Diaco enjoying breakout scoring season
George Diaco’s latest season highlight? A pair of goals in the OHL’s Outdoor Showcase, leading the first-place Hamilton Bulldogs to their 12th straight win.
Diaco, a London native, scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season in Monday’s outdoor game win. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).
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On a special night, in front of 12,587 outdoors at Tim Hortons Field Monday night, George Diaco showcased the skills he’s displayed all year during a breakout season with the Hamilton Bulldogs.
On Monday, those skills translated into two goals, which helped power the Bulldogs to a 3-0 win over the Oshawa Generals in the OHL’s Outdoor Showcase. It gave the former London Jr. Knight 20 goals on the season.
“It was unbelievable, just seeing all the fans out there and being with my teammates,” Diaco said of the Showcase game. “It's just an experience I never thought would happen.”
The last time the OHL went outdoors was at Detroit’s Comerica Park in December 2013 when Saginaw welcomed Windsor, and Plymouth played London. This was the first OHL outdoor game featuring two Ontario-based teams.
Hamilton’s win Monday, which was their 12th straight, helped pad their lead atop the OHL standings. They are 37-11-2-2 entering action Tuesday and appear to be the favourites to claim the top seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs. In other words, they’re all-in this year, which Diaco, despite the festivities, made clear postgame.
“It’s a special event and a fun opportunity, but at the end of the day we were here to win a game, so we kept that the main focus and we got the job done.”
Diaco’s been getting the job done all year for the Bulldogs.
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He had plenty to prove entering the 2021-22 season. And Diaco knows he’s playing for a professional contract — or, at the very least, to earn an opportunity as an overager next year. But prove it, he did — and early on with a very strong first half to the season. He capped things off with an impressive 15-game point streak before Christmas, and he was a major reason why Hamilton had such a good start to the year.
Known for his quickness and soft hands, Diaco has also been Hamilton’s secret weapon in shootouts, scoring on three of his five attempts — with two of those clinching wins for his club.
(Speaking of his soft hands, Diaco caught the attention of hockey fans and highlight reels in January, scoring a ‘Michigan’ goal in a game against Kingston).
Diaco is no stranger to scoring, but he’s only now getting the opportunity to produce at the OHL level in his age 19 season (he turned 20 in February).
(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).
After leading the Alliance in scoring (goals and points) in his Under-16 season with the Junior Knights, he immediately made the jump to junior hockey with the London Nationals — after the Bulldogs drafted him in the 6th round (101st overall) in 2018.
With the Nationals, he was one of the GOJHL’s top-scoring 16-year-olds with 18 goals (42 points in 47 games) on a very strong London squad. He added 11 goals and 29 points (in 27 games) during the Nats’ Sutherland Cup playoff run. And he was named to the Western Conference Rookie All-Star team.
In 2019-20, he cracked the Bulldogs roster. For the first time in a long time, Diaco wasn’t one of the go-to-guys the team looked to for offense (such is the case for most rookies entering the league). He posted six goals and 18 points in 55 games.
His hopes of taking a leap in production the next season were dashed by a pandemic. Coming into his 19-year-old season, he knew he’d be trusted to provide some offence up front — and he’s done that and more, becoming a point-per-game player (56 points in 52 games) for the OHL’s leading team.
It’s all coming together now for the London-born Diaco, who put an exclamation mark on his breakout season with two goals in Monday’s Outdoor Showcase game. With 19 wins in their last 20 games, the Bulldogs are building up for what they hope is a lengthy playoff run.
The last time Hamilton won an OHL championship? It was also their only time — 2018, the same year they drafted Diaco. He’s hoping things come full circle in 2022 — and he’s ready to play a big role.
Knight Watch: London back in familiar territory; Sam Dickinson OHL Player of the Week; Efficiency from goal-scoring Van Gorp; Powerplay clicking once again; Knights get Soo showdown Friday …