Gaiters’ Gabrielle Santerre named women’s hockey rookie and player of the year
Gabrielle Santerre of Bishop’s made history by winning both the Brodrick Trophy as player of the year in U SPORTS women’s hockey, as well as the award for rookie of the year. She is the first women’s hockey player to win both awards at the same time. The announcement was made on Wednesday night at the All-Canadian Awards Ceremony in Saskatoon, site of the 2024 GFL U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Championship, presented by Connect Energy.
Other major award winners include Emmy Fecteau of Concordia, who took home the Marion Hilliard award (student-athlete community service); and Julie Chu, also of Concordia, who won the Fox40 Coach of the Year Award.
The national championship tournament gets underway on Thursday at Merlis Belsher Place on the University of Saskatchewan campus. Play continues through to the gold medal game, which is set for 6 p.m. local time (8 p.m. Eastern) on Sunday.
View the official championship website.
Brodrick Trophy (most valuable player) – Gabrielle Santerre, Bishop’s
Rookie of the Year – Gabrielle Santerre, Bishop’s
Bishop's Gaiters rookie sensation Gabrielle Santerre makes history once again as she takes home both the Brodrick Trophy as the U SPORTS Outstanding Player of the Year and the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year award. This came three weeks after she was also the first player in the RSEQ to win both awards in the same year, dating back to the inception of the U SPORTS Championship in 1997-98.
She was also named a first-team all-Canadian and member of the U SPORTS all-Rookie team.
Santerre, a Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., native, led the country in scoring with 45 points in 25 games. That was seven more than the next closest, her teammate Maude Pepin, who had 37, and nine up on UNB's Lillian George who tallied 36 points in 28 games.
The 45 points is a modern-day RSEQ rookie record (dating back to 2007-08). It is the most scored in the conference since 2012-13 and most in the country since the 2013-14 campaign.
She was also part of the RSEQ's first all-star team and all-rookie team. Additionally, she was named the RSEQ’s Athlete of the Month in November.
A Sports Studies student, Santerre is no stranger to accolades – she was the CÉGEP Division 1 Player of the Year in her final two seasons with Champlain-Lennoxville.
She helped lead the Bishop’s Gaiters to their best-ever season in 2023-24 with 32 points and a second-place finish in the RSEQ.
Santerre is only the third Gaiter in any sport to win national player of the year honours, following Jordan Heather, who won the 2013 Hec Crighton Trophy, and Andrea Blackwell, who was the 1984 player of the year in women’s basketball.
Other nominees (Brodrick Trophy): Camryn Drever (Saskatchewan), Katie Chomiak (Nipissing), Lillian George (UNB)
Other nominees (Rookie of the Year): Abby Lunney (Nipissing), Ireland McCloskey (StFX), Jaylyn Morris (UBC)
Marion Hilliard Award (student-athlete community service): Emmy Fecteau, Concordia
Emmy Fecteau won the Marion Hilliard Award for her outstanding achievement on and off the ice. Fecteau was named captain of the Stingers this season and has displayed her leadership throughout the year. In December, she was awarded the Weider Athletic Leadership Award by Concordia, a prize thatrecognizes student-athletes who have excelled in their sports, their academics and demonstrated leadership through community involvement. She was named a U SPORTS Top 8 Academic All-Canadian earlier this year, after posting a grade point average of 3.8 (out of 4.0).
On the ice, Fecteau averaged a point per game, scoring 9 goals and adding 16 assists, including 5 power-play goals. Away from the Loyola campus, Fecteau serves as an assistant coach with the Lac St. Louis U13 AAA girls’ hockey team and serves as the lead instructor for the Stingers women’s hockey school. She also co-organized the Stingers’ Pink in the Rink event, which raised more than $9,000 for breast cancer research.
This win caps a decorated career for Fecteau, as she already has a trophy cabinet that contains the RSEQ Rookie of the Year award (2020), RSEQ first team All-Star award, three RSEQ gold medals, a second team All-Canadian award, a U SPORTS national championship and a FISU Winter Games gold medal. Fecteau was captain of the 2023 FISU Winter Games squad that went undefeated in Lake Placid.
Other nominees: Shaylin McFarlane (UPEI), Emily Baxter (Toronto Metropolitan), Jenna Merk (Regina)
Fox40 Coach of the Year – Julie Chu, Concordia
Julie Chu led the Concordia Stinger to a perfect 25-0 regular season, the first time any RSEQ team has run the table since the schedule expanded from 20 games, and the first perfect regular season for Concordia since 1999-2000, when they went 12-0.
Chu has led back to the national prominence that they enjoyed in the early days of CIAU women’s hockey, around the turn of the century. She has led the Stingers to three straight RSEQ championships, a national title in 2022 and the top seed at this year’s championship.
The Fairfield, Conn., product came to Concordia with an impeccable hockey CV. A Harvard graduate, she won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top NCAA women’s hockey player in 2007 and was a three-time all-American. With Team USA, she won three Olympic silver medals (2002, 2010, 2014) and a bronze (2006). She also won IIHF gold medals in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013.
She is the second Stingers coach to win national coach-of-the-year honours, following Les Lawton in 2000.
Other nominees: Chris Larade (Saint Mary’s), Katie Mora (Guelph), Scott Rivett (Mount Royal)
2024 WOMEN’S HOCKEY AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS
Brodrick Trophy (outstanding player of the year): Gabrielle Santerre, Bishop’s
Rookie of the year: Gabrielle Santerre, Bishop’s
Marion Hilliard Award (student-athlete community service): Emmy Fecteau, Concordia
Fox40 Coach of the Year: Julie Chu, Concordia
First Team All-Canadians
Athlete University Pos Year Hometown Academic Program
Gabrielle Santerre Bishop’s F 1 St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. Sport Studies
Katie Chomiak Nipissing F 3 Sudbury, Ont. Arts
Lillian George UNB F 3 Nipissing First Nation Recreation & Sport Studies
Mackenzie Kennan UNB D 2 Midhurst, Ont. Engineering
Emma Bergesen Mount Royal D 4 Stavanger, Norway Sociology
Martina Fedel Guelph G 3 Trento, Italy Animal Biology
Second Team All-Canadians
Athlete University Pos Year Hometown Academic Program
Émilie Lussier Concordia F 1 Sainte-Martine, Que Leisure Studies
Elizabeth Lang Calgary F 5 Edmonton, Alta. Science
Mackenzie Kordic UBC F 4 Edmonton, Alta. Arts
Kelly-Ann Nadeau Montréal D 4 Mont-Laurier, Que. Kinesiology (Grad. Dip.)
Rylind MacKinnon UBC D 5 Cranbrook B.C. Kinesiology
Camryn Drever Saskatchewan G 5 Edmonton, Alta. Education
All-Rookie Team
Athlete University Pos Hometown Academic Program
Gabrielle Santerre Bishop’s F St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. Sport Studies
Abby Lunney Nipissing F Holland Landing, Ont. Physical and Health Ed.
Émilie Lussier Concordia F Sainte-Martine, Que Leisure Studies
Reese Coffey Guelph D Thunder Bay, Ont. Molecular Bio. & Genetics
Jaylyn Morris UBC D Maple Ridge, B.C. Science
Emma Tennant Queen’s G Pointe-Claire, Que. Applied Science