Toronto, Ont. – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Dave Cameron of the Ottawa 67’s is the recipient of the Matt Leyden Trophy awarded annually to the OHL’s Coach of the Year.
Closing out his second season at the helm for the 67’s, Cameron steered Ottawa to a Hamilton Spectator Trophy, finishing first place in the OHL’s regular season standings with a record of 51-12-3-2 for a franchise-record 107 points. Cameron’s 67’s surrendered a league-low 171 goals, produced the OHL’s best home record of 29-4-0-1 and boasted a second-ranked penalty kill, operating at 84.1 percent.
“The Matt Leyden Trophy is the ultimate team award,” said Cameron of the honour. “I wouldn’t be here without the hard work of my players, coaching and support staff, and management group.”
The 67’s got off to a remarkable start to their season, winning nine consecutive games and owning a record of 18-1 by mid-November. They went on to finish the season with a mark of 41-0 when leading after two periods, and ended-up finished tied for the second-most shorthanded goals in the OHL with 16. Ottawa played to a mark of 13-2-3-2 in one-goal games.
“Dave’s boundless energy, knowledge, and passion for teaching the game were driving forces behind our 67’s record-breaking 2022-23 regular season,” stated 67’s General Manager James Boyd. “In addition to our on-ice success, Dave’s continuous promotion of community service, and academics has reinforced our positive team culture, both at and away from the rink.”
A native of Charlottetown, PEI, Cameron has spent eight seasons between Head and Assistant Coaching assignments in the National Hockey League along with an additional four in the American Hockey League. He’s coached a total of 12 seasons in the OHL dating back to 1997-98 when he broke in with the Soo Greyhounds. His tenure has also included four seasons with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors from 2000-04, a stretch in which he led the club to four consecutive Eastern Conference Championship Series appearances. He made two more East Final appearances as Head Coach of the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors over a four-year span between 2007-11, guiding the Majors to an Eastern Conference title in 2011. Cameron’s Majors reached the Memorial Cup Championship Final as tournament hosts that same year, falling to the Saint John Sea Dogs by a score of 3-1. He became the 15th coach in OHL history to win 400 games on Nov. 4th, 2022, and owns a career OHL coaching record of 440-289-40 with 45 ties over his 814-game regular season career.
Cameron emerged as the front-runner for this year’s award, while colleagues Dale Hunter of the London Knights, Ryan Oulahen of the North Bay Battalion and Chris Lazary of the Saginaw Spirit finished in a three-way tie for second place in the voting.
The Matt Leyden Trophy has been awarded annually to the OHL’s Coach of the Year as selected by his peers since 1972. The award is in recognition of the contributions of Matt Leyden, past president of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1965-67, and former manager of the Oshawa Generals who spent more than 50 years with the team.
Cameron becomes the third different Ottawa 67’s coach to claim the award, following two-time winner André Tourigny who received the honour in both 2019 and 2020. OHL coaching legend Brian Kilrea has his name on the Matt Leyden Trophy a record total of five times, last winning in 2003.
Cameron will be the OHL’s nominee for the Brian Kilrea Canadian Hockey League Coach of the Year Award, presented at the CHL Awards Ceremony on Saturday, June 3 during the 2023 Memorial Cup presented by Kia which takes place in Kamloops, British Columbia. Cameron will be formally presented with the Matt Leyden Trophy at the OHL’s Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, June 14 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
For a complete history of OHL award winners, click here.
