Urquhart, Courcelles, Poitras honoured by OUA Mar 05, 08 Ice Hockey (M)

By Michelle Church, OUA

HAMILTON, Ont. - McGill defenceman David Urquhart of Thorold, Ont., and freshman forward Simon Courcelles of Rosemere, Que., were among the major award winners as the OUA announced its all-stars in men's hockey, Wednesday.

Urquhart is an OUA East all-star and the conference nominee for the Randy Gregg award while Courcelles made the OUA all-rookie team and was picked as the conference rookie of the year.

Redmen goaltender Mathieu Poitras, a two-time all-Canadian, was named to the OUA East second-team all-star squad.

The Gregg trophy which is presented to the CIS athlete who best exhibits achievement in the areas of academics, community and hockey. Urquhart finished the season with four goals and 12 assists and was also named for the third consecutive year to the OUA East first team all-star squad.

Off the ice, the Redmen team captain is a two-time Academic All-Canadian and spent part of last summer taking a French immersion course in Chicoutimi. Urquhart spent the remainder of the summer working with teammates Ken Morin and Mathieu Poitras on preparing a marketing pitch to the Montreal Canadiens to have the annual Ronald Corey Cup game against Concordia played at the Bell Centre.

The game, which raised funds for the Redmen’s trip to Europe over the Christmas holiday break, was a huge success and the game was played before 5,400 fans.

Despite carrying a full course load in the commerce program and making the time commitment to excel as a full-time student-athlete, Urquhart has taken the time to serve on several McGill committees, such as the McGill Sports Hall of Fame , the Student Athletics Council, the McGill Athletics Awards Gala and the McGill Intercollegiate Sports Council, where he serves as co-chair.

Perhaps more importantly, he has served on numerous community service projects, including the Centraide March of 1000 Umbrellas, The Gazette Raise a Reader Day, a Skate-a-thon fundraiser for Alzheimer’s research and a McGill Blood Donor Clinic.

He also volunteered his time with Santropol Roulant, a Montreal-based not-for-profit organization founded and run by young people in the community, a fundraiser for Voluntary Simplicity, a movement to reduce spending and possessions, simplify personal commitments, and lessen impact on natural resources and the Right to Play Spin-a-thon, as well as a pilot project attempting to involve C anadian universities in RIGHT TO PLAY (the project involves McGill students helping establish a curriculum to be used by other Canadian universities).

Courcelles was instrumental on a dominant McGill squad as they earned a return trip to battle for the OUA Queen’s Cup this upcoming Saturday. Courcelles in just his first season of OUA competition finished the year second in team scoring, with 16 goals and 14 assists and nine powerplay goals in the regular season.

Chris Voakes, a five-foot-11 forward with Laurier, is the West conference rookie of the year. the St. Thomas, Ont., native scored a CIS high 23 goals in 26 games. A former Sarnia Sting player, Craig was a team leader in points for the Golden Hawks with 42 and also notched three hat tricks.

Sean Moir of the Waterloo Warriors is this year’s OUA West nominee for the Randy Gregg Award. In his third season with the Warriors, Moir, an assistant captain is studying in the Honours Biomedical Sciences program, and has been on the Dean’s list. Moir also currently volunteers with the Grand River Hospital Emergency Department. In September 2007, he volunteered in the early construction stages of construction of a home in Kitchener with his teammates for Habitat for Humanity, and also volunteered at a local grocery store to assist with the K-W Food Drive.

Lakehead goaltender Chris Whitley, a general arts senior from Oshawa, Ont., is the recipient of the Bill L’Heureux Trophy as the Most Outstanding Player in Ontario University Athletics men’s hockey and OUA West MVP.

Whitley went undefeated with a 15-0 record, finished the regular season with a 2.05 goals against average to lead the OUA, earned a 0.925 save percentage, and tallied one shutout on the year. “

Goaltender, Ryan Gibb of the Queen’s Golden Gaels has been named this year’s East Division MVP, as he led the Gaels to the top of the OUA Mid-East Division. An Arts and Science sophomore, Gibb finished the season with a 2.86 goals against average, had one regular season shut out, and finished the season with an 11-7-0 record and led the CIS in save percentage (0.929).

Laurier Golden Hawks Matt Grennier (Dryden, ON) has been named the West Division Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year. As the Golden Hawks team captain, Grennier was assessed only 13 minor penalties in 28 games this season. The fifth-year centre was third on the Laurier squad with 36 points, finishing with 12 goals and 24 assists. The Economics student is currently playing in the AHL for the Toronto Marlies.

In the East, fellow recipient Brady Olsen (Enterprise, ON) of the Queen’s Golden Gaels has had a breakout season. Olsen, a fourth-year, Arts and Science student finished the year as the leading point getter on the Gaels. He finished with just 26 penalty minutes, combined with 19 goals and 13 assists, with seven powerplay goals on the season.

West Division Coach of the Year honours go to Brock Badgers bench boss Murray Nystrom, who has been with the team for the past 11 seasons and led his team to a 17-8-3 record, finishing atop of the OUA Mid-West Division, and will play for the OUA Queen’s Cup Championship this weekend at home. A native of Thunder Bay, Ont., Nystrom was appointed coach of the hockey program at Brock in the spring of 1998.

In the East, Coach of the Year honours went to Brett Gibson of the Queen’s Golden Gaels. In just his second campaign as the Gaels head coach, Gibson led his Gaels to a 13-12-0-3 record, winning the OUA Mid East Division, and claiming the second seed for the conference playoffs. The 13 wins this season is the most in school history since the 1988 season. The division title was also a first for the Golden Gaels since 1980 when they last took home the OUA banner.

BILL L’HEUREUX TROPHY
Most Outstanding Player – Presented by Harrow Sports Canada Ltd.

POSITION - NAME – SCHOOL - HOMETOWN
Goaltender - Chris Whitley – Lakehead

WEST DIVISION
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Presented by Harrow Sports Canada Ltd.

Goaltender - Chris Whitley - Lakehead

RANDY GREGG AWARD NOMINEE
Defence - Sean Moir - Waterloo

MOST SPORTSMANLIKE PLAYER
Forward - Matt Grennier - Laurier

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Forward - Craig Voakes - Laurier

COACH OF THE YEAR
Murray Nystrom - Brock

FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS

POSITION – NAME – SCHOOL - HOMETOWN

Goaltender – Chris Whitley – Lakehead
Defence – Jordan C. Smith – Lakehead
Defence – Rob Dmytruk – Laurier
Forward – Kevin Richardson – Western
Forward – Brock McPherson – Lakehead
Forward – Mark Vaokes – Laurier

SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS

Goaltender – Brad Topping – Western
Defence – Kyle Sonnenburg – Waterloo
Defence – Kyle Searle – York
Forward – Mark Soares – Lakehead
Forward – Salvatore Peralta – Western
Forward – Shane Hart - Waterloo

ALL ROOKIE TEAM

Goaltender – Keyvan Hunt – Western
Defence – Kyle Sonnenburg – Waterloo
Defence – Barrett Brook – Guelph
Forward – Craig Voakes – Laurier
Forward – Kris Hogg – Lakehead
Forward – Nathaniel Brooks – York

EAST DIVISION

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Presented by Harrow Sports Canada Ltd.

Goaltender – Ryan Gibb – Queen’s

RANDY GREGG AWARD NOMINEE
Defence - David Urquhart- McGill

MOST SPORTSMANLIKE PLAYER
Forward – Brady Olsen – Queen’s

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Forward – Simon Courcelles - McGill

COACH OF THE YEAR
Brett Gibson – Queen’s

FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS

Goaltender – Ryan Gibb – Queen’s
Defence – David Urquhart – McGill
Defence – Frederic St. Denis – UQTR
Forward – Mathieu Gravel – UQTR
Forward – Paul Bradley – RMC
Forward – Mark Heatley - Toronto

SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS

Goaltender – Mathieu Poitras – McGill
Defence – Ed Snetsinger – Toronto
Defence – Rob Jarvis – Ottawa
Forward – Anthony Pallotta – Toronto
Forward – Jonathan Boutin – UQTR
Forward – Brady Olsen – Queen’s

ALL ROOKIE TEAM

Goaltender – Riley Whitlock – Ottawa
Defence – Frederic St. Denis – UQTR
Defence – Eric Begin – Concordia
Forward – Simon Courcelles – McGill
Forward – Jared Cipparone – Carleton
Forward – Alexandre Demers - UQTR

- OUA –

Michelle Church
Communications & Media Relations Coordinator
Ontario University Athletics
Tel: (905) 540-5156
Fax: (905) 574-2840
E-mail: michelle.church@oua.ca
www.oua.ca