Toledo's Heard named Inglasco/ECHL Player of the Week

Mitchell Heard of the Toledo Walleye is the Inglasco ECHL Player of the Week for March 28-April 3. Heard scored five goals and added an assist for six points in three games last week. The 30-year-old scored a goal in a 4-3 win against Fort Wayne on Friday, scored a pair of goals in a 4-3 victory over Indy on Saturday and had a three-point game (2g-1a) in a 4-1 win against Kalamazoo on Sunday. A native of Bowmanville, Ontario, Heard has 41 points (18g-23a) in 44 games with the Walleye this season. He began the season in the DEL with the Bietigheim SC Steelers where he had 11 points (7g-4a) in 19 games. Heard has tallied 169 points (71g-98a) in 163 career ECHL games with Toledo, Florida, Adirondack and Fort Wayne while adding 39 points (14g-25a) in 199 career games in the American Hockey League with Lake Erie, Stockton and Charlotte, while also skating in 113 career DEL games. Prior to turning pro, Heard recorded 144 points (67g-77a) in 171 career games with Plymouth of the Ontario Hockey League. On behalf of Mitchell Heard, a case of pucks will be donated to a Toledo youth hockey organization by Inglasco, the exclusive puck supplier of the ECHL. Since beginning its sponsorship of the award in 2000-01, Inglasco has donated more than 45,000 pucks to youth hockey organizations in ECHL cities. Runners-Up: Ethan Somoza, Greenville (4 gp, 1g, 6a, 7 pts.) and Kevin O’Neil, South Carolina (3 gp, 4g, 1a, 5 pts.). Also Nominated: Louie Caporusso (Cincinnati), Sam Sternschein (Jacksonville), Mathew Santos (Maine), Benjamin Tardif (Utah) and Cédric Desruisseaux (Wheeling).