Wilfrid Laurier University
GOLDEN HAWK NEWSLETTER
“Building Champions, Building Traditions”
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1 Summer is an excellent time to reflect on the inspiring achievements of Laurier’s Golden Hawk varsity athletes during the Dr. Max Blouw last academic year, and to look forward to new leadership opportunities ahead. Each year, I am amazed at the dedication and achievement of our athletes. This past year we saw an outstanding performance by the women’s soccer team, which won an OUA silver medal and competed in its third consecutive CIS championship. Three Laurier students won OUA MVP awards in soccer, lacrosse, and hockey, and many more earned academic awards for high standing. Wearing their purple and gold with pride, our athletes are true leaders who continue to inspire the entire Laurier community. These are individuals who not only achieve academic success, but who also go on to engage meaningfully in their careers, communities and personal lives. Looking ahead, we greatly appreciate the leadership of our new head football coach, Michael Faulds. His vision for the future of the Golden Hawk football program will certainly inspire leadership and purpose among our student-athletes in the upcoming year. continued on page 9...
SUMMER 2013
Individual performances highlight 2012-13
Men’s hockey goaltender Ryan Daniels became the first Laurier netminder in 29 years to be named a CIS AllCanadian.
2012-13 was a big year for outstanding individual performances from Laurier student-athletes. Three Golden Hawks finished atop the CIS leaderboard for statistical performance, all earning national recognition, while two other Hawks also garnered national honours for this efforts over the course of the season. Laurier student-athletes also continued to excel in the classroom as 10 percent of the roughly 450 athletes earned Academic honours, either at the provincial or national level. Adding to the excitement this past year was the start of construction on the expansion of the Athletic Complex Fitness Centre, which will provide students and student-athletes alike a facility that will allow them to be healthy and continue to build on this year’s strong athletic performances. With that in mind, we now take a closer look at what made headlines over the past 365 days for each varsity team. For the third consecutive season, the women’s soccer team made noise across the country. Counted out in the beginning of the season as a rebuilding club, the Hawks took control of the OUA West division early on and never looked back. Led by OUA MVP and the country’s leading goal scorer Emily Brown, the purple and gold posted an 11-2-3 regular season record while leading their division in goals with 35. Playoff wins over Guelph and Queen’s gave
Max Allin from the men’s basketball team finished the season as the country’s leading scorer to earn himself CIS All-Canadian honours.
the team another appearance in the OUA Championship game, eventually falling short to the undefeated Ottawa Gee-Gees. However, the team did qualify for the third straight CIS Championship, competing against Canada’s best in Victoria. The young squad gave a strong effort but fell short to the eventual gold medalists from Trinity Western in the quarter-finals. Both Brown and defender Kelsey Tikka earned themselves CIS All-Canadian honours while Krista Cellucci and rookie Katie Bishop joined them as OUA All-Stars. On the ice, men’s hockey had a strong season thanks to some excellent goaltending provided by Ryan Daniels. After a slow start to the year which saw them sitting last in their division in December, the Hawks put together an impressive run in the second half of the season. With only four seniors in their lineup, Laurier posted a 9-3-0 record to close out the regular season, vaulting them from ninth in the OUA West division to fifth. Included in the run were impressive victories over Western, ending the Mustangs 15-game winning streak, Waterloo, Windsor and Guelph. Laurier would face the Gryphons in the opening round of the playoffs and took Guelph to overtime in the third and deciding game. However, they could not pull out the win and were eliminated from the postseason. Daniels proved his worth to the Hawks continued on page 4...
www.laurierathletics.com