Archive photo by Uwe Welz: Jennifer Newton of the Albewrta Pandas is the conference MVP for 2007-08

EDMONTON - Canada West announces the 2008 women’s hockey individual major award winners and All-Stars, as selected by head coaches across the conference.

Fourth-year University of Alberta forward Jennifer Newton has been selected 2007-08 Canada West women’s hockey Player of the Year. Newton, who started her career in the shadows of players such as Kristen Hagg and Tarin Podloski, has emerged as one of the game’s best, picking up a conference-best 37 points (17 g, 20a) in 2007-08 for a No. 2-ranked Pandas team that finished the regular season 21-2-1. The Alberta team captain, from little-known Norglenwold, AB, has been a member of the last two CIS championship teams and last year was a U of A academic all-Canadian.

“Jen displays a powerful combination of creativity and skill,” exclaimed Pandas head coach Howie Draper. “In my opinion, she is one of the most gifted players in the CIS right now. She has explosive speed, amazing hands, a rocket snapshot and an analytical hockey mind. All these characteristics make her a very exciting hockey player to work with on a daily basis. She loves the game as much as anyone I know and is one of those players that is usually first on the ice for practice and the last to leave it. She leads this team not only with her skill, but her passion for getting better, her humility and her selfless attitude.”

In the 2007-08 regular season, Canada West Rookie of the Year Addie Miles led the Manitoba Bisons in scoring and tied for sixth in Canada West with 22 points. Miles was tied for eighth in conference with 10 goals, tied for first in conference with four game-winning goals, adding one short-handed tally. She tied for 10th in Canada West shots at 66 and tied for ninth with a team-high +14 plus/minus rating. Miles scored in her first five conference games to start the season and had seven multi-point games.

Bisons women’s hockey head coach Jon Rempel said of Miles, “Addie is a skilled player. She has brought a determined effort to make big things happen on the ice this season. It is a testament to her hard work at this level and her consistent play in the second half that has paid off in her achieving this conference honour.”

Robin Ulrich, a fourth-year defenceman for Saskatchewan, is the conference nominee for the Marion Hilliard Community Award. Ulrich, a Kinesiology student-athlete who played all 28 games this past regular season for the Huskies, volunteers as an assistant coach for a midget hockey team in her spare time and attends schools to read to children. She also raises funds in her hometown of Lampman for children with cancer. She has been an academic all-Canadian the past three years.

Huskies co-head coach Steve Kook said of Ulrich, “She is a leader on our team and a good student. She does a lot not only in Saskatoon but in Lampman too on top of her busy schedule and top play for our team.”

Coaches of the Year also come from the Saskatchewan Huskies, as third-year co-coaches Steve Kook and Wayne Grund, who guided the Huskies to a surprise third-place finish, at 12-9-3 in conference play, pick up annual honours.

Kook, a graduate of the U of S with a Bachelor in Commerce and is an NCCP Advanced Level 1 certified coach, previously coached the SAIT women’s hockey team in Calgary from 2002-04 and back in 2001 he was a gold medalist at the National Senior women’s championship as a co-coach. Grund brings 21 years of coaching experience and winning tradition, having coached teams to provincial and national championships. He has been a part of the training team for coaches with in the Saskatchewan Hockey Association; with his expertise in training in ‘Coaching For Performance’ and ‘Ovations – Building Dynamic Presentation Skills’.

“Huskie Athletics is proud of what Steve Kook and Wayne Grund have accomplished this season,” said Huskie Athletic Director Bill Seymour. “The team is hardworking and showed a lot of character. The perseverance and commitment was something that started with the leadership shown from the two coaches,” said U of S Director of Athletics Bill Seymour.

Following is a breakdown of all individual award winners and All-Stars:

Awards
Player of the Year: Jennifer Newton, Alberta
Rookie of the Year: Addie Miles, Manitoba
Marion Hilliard Award nominee: Robin Ulrich, Saskatchewan
Coach of the Year: Steve Kook/Wayne Grund, Saskatchewan

All-Stars
First Team
F: Jennifer Newton, Alberta
F: Karissa Swan, Regina
F: Alana Cabana, Alberta
D: Brenna Leary, Manitoba
D: Robin Ulrich, Saskatchewan
G: Stacey Corfield, Manitoba

Second Team
F: Chantal Larocque, Manitoba
F: Leanne Kisil, Manitoba
F: Leah Copeland, Alberta
D: Arielle Schade, Regina
D: Rayanne Reeve, Alberta
G: Vanessa Frederick, Saskatchewan

All-Rookie Team
Andrea Boras, Alberta
Addie Miles, Manitoba
Lisa Urban, Regina

Major award winners will automatically become finalists for national awards, to be handed out by Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) at the national championship, hosted by the University of Ottawa, March 7-10.

This weekend Alberta hosts the Manitoba Bisons in a re-match of the 2007 Canada West final, won 2-0 by the Pandas in a best-of-three series at Edmonton. Alberta went on to win CIS gold, while Manitoba took the national bronze a year ago.