Kestner named ECHL MVP, first Walleye player to win award

(Toledo, OH) – Forward Josh Kestner has been named the ECHL MVP for the 2019-2020 season. He is the first Walleye player to ever win this award.

The native of Huntsville, Alabama is the first player in Toledo ECHL history to lead the league in scoring for a season with 73 points (33G, 40A) over 58 games played. Kestner finished the year as the league leader in goals with 33 and he finished second among all players in shots on goal with 212. It was announced last week that Kestner was on the ECHL First Team. The only other player in Toledo ECHL history to be league MVP was Andrew Williamson for the Toledo Storm in the 1999-2000 season.

Kestner took home ECHL Player of the Week honors for the first week of January and the last week of February during the season. The 26-year-old was remarkably consistent during the campaign finishing with at least one point in 46 of his 58 games played. Kestner had the two longest Walleye point streaks of this season, an 11 game run from October 19 at Fort Wayne through November 16 at Newfoundland and a nine game streak from December 21 at Indy through January 12 vs. Wheeling. Twice he reached 16 points in a month with six goals and 10 assists in November and seven goals plus nine assists in January.