Capitals prospect Ilya Protas was named the OHL Player of the Month after recording 23 points (8g, 15a) in seven March games for the Windsor Spitfires.
Protas ended March with his biggest game of the seven, recording the primary assist on all five of Windsor’s goals in a 5-0 victory over the Sarnia Sting. His month-long scoring push vaulted him to a second-place finish in OHL scoring, posting 124 points (50g, 74a) in 61 games.
Protas had six straight multi-point games during March, giving him multi-point efforts in over half of his games (31) this season. With his natural hat trick against the Saginaw Spirit on March 15, he recorded just the eighth 50-goal season in Spitfires history.
The 2024 third-round pick was one of only 13 skaters in the CHL to reach the 100-point mark this year and ranked fourth in overall CHL scoring. Fellow Capitals prospects Andrew Cristall (132) and Patrick Thomas (104) both also reached triple-digit points.
Ilya’s proud older brother, Aliaksei Protas, reposted the OHL’s Instagram post of the award to his Instagram story. He did the same when Ilya was named Player of the Week earlier in the month.
Protas and the Spitfires ended the regular season atop the OHL’s West Division, finishing with the league’s third-most standings points (96). The team’s first-round playoff series against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds begins on Thursday night.
Protas had 11 points (4g, 7a) in six games against the Greyhounds during the regular season.
