STU Awards

The St. Thomas University Athletics Banquet was held tonight, with the men's and women's hockey awards among those handed out. The Friends of STU announced the winner of this year's Tommy Hughes Award at a pre-banquet reception.

Women's Hockey

Most Valuable Player - Kayla Blackmore
Rookie of the Year - Amy Kelbaugh
Most Improved Player - Amanda Burns
Defensive Player of the Year - Lucrece Nussbaum

Men's Hockey

Most Valuable Player - Kenton Dulle
Rookie of the Year - Kenton Dulle
Unsung Hero - Scott Judson
Most Sportsmanlike Player - Devan Praught
Top Defenseman - Erick Tremblay
Tommy Hughes Award - Ryan Lehr

Also, the Men's Hockey Team was honoured with the Leroy Washburn Community Service Award.

Congratulations to all.

Jean Bourbeau called up to AHL Sound Tigers

Jean Bourbeau has been recalled to the AHL Bridgeport Sound Tigers from the Odessa Jackalopes of the Central Hockey League - Sound Tigers Article and Odessa Jackalopes. We would like to give a tap of our stick to UNBHockeyfans.com for pointing out this story.

"Bourbs" was set to start the playoffs last night for his first place Odessa team before he got called up to the AHL. Jean signed a two way contract with Bridgeport last fall.

Check out this 2 page article by Scott Reeves on Bourbeau. You can get a good sense on how tough minor pro hockey can be. Here is a little self promotion for STU from the article.

he played hockey in Canada at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The rigorous conditioning program at the school was designed to build flexibility and bulk. He graduated with a degree in psychology, but wanted to take a shot at hockey before going to graduate school. That desire took him to Odessa, Texas and the Jackalopes.

Way to go Bourbs. By the way, with Bourbeau out of the line-up, the Jackalopes were upset in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Texas Brahmas. They lost 5 to 2.

Jason Cassidy’s Blog: Head shot change must come from players

The latest from Jason Cassidy. Here is a little teaser.

With four weeks remaining in the season while I was working on a blog about head shots in the Canadian League, I – ironically enough – suffered a concussion. It’s my fifth (that I can remember) and I’ve been sidelined ever since. Throughout the entire recent media blitz over hits to the head, the long-term effects of concussions began to weigh on my mind. At what point should I make a decision to keep playing or shut it down? When should I begin to value the most important organ in my body? And who is responsible for making that decision?

For Jason's full story check out his blog at The Hockey News.

Were the '09-'10 Squirrels the best ever?

It's a slow time of year and this is an interesting AUS and CIS debate. Evan Daum over at the "South Campus Sports" blog looks at a few other teams that may test "the best ever team in CIS history that never won" theory as Bruce Hallihan of the Daily Gleaner put it last week.

Here is a quote.

While the series win by St. FX could very well go down as one of the biggest playoff upsets in CIS men’s hockey history, the most recent version of the V-Reds wasn’t the best team that never won.

That distinction goes to a team that UNB beat back in 2003/04 at the national tournament — the Alberta Golden Bears who were 40–0–2 heading into nationals. FULL BLOG POST

Interesting article, I hope all you CIS hockey fans enjoy it. Nice work Evan.

Lehr signs with Bucks, Chamberland with Americans

CIS All Canadian defenceman Ryan Lehr has signed a pro contract with the Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League.

"We needed to improve our defense and Lehr was one of the guys we have been looking at to bring in here," said Bucks President/General Manager and Head Coach Terry Ruskowski. "He’s a solid two-way defenseman who can help us down the stretch." Full Story

GOOD LUCK RYAN and thanks from Tommies fans.

UPDATE: Ryan scored a goal in his first professional game, a 6-1 win versus the Allen Americans. Of course Allen is where Justin Bowers is playing but what is also interesting to note is that Maxim Chamberland is also playing with the Americans. Thursday's Allen vs. Laredo boxscore.

Chamberland was signed on Tuesday. From an Allen press release "Forward Liam Huculak and blueliner Chris Kaufman were placed on 14-day injured reserve Monday, retroactive to Feb. 25 and Feb. 27 respectively. The Americans signed forward Maxim Chamberland today to fill the vacancy."