NAPANEE, Ont. (U SPORTS) – Sarah Bujold, a third-year forward from the StFX X-Women, was named the U SPORTS Player of the Year in women's hockey, Wednesday night.
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Bujold, a Human Kinetics student from Riverview, N.B., became the second StFX player to receive the honour, after Brayden Ferguson won the award in the 2007-08 season. This also marks the second time the award was claimed by an AUS player, with StFX being the home of both.
Other U SPORTS award winners announced at the All-Canadian Banquet were McGill goaltender Tricia Deguire, Rookie of the Year; Mount Royal forward Sarah Weninger, Marion Hilliard Award (Student-Athlete Community Service); as well as Saint Mary's bench boss Chris Larade, who was named Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
The 2017 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship, hosted by Queen's University, gets under way Thursday at the Strathcona Paper Centre in Napanee, Ont., and will run until Sunday with the gold medal game at 7 p.m. ET. All games of the competition will be streamed on OUA.TV.
BRODRICK TROPHY (Player of the Year): Sarah Bujold, StFX
A Human Kinetics student from Riverview, N.B., Bujold led the conference and the nation in both points (43) and goals scored this season (24).
The third-year forward was the Atlantic University Sport most valuable player and a First Team All-Star, leading the X-Women to a third-place finish in the regular season, with a 16-8-0 record.
Her plus-29 was the second highest in the country while she led all of Canada in game-winning goals, with five. Bujold also ranked second in U SPORTS Women's Hockey in hat-tricks, with three in 24 games played.
"Sarah has had a phenomenal year and has developed immensely as a player and person," said StFX head coach David Synishin. "She is not only one of our top players, she is also one of our hardest workers. She leads by example in her off-ice training as well as her play on the ice. She has truly earned being recognized as the top player in U SPORTS Women's Hockey."
The other nominees were forwards Mélodie Daoust of McGill, Lauryn Keen of Manitoba, and Krystin Lawrence of Windsor.
COACH OF THE YEAR:
Chris Larade, Saint Mary's
Saint Mary's head coach Chris Larade is the U SPORTS Women's Hockey Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, in his sixth year with the Huskies program.
Larade and the 2015-16 Huskies squad won the AUS championship title—their first since 2010. The team went on to capture a bronze medal at the national championship.
This season, Saint Mary's finished first in the regular season standings with an 18-3-3 record and earned a bye through to the Subway AUS Women's Hockey semifinal round.
Larade's past coaching experiences include three years as head coach of the Metro Boston Pizza Female Midget AAA program of the NSFMHL, where the team captured three provincial and league titles and two Atlantic silver medals, and where he was twice named coach of the year.
He was an assistant coach for Team Nova Scotia at the 2011 Canada Winter Games, which were held in Halifax. He has also been heavily involved with Hockey Nova Scotia's High Performance Program at the U18 and U16 levels, winning five Atlantic Challenge Cups.
Larade is the second Saint Mary's coach to earn U SPORTS Coach of the Year honours, joining former Huskies bench boss Lisa MacDonald, who won the award in the 2002-03 seasons.
"Saint Mary's University congratulates Coach Larade on receiving this prestigious award for the second year running," said Saint Mary's athletic director Kevin Downie.
Coach Larade is a low maintenance, high integrity professional who epitomizes our university's Latin motto 'Age Quod Agis,' meaning 'Do what you are doing.' We are very proud that Coach Larade has been recognized by U SPORTS and his peers for not only doing what he does but doing it for all of the right reasons.
The other nominees were Julie Chu of Concordia, Rachel Flanagan of Guelph, and Jon Rempel of Manitoba.
2016-2017 U SPORTS WOMEN'S HOCKEY AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS
*Atlantic conference recipients in bold
Brodrick Trophy (Player of the Year): Sarah Bujold, StFX
Rookie of the Year: Tricia Deguire, McGill
Coach of the Year: Chris Larade, Saint Mary's
Marion Hilliard Award (Student-Athlete Community Service): Sarah Weninger, Mount Royal
Pos. Athlete University Year Hometown Academic Program
First Team
F Sarah Bujold StFX 3 Riverview, N.B. Human Kinetics
F Mélodie Daoust McGill 5 Valleyfield, Que. Phys. and Health Ed.
F Lauryn Keen Manitoba 3 Manitou, Man. Agriculture & Food Sciences
D Kelly Murray UBC 5 Medicine Hat, Alta. Arts
D Katherine Bailey Guelph 3 Lucan, Ont. Child, Youth, & Family
G Valerie Lamenta Guelph 3 Montreal, Que. Mech. Engineering
Second Team
F Krystin Lawrence Windsor 3 Tecumseh, Ont. Criminology
F Breanna Lanceleve Saint Mary's 4 Middle Sackville, N.S. Arts
F Cassandra Vilgrain UBC 4 Calgary, Alta. Arts
D Alexandra Anderson Manitoba 3 Winnipeg, Man. Arts
D Caroll-Ann Gagné Concordia 4 Fermont, Que. Human Resources Mgmt.
G Rachel Dyck Manitoba 4 Winnipeg Beach, Man. Enviro., Earth & Resources
All-Rookie Team
F Annie Berg Brock 1 Beamsville, Ont. Concurrent Ed.
F Delaney Ross Carleton 1 Meadow Lake, Sask. Sociology
F Jade Downie-Landry McGill 1 St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. Psychology
D Mairead Bast UBC 1 Red Deer, Alta. Arts
D Alexandra Nikolidakis Concordia 1 Laval, Que. Exercise Science
G Tricia Deguire McGill 1 Sherbrooke, Que. Phys. & Health Ed.
For the complete U SPORTS release, please click here.
Source: U SPORTS Communications