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| Photo courtesy Windsor Spitfires |
“The Windsor Spitfires are proud to have Ryan Ellis serve as the captain of the Windsor Spitfires for the upcoming season. Ryan’s leadership, skills and experience will be a huge asset to our young team and in three years, he has already enjoyed one of the greatest careers in CHL history. The accolades he has earned speak for themselves, we couldn’t think of a more deserving young man and player to lead our team. I am very proud to have the honour of naming Ryan Ellis as captain of the Spitfires,” said Windsor Spitfires head coach Bob Jones.
Newly appointed captain Ryan Ellis offered his thoughts on today’s event, “it’s a great honour to be captain of the Spitfires and to follow in the footsteps of Mickey Renaud and Harry Young, previous captains of our club during my career in Windsor. I look forward to leading our young and talented team this season in the same manner both Mickey and Harry did, this is a unique opportunity for myself. Windsor is a second home for me and I’m excited to be the new captain of the Windsor Spitfires.”
The 19 year-old Freelton, Ont. native’s accomplishments within junior hockey rival those of any player in the history of the CHL and his appointment as captain of the Spitfires adds to an already impressive list of accolades. A key contributor to last season’s championship performances for Windsor, the former Max Kaminsky Trophy Award (2008-2009) and Bobby Smith OHL Scholastic Player of the Year (2007-2008) winner helped lead the Spitfires to their second consecutive MasterCard Memorial Cup Championship in Brandon, Man. and Rogers OHL Championship last season. He was also selected to the 2009 Memorial MasterCard Memorial Cup All-Star Team for his outstanding play in leading Windsor to their first Memorial Cup title at the 2009 MasterCard Memorial Cup Championships in Rimouski, Que.
Ellis scored the game winning goal for Windsor 4:13 into the third period as the Spitfires defeated the Kelowna Rockets 2-1 in Windsor’s final round robin game at the 2009 MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament. This kept the Spitfires alive and help set up the greatest comeback in MasterCard Memorial Cup history as Windsor won four consecutive games in the playoff round to secure the 2009 title.
Ellis led all OHL defencemen in scoring during the 2008-2009 season with 22 goals and 89 points with a whopping +52 plus-minus rating. For his outstanding efforts, he was selected by the Nashville Predators with the team’s first overall pick, 11th overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
Last season, he missed some games due to injury but still put up some impressive numbers in the 2009-2010 regular season, scoring 61 points in 48 games for Windsor while posting a +38 plus-minus rating. Despite missing 20 games, Ellis still finished fourth amongst all OHL defencemen in scoring and was also tied for sixth in the OHL for plus-minus.
A power play quarterback who plays a very cerebral game and possesses a cannon shot, Ellis was selected as the OHL’s Defenceman of the Month in February of 2010. He was also named as the captain for Team OHL and led the OHL to a perfect 2-0 record in the 2009 Subway Super Series games hosted in Barrie, ON and Windsor, ON last season.
In the 2010 playoffs, Ryan played a leading role in the Spitfires second consecutive Rogers OHL Championship and led all OHL defencemen in scoring for the second straight year, recording 33 points in 19 playoff games with 11 multi-point games. He also led the OHL with 30 assists and posted a league high 12 game assist streak in the playoffs.
Additionally, Ellis served as an assistant captain for Team Canada at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in Saskatchewan and participated in the tournament for the second consecutive year. He helped Canada earn a silver medal in this year’s tournament, adding this to his gold medal with Team Canada in the 2009 World Juniors and is the all-time career leading scorer amongst defencemen for Team Canada in WJHC with 15 points in 12 games.
Ellis’ international resume also features a gold medal performance at the 2008 World U-17 Hockey Challenge for Team Ontario, where he was named to the Tournament All-Star team and two U-18 gold medal finishes with Team Canada at the 2008 World U-18 Championships and the 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.
He also participated in the 2010 OHL All-Star Classic for the second consecutive season, registering two assists in the game for the Western Conference all-star team.
Ellis has 49 goals and 164 assists for 213 points in 168 career games with the Spitfires. He is 17 points away from passing Joel Quenneville’s career total of 229 and becoming the Spitfires career all-time leading scorer amongst defencemen.
