The WHL selected one of Seattle’s own for their Player of the Month for November 2015. Matthew Barzal won the honor of the award this past month on the heels of a great month of achievements on his part as well as that of the T-Birds overall. It is a great accomplishment for the 18-year-old player from Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Barzal is the current T-Bird lead in points. In 22 games, he has already scored 40 points. Broken down, they are split between seven goals and 33 assists. The Player of the Month distinction came after several other honors that Barzal received, including three first star honors, two second stars and a single third star. Last season, Barzal scored a total of 57 points, with 45 assists and 12 goals. He scored another four goals during the six playoff games he appeared in, as well as four assists. In his entire career with the T-Birds, Barzal has accumulated 151 points, with 33 goals and 118 assists made.

Barzal’s work has helped the team achieve the first place spot in the U.S. Division standings. Nearly half of the goals the team made this November were either made or assisted by Barzal. The Thunderbirds are currently ranked at #9 in the BMO CHL Top 10 rankings.

The honor came just before Barzal was recognized for even more achievements. Yesterday it was announced that he will be participating in Canada’s National Junior Team Selection Camp. He was chosen by Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League to participate. By participating, he will be in the running for the 2016 World Junior Championship, which is set to be held on December 26, 2015 and will end on January 5, 2016. It will take place in Helsinki, Finland. A total of 30 players were selected to participate in the camp. The 30 selected players include 17 forwards, two goalies and 11 defense players.

During the 2015 NHL Draft, Barzal was selected to play for the New York Islanders as the 16^th draft pick overall during the first round of selections. Last April, during the 2015 U-18 World Championships in Switzerland, Barzal won a bronze medal with Team Canada and the team is certain to hope that he achieves the same accolades or greater during this next time around.

The previous Player of the Month, for both September and October, was Brayden Point of the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia