OUA announces 2015-16 East Division Men's Hockey Major Awards and All-Stars

BURLINGTON, Ont. – Ontario University Athletics (OUA) is pleased to announce the 2015-16 men's hockey major award winners and all-stars for the East Division.

For the second time in four years the East Division Most Valuable Player hails from the UQTR Patriotes, as right-winger Guillaume Asselin (Quebec, Que.) has come away with the honour.

Asselin, who received an all-rookie nod in the 2013-14 season, was also named a first-team all-star. The third-year business administration student-athlete not only led OUA, but all of CIS, with 27 goals and 47 points. Asselin was also big in the clutch for the Patriotes, leading the province with six game-winning goals.

Joining Asselin as a major award winner representing UQTR is bench boss Marc-Étienne Hubert, who is this year's recipient of Coach of the Year honours.  In his third year behind the Patriotes bench, Asselin led them to a 24-3-1 regular season record, good for the top seed in OUA, and a berth in the 2015-16 Queen's Cup final.  Hubert is the former head coach of the QMJHL's Chicoutimi Sagueneens and won two CIS championships as a player with the Patriotes.

The Patriotes also produced three other all-stars, as forward Tommy Giroux (Quebec, Que.), defenceman Martin Lefebvre (Terrebonne, Que.) and goaltender Sébastien Auger (St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Que.) all received OUA second-team honours.

Giroux finished in the top five in the province for both goals (20) and points (41), and along with Asselin, was one of the main reasons why the Patriotes owned the league's best offence, with an average output of 5.00 goals per game, almost a full goal more than the second best team.

Meanwhile, Lefebvre showed that UQTR's offence wasn't restricted to their forwards, as he averaged more than a point-per-game on the backend, with 33 points in 28 games. The third-year business administration major was also a part of a strong Patriotes' defensive unit that allowed the third fewest goals per game (2.32) in OUA.

In his first OUA season, Auger also secured a spot on the all-rookie team, after backstopping the Patriotes to the No. 1 seed in OUA. Auger was a workhorse for UQTR, starting in all but one of their games, compiling the most minutes played in the province (1,649:53), while posting the fifth best save percentage at .927.

Other Patriotes being acknowledged for their efforts this season are Mathieu Lemay (Hawksbury, Ont.) and Charles-David Beaudoin (Drummondville, Que.), who join Auger on the all-rookie team. Lemay suited up in all of the Patriotes' games, finishing the season with just under a point-a-game, with 24 points in 28 games, while Beaudoin finished in the top 10 in scoring by defencemen with 25 points.

Carleton's Brett Welychka (London, Ont.) becomes just the second Raven since 1987-88 to ever win the Rookie of the Year award, in a season that saw him lead the team to a No. 6 ranking in the nation.

Welychka was also named to the OUA first-team and the all-rookie team, after dishing out the most assists (32) in CIS men's hockey. The first-year arts student-athlete was also just a single point off the top mark in the country for points (46), contributing to the Ravens' ravenous offence, which finished third in OUA with 4.11 goals per game.

Accompanying Welychka as a Ravens all-star is Michael McNamee (Perth, Ont.), who was named to the OUA second-team for the second time in his career. The third-year arts major finished sixth in the province with 39 points, while also being instrumental on special-teams, netting the second most power-play goals in the East Division, with eight.

McNamee is also taking home some hardware, as he has been named the winner of the Most Sportsmanlike award. Playing on a Ravens team that collected the second most PIM in the league, McNamee was able to remain a stranger to the box, picking up just three minor penalties on the season.

Completing the list of major award winners is Concordia's Olivier Hinse (Sherbrooke, Que.), who for the third consecutive year is the recipient of the Randy Gregg Award of Merit, given to the player who best exemplifies outstanding achievement in hockey, academics and community involvement.

Hinse is currently in his fourth year of the child studies program, where he owns an impressive GPA and upon completing his degree shortly, he hopes to open and run his own daycare. Outside of the classroom, Hinse is an active member of the community. He was involved in the Shoot for the Cure weekend which raised $2,650.00 and participated in the Centraide Walk of Umbrellas, all while helping out at all of the children's hockey schools at Concordia on a weekly basis.

On-the-ice Hinse is known as a leader, serving as captain of the Stingers, while also wearing an "A" for the CIS all-star team when they faced off in exhibition action against the Canadian national junior team. Hinse also followed up last year's Concordia Male Athlete of the Year honour with Quebec Athletic Excellence Foundation recognition as one of the top male university athletes in Quebec.

Hinse also picked up his third career all-star nod, as he was named to the OUA first-team for the second year in a row. In his final season with the Stingers, the Sherbrooke, Que. native scored the sixth most goals in the province (17), while finishing 11^th in points (35).

The McGill Redmen featured the top two scoring defencemen in the country this season in Samuel Labrecque (Granby, Que.) and Dominic Talbot-Tassi (Mascouche, Que.), which earned them first and second-team all-star nods, respectively.

Labrecque, a senior, has been named East division Defenceman of the Year after he led all CIS blueliners with a single-season McGill record 44 points, including 16 goals and either scored or assisted on 37.9 per cent of McGill's 116 goals scored. The 5-foot-6 rearguard finished third in the OUA scoring race and ranked second in assists with 28.

Talbot-Tassi, a civil engineering freshman, was the second-best scoring blueliner with 38 points, including 27 assists, which also earned him a spot on the all-rookie team.

Mathieu Pompei (Laval, Que.) rounded out the second-team all-stars, ranking ninth in the league with 37 points. The senior tallied a team-leading 19 markers for a potent McGill offence, which tied for second among all OUA teams with 4.14 goals for per game.

Queen's Gaels defenceman Spencer Abraham (Campbellville, Ont.) and East division Goalie of the Year Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) make up the final two spots on the first all-star team.

The two served as key contributors to the Gaels' second best defence in OUA, where they allowed just 2.31 goals per game. It is Abraham's second consecutive first-team nod, as he enjoyed another successful year, finishing fourth in the East Division in points by defencemen, with 28 in 25 games.

Bailie has served as a dominant force between the pipes ever since he entered the league in 2013, a season that saw him grab Rookie of the Year as well as a first-team all-star nod. This season was no different for the netminder, as he put up the league's third best goals against average at 2.18, while compiling a league best .942 save percentage.

Gael's forward Slater Doggett (Oakville, Ont.) rounds out the all-rookie team. In his first OUA season, after coming over from the ECHL's Alaska Aces, Doggett played in all 28 games for Queen's, amassing 24 points in the process.

OUA Major Award Winners

Most Valuable Player: Guillaume Asselin – Forward – UQTR Patriotes
Rookie of the Year: Brett Welychka – Forward – Carleton Ravens
Randy Gregg Award of Merit: Olivier Hinse – Forward – Concordia Stingers
Most Sportsmanlike Award: Michael McNamee - Forward - Carleton Ravens
Defenceman of the Year: Samuel Labrecque – Defence – McGill Redmen
Goalie of the Year: Kevin Bailie – Goaltender – Queen's Gaels
Coach of the Year: Marc-Étienne Hubert – UQTR Patriotes

OUA First-Team All-Stars

Guillaume Asselin – Forward – UQTR Patriotes
Brett Welychka – Forward – Carleton Ravens
Olivier Hinse – Forward – Concordia Stingers
Samuel Labrecque – Defence – McGill Redmen
Spencer Abraham – Defence – Queen's Gaels
Kevin Bailie – Goaltender – Queen's Gaels

OUA Second-Team All-Stars

Mathieu Pompei – Forward – McGill Redmen
Tommy Giroux – Forward – UQTR Patriotes
Michael McNamee – Forward – Carleton Ravens
Martin Lefebvre – Defence – UQTR Patriotes
Dominic Talbot-Tassi – Defence – McGill Redmen
Sébastien Auger – Goaltender – UQTR Patriotes

OUA All-Rookie Team

Brett Welychka – Forward – Carleton Ravens
Mathieu Lemay – Forward – UQTR Patriotes
Slater Doggett – Forward – Queen's Gaels
Dominic Talbot-Tassi – Defence – McGill Redmen
Charles-David Beaudoin – Defence – UQTR Patriotes
Sébastien Auger – Goaltender – UQTR Patriotes