Photo courtesy TWU Athletics: Canada West Player of teh Year, the Spartans' Paul Hamilton, has also been voted CIS Player of the Year

LANGLEY, B.C. (CIS) – Fourth-year Trinity Western defender Paul Hamilton was named Canadian Interuniversity Sport player of the year in men’s soccer, Wednesday evening.

The Calgary native became the second Spartan to receive the Joe Johnson memorial trophy since TWU joined CIS in 2001. Midfielder Nick Perugini was honoured in 2007.

Other CIS major award winners announced during the All-Canadian Banquet were Guelph’s Robert Murphy of Ottawa, who was named rookie of the year, Saint Mary’s Guiseppe Scichilone of Gondola Point, N. B., who received the Student-Athlete Community Service award, and Laval’s Samir Ghrib, who earned the coach-of-the-year award, presented by Coaches of Canada.

The 2009 CIS championship gets under way Thursday at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. The national final is slated for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time. SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all main-bracket duels (www.ssncanada.ca or www.cis-sic.ca).

JOE JOHNSON MEMORIAL TROPHY (player of the year): Paul Hamilton, Trinity Western
In only three seasons in Langley, team captain Paul Hamilton has already established himself as one of the best players in Spartans history. The 6-foot-1, 172-pound defender was named to the first all-Canadian team this fall following nominations to the second CIS squad the past two years, and has been a Canada West first-team all-star in each of his seasons at Trinity Western. He was selected to the all-tournament team at the 2007 CIS championship, and again in 2008 when the Spartans reached the national final.

Prior to his return out west, the Calgary native spent his first CIS season at Cape Breton, capturing AUS rookie-of-the-year honours and a spot on the second AUS squad.

In 2009, Hamilton led the Spartans to second place in the Canada West standings with an 8-2-4 mark, helped TWU reach the top of the national rankings for three weeks, and earn a fifth consecutive trip to the CIS championship. The education student tied for the team lead with 13 starts and played a team-high 1,245 minutes as Trinity Western topped the conference with 25 goals scored and finished third with 12 goals allowed in 14 games.

“Paul is the keystone to our backline. He is the emotional and physical leader of our team,” said Spartans head coach Pat Rohla. “He is our best tackler and is respected for his ability to win challenges both on the ground and in the air. He is consistent, reliable, and able to lead a line of defence like few other players I have seen at the CIS level. I believe that Paul continues to be one of the premier centre backs in the nation.”

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Robert Murphy, Guelph
A native of Ottawa, Murphy is the first Gryphon to be named CIS rookie of the year in men’s soccer. He became the fourth straight OUA player to claim the award.

The 6-foot, 170-pound centre forward led Guelph in scoring as a freshman with five goals in 12 conference games en route to a selection on the first OUA West all-star team. The marketing management student had an immediate impact on the Gryphons, who, following a 4-1-1 start to the season, were ranked nationally for the first time in over a decade.

Murphy joined the Gryphons after playing for the Ottawa South United of the men’s premier league and was a member of Team Ontario (regional team) in 2002, 2003 and 2007. He comes from an athletic family. His father played football for the University of Ottawa, while two of his uncles played professional sports. Mike Murphy was a member of the Ottawa Roughriders and Frank Finnigan played for the Ottawa Senators.

“Robbie has a fantastic work rate from the front and has settled well into the pace of the OUA game in just his first year,” said head coach Keith Mason. “His contribution to the team and work rate is phenomenal. He helps the team by defending hard from the front and has tremendous vision and brings other players into play. He is a very worthy candidate for this award.”

STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Guiseppe Scichilone, Saint Mary’s
Over his five years at Saint Mary’s, defender Guiseppe Scichilone has been involved in numerous community activities and school events, helped many causes and embodied the truest definition of a student-athlete.

He is a lunch monitor for Excel Child Care Programming, a member of the Conflict Resolution Society, has volunteered at the 65 Roses for Cystic Fibrosis Run (2007, 2008, 2009) and at the virgin music festival, is a member of the Saint Mary’s Athletes Council (2007- present), and is an Intramural soccer coordinator at the school. Last February, he travelled to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to perform workshops to approximately 20 schools on conflict resolution skills.

In the classroom, Scichilone has a GPA of 3.29 and was named an Academic All-Canadian for 2008-2009. He has received many academic awards including the Alumni Golf Tournament Bursary, Alumni Leadership Award, Joseph E. Donahue Scholarship and Certificate of Merit.

“Guiseppe is everything a coach could ask for, hard working, dedicated, honest, always out for the benefit of the overall group with less concern for himself,” said Saint Mary’s head coach Stewart Galloway.

COACH OF THE YEAR, presented by Coaches of Canada:
Samir Ghrib, Laval
An assistant with Laval’s women’s soccer team at the end of the 90’s, Ghrib is at the helm of the Rouge et Or men since the rebirth of the program in 2000. Following a few learning years, the Rouge et Or have become annual contenders under Ghrib’s guidance, reaching the national final in 2007 and advancing to the CIS championship for the fifth consecutive campaign in 2009.

This season, Laval finished atop the Quebec regular season standings for the first time in team history with an 8-2-2 mark before claiming a second QSSF championship with a 3-0 gold-medal win over McGill. Led by all-Canadians Gabriel Moreau on offence and Alexandre Lévesque-Tremblay on defence, the Rouge et Or topped the league in both goals scored (28) and allowed (8). After stumbling out of the gate to a 1-2 start, they are undefeated in 11 games (9-0-2) heading into this week’s CIS tournament.

Ghrib is a well-respected figure in the soccer community both in Quebec City and at the provincial level. Prior to taking over the Laval program, he led Collège François-Xavier-Garneau to three provincial championships, earning coach-of-the-year honours for his work with the Élans in 1998. He has coached a number of Quebec provincial teams, leading the Under-16 selection to a gold medal at the 2004 national championship and the Under-15 side to silver in 2003.

“It is a well-deserved honour for Samir after all these years of dedication and hard work,” said Gilles Lépine, assistant director of the Rouge et Or varsity program. “Samir is a dedicated and generous individual whose sole concern is the success of those around him.”

ALL-CANADIAN TEAMS
The Al-Canadian teams were also announced on Wednesday, with Montreal and Cape Breton contributing a pair apiece to the first squad.

The 10 players joining Hamilton on the first CIS dream team are Montreal goalkeeper Gerardo Argento of Montreal, Laval’s Alexandre Lévesque-Tremblay of Baie-Saint-Paul, Que., UBC’s Graham Smith of Abbotsford, B.C., and Toronto’s Yannis Gianniotis of Toronto on defence, York’s Francesco Bruno of Toronto, Montreal’s Alhassane Fox of Conakry, Guinea, Cape Breton’s Andrew Rigby of Nottingham, England, and Dalhousie’s Ross Hagen of Calgary at midfield, as well as Cape Breton’s Keishen Bean of Sandys, Bermuda, and Victoria’s Cole McFarlane of Calgary at the striker positions.

Many of them became or were already multiple Al-Canadians.

Argento received his fifth nod in five varsity seasons, including four first-team selections. Bruno, the CIS player of the year in 2008, was one of five players named CIS all-stars for the third time along with Hamilton, Lévesque-Tremblay, Smith and McFarlane. Bean was a second-team member a year ago.

The second CIS squad for 2009 is comprised of Laurentian keeper Scott Cliff of Hanmer, Ont., York’s Franco Ruscetta of Woodbridge, Ont., UPEI’s Nathan Snowie of Harrington, P.E.I., and UNB’s Ken Morrison of Fredericton on defence, McGill’s Yohann Capolungo of Vallan, France, Saskatchewan’s Josh Northey of Saskatoon, Moncton’s Olivier Babineau of Dieppe, N.B., Ryerson’s Alex Braletic of Thornhill, Ont., and Alberta’s Brett Colvin of Calgary at midfield, as well as Laval’s Gabriel Moreau of St-Hyacinthe, Que., and Trent’s Thaddeus Bolton of Bowmanville, Ont., as the strikers.

Morrison was named a CIS Al-Sar for the third straight year, including a First Team nod in 2007. Babineau was a First Team All-Canadian last season, while Colvin found a spot on the second constellation for a second consecutive campaign.