LeBlanc wins AUS Student-Athlete Community Service Award, Demale named First Team All-Star
Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2022-23 AUS women's hockey all-stars and major award winners, as selected by the conference's eight head coaches.
Fourth-year UNB goaltender Kendra Woodland (Kamloops, B.C.) was chosen as the AUS most valuable player of the season.
Other AUS major award winners announced today were UPEI's Orianna MacNeil (Mabou, N.S.) who was named rookie of the year; Dalhousie's Izzy Weist (Torbay, N.L.) who was chosen as the most sportsmanlike player; UPEI's Lexie Murphy (Kensington, P.E.I.), who was named the top defensive player; Saint Mary's Eve LeBlanc (Petit-Rocher, N.B), who was awarded student-athlete community service honours; and STFX head coach Ben Berthiaume who is the AUS women's hockey coach of the year.
STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Eve LeBlanc, Saint Mary's Huskies
Saint Mary's defender Eve LeBlanc been awarded this year's Student-Athlete Community Service Award for her academic, athletic and community contributions.
A fourth-year psychology student from Petit-Rocher, N.B., LeBlanc played in 26 games for the Huskies during the 2022-23 regular season, recording one goal, 11 assists and a +12 plus/minus rating. A two-way defender, she led the team with an average of 23.15 minutes on the ice per game.
During all four seasons in the AUS, LeBlanc has earned Academic All-Canadian standing, currently sitting at a perfect 4.3 GPA for the 2022-23 academic year. She was the 2021 and 2023 recipient of the Student Leadership Recognition Award for Saint Mary's and has been named to the Faculty of Science's Dean's List three times.
LeBlanc is also a force in the community. For the past four years she has been a volunteer with Ronald McDonald House Charities, providing families in in need with warm meals and activities. She's also served as a program assistant for Chebucto Connections: Pathways to Education after school program, working with marginalized students. This year, LeBlanc also leant her time as a co-facilitator of a mental health series for Saint Mary's faculty and staff.
"Having just been accepted into UNB's doctorate program of clinical psychology, where the acceptance rate is 2% of all applicants, Eve is once again proving to herself and everyone that hard work always pays off," says Saint Mary's Huskies' head coach, Chris Larade. "She has been the absolute epitome of what this award stands for, as well as what all coaches aim to recruit to their U SPORT programs."
LeBlanc is the seventh player from the Huskies to receive this award since its inception in 2002-03. She will now represent the conference as the AUS nominee for the U SPORTS Marion Hilliard Award. The last AUS student-athlete to take home the national honour was UNB's Jana Headrick (2021-22).
2022-23 AUS ALL-STARS AND ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
First Team All-Stars
Goaltender: Kendra Woodland, UNB (4th year - Kamloops, B.C.)
Defence: Lauren Dabrowski, STFX (3rd year - Tiny, Ont.)
Defence: Jenna MacLean, UNB (4th year - Wilcox, Sask.)
Forward: Maggy Burbidge, STFX (3rd year - Falmouth, N.S.)
Forward: Shae Demale, SMU (4th year - Red Deer, Alta.)
Forward: Lea MacLeod, STFX (4th year - Dartmouth, N.S.)
Second Team All-Stars
Goaltender: Grace Beer, Dalhousie (1st year – Oakville, Ont.)
Defence: Josie Chisholm, STFX (4th year - Antigonish, N.S.)
Defence: Orianna MacNeil, UPEI (1st year - Mabou, N.S.)
Forward: Erica Plourde, Université de Moncton (2nd year - Pigeon Hill, N.B.)
Forward: McKinley Nelson, UPEI (2nd year - Calgary, Alta.)
Forward: Brooklyn Paisley, Dalhousie (4th year - Shawnigan Lake, B.C)
All-Rookie Team
Goaltender: Grace Beer, Dalhousie (Oakville, Ont.)
Defence: Orianna MacNeil, UPEI (Mabou, N.S.)
Defence: Kya Moss, STFX (Port Moody, B.C.)
Forward: Amy Dvernichuk, St. Thomas (Regina, Sask.)
Forward: Natasha Falk, Dalhousie (Brandon, Man.)
Forward: Élodie St-Jacques, Université de Moncton (St-Jérôme, Que.)
The semi-final round of the Subway AUS Women's Hockey Championship is set to begin Wednesday.
The REDS will face off against the UPEI Panthers in one best 3-of-5 series, while the Saint Mary's Huskies take on the STFX X-Women in the other.
The full schedule is available here.
All matches of the AUS semifinals will be webcast live at www.AUStv.ca.
The winners of each series will advance to the Subway AUS Women's Hockey Championship best-of-three final series.
The 2023 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship is being hosted by Université de Montréal March 16 to 19. The Atlantic conference will have two berths at the national championship. They will be awarded to the AUS champion and runner up.