Justin Donati of Elmira Jackals Named ECHL Player of the Week

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com -PRINCETON, N.J. ˆ Elmira Jackals rookie Justin Donati is the Sher-wood Hockey ECHL Player of the Week for Nov. 9-15.

The 23 year old had four goals and 11 points in four games for the Jackals and also played one game for Portland in the American Hockey League where he had an assist in a 6-1 loss on Nov. 11. Donati set team records with four goals and six points in an 11-3 win at Gwinnett on Nov. 14 and had two assists in games at Charlotte on Nov. 13 and 15.

He leads the ECHL with 20 assists and 28 points in 14 games while his five power-play goals and 13 power-play points tie him for the league lead. He is first among league rookies in assists, goals, power-play goals, power-play assists and power-play points and tied for third in goals. Donati has scored in every game but one, and he has eight multiple-point games, seven multiple-assist games and two multiple-goal games.

He played for Las Vegas in 2007-08 and had 11 assists in 14 games for the Wranglers. Donati has played the last two seasons for the University of Prince Edward Island where he had 58 points (22g-36a) in 31 games. He played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-07 and had 269 points (120g-149a) in 213 regular season games and 46 points (24g-22a) in 40 playoff games for Oshawa, Sudbury and Toronto.

On behalf of Justin Donati, a case of pucks will be donated to an Elmira youth hockey organization by Sher-wood Hockey, the exclusive puck supplier of the ECHL. Since beginning its sponsorship of the award in 2000-01, Sher-wood Hockey has donated more than 22,900 pucks to youth hockey organizations in ECHL cities.

Runners Up: Rob Hennigar, Florida (3 gp, 3g, 5a, 8 pts) and James Sixsmith, Utah (4 gp, 3g, 6a, 9 pts).

Also Nominated: John de Gray (Bakersfield), Andrew Carroll (Charlotte), Scott Reynolds (Cincinnati), Evan Barlow (Idaho), Mathieu Curadeau (Kalamazoo), Tim Kraus (Ontario), Ben Gordon (Reading), Keith Johnson (South Carolina), Adam Hobson (Toledo), Andy Brandt (Victoria) and Thomas Beauregard (Wheeling).

Commissioner Bud Selig shaved drug suspensions of players and broke the rules of MLB. Will Manny Ramirez and three others do a year? What will happen to dozens of minor league players whose records, teams, and leagues are affected? Read the whole story at SZ ( www.mlnsports.com).