OUA Announces 2015 Women's Hockey Major Awards and All-Stars

Ontario University Athletics (OUA) is pleased to announce the women's hockey All-Stars and major award winners.

York Lions forward Lisa Stathopulos (Toronto, Ont.) led the conference in points and takes home the 2014-15 OUA Player of the Year award for her performance this season.

In her final season of OUA women's hockey, the Lions captain won the OUA scoring title and finished fifth in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) with 32 points, while appearing in all 24 of York's regular season games. She also finished first in OUA and third in CIS in goals, finding the back of the net 17 times.

Though the Lions missed the playoffs, the steady play of Stathopulos kept the Lions in contention until the final weekend of the season and closed out her career with a goal and an assist in a 3-1 upset win against the No. 10 Toronto Varsity Blues in York's season finale.

Along with winning Player of the Year, Stathopulos has also been named an OUA First-Team All-Star for the first time in her career.

Joining Stathopulos on the First-Team is her Lions teammate, fourth-year defenceman Kristen Barbara (Mount Hope, Ont.). Named an OUA Second-Team All-Star last season, Barbara's strong play on the blueline continued in 2014-15 as she led all OUA defenceman in points, and ranked second on her team behind Stathopulos, scoring seven goals and adding 13 assists for 20 points. She also closed out her season strong, scoring two goals and adding one assist in York's season-finale.

The Western Mustangs set a program record winning 20 games in 2014-15 and rose to an all-time high of third in the CIS Top 10. Along with leading the conference in wins, Western also leads OUA in First-Team All-Star selections.

Forward Kendra Broad (Petrolia, Ont.), defenceman Katelyn Gosling (London, Ont.), and goaltender Kelly Campbell (St. Thomas, Ont.) have all been named OUA First-Team All-Stars.

Broad played in all 24 conference games and finished second in the conference with 30 points, scoring 15 goals and adding 15 assists. Eight of her 15 goals came on the powerplay, the most of anyone in OUA, and accounted for over a third of Western's powerplay goals. It is the first time the fourth-year Mustang has been named an OUA All-Star.

For the third consecutive year Gosling has been named a First-Team All-Star as she remains one of the top blueliners in the conference. Along with providing solid play in her own end, Gosling also scored four goals and had 11 assists for 15 points in 20 games, tying her for third on the Mustangs in points.

No goaltender in the conference was more difficult to score on than Western's Kelly Campbell, who led OUA with a .954 save percentage, which was second best in the country. Campbell had one of the heaviest workloads of all OUA goaltenders, leading the conference with 20 starts and ranking second with 516 saves and a 1.23 goals against average. She also led OUA with 16 wins, and added three shutouts.

Defenceman Brianna Iazzolino (Thunder Bay, Ont.) rounded out the Mustangs All-Star selections as she was named to the Second-Team. She finished second on the team in goals and points with seven and 16, respectively.

The Mustangs had two major award winners as co-head coaches Chris Higgins and Dave Barrett share OUA Coach of the Year honours after leading Western to its most successful season in program history. The team went 20-1-3, earning the top seed in the OUA playoffs and didn't lose a game in regulation until the New Year.

Rounding out the First-Team All-Star selections is Laurier forward Laura Brooker (Fergus, Ont.), who is no stranger to such honours. It is the second time in her career that she has been named an OUA First-Team All-Star, and has been named to the Second-Team on three other occasions.

Brooker, known for her solid two-way play, led OUA with two short-handed goals, and scored a total of 11 times, sixth-most in OUA, while adding 10 assists to finish ninth in the conference with 21 points despite missing five games.

For the second-consecutive year Toronto Varsity Blues goaltender Nicole Kesteris (Aurora, Ont.) is the OUA winner of the Marion Hillard Award recognizing excellence in the areas of hockey, athletics and community involvement. The award is given out in honour of Hillard, who played hockey for the University of Toronto in the 1920s.

Kesteris spearheaded the Toronto Varsity Blues initiative to provide families living in the Ronald McDonald House dinner for one night. She led the group in planning the meal, supplying the food, preparing it and serving as well. The Ronald McDonald House provides families with children receiving long-term hospital care a home away from home, and is affiliated with the Hospital for Sick Children and Mount Sinai Hospital. She also arranged a volunteer gift drive for Yellow Brick House, a home for abused women and children, and a gift drive delivering baskets of basic needs to the Children's Aid Society. In addition to these initiatives, she also donates time to the Toronto Latvian Centre and is a volunteer hockey coach, all while maintain a 3.0 GPA in human geography.

On the ice, she has been just as successful, and is an OUA Second-Team All-Star after receiving First-Team honours last season. Kesteris' 14 wins this season were the second most by an OUA goaltender, and her 1.44 goals against average and .944 save percentage ranked third in the conference in both categories.

Staying between the pipes, Waterloo Warriors goaltender Stephanie Sluys (Clinton, Ont.) has been named OUA Rookie of the Year and to the OUA All-Rookie Team after bursting onto the scene with a 1.68 goals against average and .933 save percentage, fourth-best in OUA in both categories. Sluys also had an astonishing seven shutouts despite making only 14 starts, including a five-game streak where she allowed just one goal and recorded three consecutive shutouts. 

The second-place Guelph Gryphons have two All-Stars this season, with both forward Jessica Pinkerton (Oshawa, Ont.) and defenceman Leigh Shilton (Belleville, Ont.) being named to the Second-Team. It is the third consecutive season Pinkerton has been named either a first or Second-Team All-Star, she led Guelph with 24 points this season scoring eight goals and 16 assists.  Shilton led all Gryphons defenceman with five goals and 17 points, and is an OUA All-Star for the first time in her career.

Two prolific scorers from the Queen's Gaels round out this year's selections as Shawna Griffin (Redwood Meadows, Alta.) and Taryn Pilon (Peterborough, Ont.) are both OUA Second-Team All-Stars. The duo finished third and fourth, respectively, in the OUA points race with Griffin scoring 13 goals and adding 13 assists for 26 points, while Pilon finished one point behind her with 10 goals and 15 assists.

The Gaels are also represented on the OUA All-Rookie Team with forward Addi Halladay(North Augusta, Ont.) and defenceman Amber Sealey (Elora, Ont.) each being named.

The future looks bright for the Nipissing Lakers, who made the playoffs for the first time in their program's brief two-year history, and have two players, forward Kaley Tienhaara (Thunder Bay, Ont.) and defenceman Zosia Davis (Cobden, Ont.), named to the OUA All-Rookie Team.

Rounding out the All-Rookie selections is Windsor Lancers forward Krystin Lawrence (Tecumseh, Ont.), who is also the starting goalkeeper on the school's women's soccer team.

OUA Major Award Winners

Player of the Year: Lisa Stathopulos – Forward – York Lions
Rookie of the Year: Stephanie Sluys – Goaltender – Waterloo Warriors
Marion Hillard Award: Nicole Kesteris – Goaltender – Toronto Varsity Blues
Coach of the Year: Chris Higgins/Dave Barrett – Western Mustangs

OUA First-Team All-Stars
Lisa Stathopulos – Forward – York Lions
Laura Brooker – Forward – Laurier Golden Hawks
Kendra Broad – Forward – Western Mustangs
Kristen Barbara – Defence – York Lions
Katelyn Gosling – Defence – Western Mustangs
Kelly Campbell – Goaltender – Western Mustangs

OUA Second-Team All-Stars

Jessica Pinkerton – Forward – Guelph Gryphons
Taryn Pilon – Forward – Queen's Gaels
Shawna Griffin – Forward – Queen's Gaels
Leigh Shilton – Defence – Guelph Gryphons
Brianna Iazzolino – Defence – Western Mustangs
Nicole Kesteris – Goaltender – Toronto Varsity Blues

OUA All-Rookie Team

Kaley Tienhaara – Forward – Nipissing Lakers
Addi Halladay – Forward – Queen's Gaels
Krystin Lawrence – Forward – Windsor Lancers
Zosia Davis – Defence – Nipissing Lakers
Amber Sealey – Defence – Queen's Gaels
Stephanie Sluys – Goaltender – Waterloo Warriors