MacLean, Oshawa Generals

November 12 – Bobby Sanguinetti, Brampton Battalion

November 19 – Tomi Karhunen, Sarnia Sting