Four X-Men receive AUS hockey honours

A quartet of STFX X-Men Hockey athletes have been honoured by Atlantic University Sport. Defenseman Charlie Callaghan was named an AUS first team all-star, forward Zack Trott is a second team all-star, while Simon Motew and Alex Christopoulos were named to the AUS all-rookie team. The complete release from Atlantic University Sport follows.

2024-25 AUS men's hockey major awards and all-stars announced

Saint Mary's Derek Gentile named AUS MVP

(HALIFAX, N.S.) Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2024-25 AUS men's hockey major award winners and all-stars as selected by the conference's seven head coaches following regular season play.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER (Kelly Trophy): Derek Gentile, Saint Mary's Huskies

The Atlantic University Sport men's hockey most valuable player for the 2024-45 season is Derek Gentile of the Saint Mary's Huskies.

An MBA student in his fourth year of eligibility from Sydney, N.S., Gentile finished the regular season as the leading scorer in all of U SPORTS men's hockey with 47 points (19 goals and 27 assists) in 29 games played.

He also led the conference in shorthanded goals (3), and finished second in goals (19), assists (27) and game-winning goals (4) this season.

Gentile led the Huskies to a 17-11-2-0 record and a third-place finish in the regular season standings.

In addition to being named AUS MVP, he has also been named an AUS first team all-star.

Gentile's win marks the first time a player from the Huskies has earned the conference's top honour since former Saint Mary's standout Lucas Bloodoff was named league MVP in 2012-13.

Gentile now becomes the AUS nominee for the for the U SPORTS Senator Joseph A. Sullivan trophy as the nation's top player. UNB's Philippe Maillet is the most recent player from the AUS to be named national MVP. He won the award in 2016-17.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (A.J. MacAdam Trophy): Nathan Darveau, Moncton Aigles Bleus
The Atlantic conference rookie of the year and recipient of the A.J. MacAdam Trophy for the 2024-25 season is Moncton Aigles Bleus goaltender Nathan Darveau.

A criminology student from Rouyn-Noranda, Que., Darveau played in 16 games for the Aigles Bleus this season, starting in 14 of them.

His .934 save percentage was the best in the Atlantic conference and the second best in the country.

His goals against average of 2.03 was the second best in AUS and fourth best in U SPORTS.

Darveau helped lead the Aigles Bleus to a 19-9-2-0 regular season record, a second-place finish in the conference standings and a first-round bye through to the playoff semifinals.

In addition to being honoured as the conference's top rookie, Darveau was also named an AUS first team all-star today and earned a place on the conference's all-rookie team.

Prior to beginning his AUS career, Darveau played four seasons with the QMJHL's Victoriaville Tigres.

He is the first Moncton player to be named conference rookie of the year since former Aigles Bleus standout goaltender Étienne Monpetit earned the honour in 2018-19.  

Darveau now becomes the Atlantic conference nominee for the Clare Drake Award for U SPORTS rookie of the year.

AUS players have earned the national honour in five of the last six seasons—with current UNB standout goaltender and AUS second team all-star Samuel Richard earning it most recently in 2022-23.
 
MOST SPORTSMANLIKE PLAYER (Don Wells Trophy): Michael Cyr, Moncton Aigles Bleus

In his fourth season with the Moncton Aigles Bleus, forward Michael Cyr has been chosen as the Atlantic University Sport most sportsmanlike player and recipient of the Don Wells Trophy.

A physical education student from Saint-Anne, N.B., Cyr played in 29 games for the Aigles Bleus this season.

He scored 27 points with 11 goals and 16 assists on the season—good for second in team scoring—while amassing just 16 penalty minutes.

Cyr now becomes the Atlantic conference nominee for U SPORTS' R. W. Pugh Award for most sportsmanlike player.

UNB's Brady Gilmour earned the honour last season.

Only two Aigles Bleus players have ever been honoured with the national award—J.F. Gregoire in 1996-97 and Claude Gosselin in 1989-90.  

STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD (The Godfrey Award): Cole MacKay, UNB

The 2024-25 recipient of the Godfrey Award for student-athlete community service and AUS nominee for the prestigious Dr. Randy Gregg Award is Cole MacKay from the UNB REDS.

Named for Dr. Bill Godfrey, this award is given annually to the player who best represents the spirit of intercollegiate hockey by his leadership both on and off the ice and by his conduct throughout the season.

A third-year business student from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., MacKay amassed 28 points for the REDS this season, with 16 points and 12 assists.

Off the ice, MacKay is an ambassador for the Hockey Gives Blood initiative. He is the co-founder of Upfront Sports—a high-performance hockey academy that aims to inspire, develop and promote the next generation of hockey players in Canada.

He was also responsible for his team's involvement in the Shoot for the Cure initiative at UNB this season—which helped add over $2,000 to UNB's total funds raised for breast cancer research.

MacKay now becomes the AUS nominee for the Dr. Randy Gregg Award.

The most recent players from the Atlantic conference to earn the honour were Saint Mary's Matt Welsh in 2022-23, Acadia's Liam Maaskant in 2019-20 and UNB's Randy Gazzola in 2018-19.

COACH OF THE YEAR (Bob Boucher Trophy): Derek Cormier, Moncton Aigles Bleus

In his third season leading the Moncton Aigles Bleus men's hockey team, Derek Cormier has been chosen by his peers as the 2024-25 AUS coach of the year.

Coach Cormier led the U SPORTS no. 9-ranked Aigles Bleus to a 19-9-2-0 regular season record, a second-place finish in the conference standings and a first-round bye through to the playoff semifinals.

In the 2024-25 regular season, Moncton scored an average of 3.63 goals per game, had the second highest save percentage in the league (.920), the second best penalty kill percentage (86.2) and the second best goals against average (2.32).

Cormier is the first Moncton coach to win the Bob Boucher Trophy since Judes Vallée earned the honour in the 2018-19 season.

He now becomes the Atlantic conference nominee for the Father George Kehoe Memorial Award as the U SPORTS coach of the year. Former UNB bench boss Gardiner MacDougall is the most recent Atlantic conference recipient of the national honour. He was named U SPORTS coach of the year last season.

2024-25 AUS ALL-STARS AND ALL-ROOKIE TEAM

First Team All-Stars

Goaltender: Nathan Darveau, Moncton
Defence: Kale McCallum, UNB
Defence: Charlie Callaghan, STFX
Forward: Derek Gentile, Saint Mary's
Forward: Ben Corbeil, UNB
Forward: Emmett Sproule, UNB

Second Team All-Stars

Goaltender: Samuel Richard, UNB
Defence: Dennis Busby, Saint Mary's
Defence: Kurtis Henry, UPEI
Forward: Peter Reynolds, UNB
Forward: Kaleb Pearson, UPEI
Forward: Zack Trott, STFX 

All-Rookie Team

Goaltender: Nathan Darveau, Moncton
Defence: Simon Motew, STFX
Defence: Oscar Plandowski, UNB
Forward: Peter Reynolds, UNB
Forward: Alex Christopoulos, STFX
Forward: Cam MacDonald, Acadia 

The playoffs are underway in the 2025 Bell AUS Men's Hockey Championship.

The full schedule is available here.

All games will be webcast at www.AUStv.ca.

The 2025 U SPORTS University Cup is being hosted by the University of Ottawa March 20-23 in Ottawa, Ont. The Atlantic conference has two berths in the national championship which will be awarded to the AUS champion and runner up.

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