Supplied by Sault College…
(Sault Ste. Marie, ON April 12, 2019) – Thursday evening the Sault College Cougars celebrated another year in sport at the 52nd Annual Athletic Awards night held at Grand Gardens North. A crowd of 175 student-athletes, coaches, staff and distinguished guests gathered to celebrate another banner season for the Cougars. The event recognized Sault College student-athlete achievements both in and out of the classroom.

The 2018-19 season saw the Cougars field nine teams in the sports of: Golf, Cross Country, Curling, (M/W) Basketball, (M/W) Hockey and (M/W) Indoor Soccer. This included 150 student-athletes and 33 coaches who donned the Cougar colours in competitions across Canada and the United States. Amongst the hardware given out were the most valuable players in each sport.

The night also saw the presentation of long-standing awards to student-athletes who in their day-to-day lives represent their respective teams and Sault College as a whole at an exemplary level:

G.R. Hodgson Award
Megan Turcotte (Sault Ste. Marie/Police Foundations) – Women’s Hockey
Ryan Vendramin (Sault Ste. Marie/Police Foundations) – Men’s Hockey

Gerry McGuire Award
Matt Trainor – Director of Student Services

Coach of the Year
Mike Hall – Men’s Hockey

Team of the Year
Men’s Hockey

Rookie of the Year:
Emma Filion (Sault Ste. Marie/BScN) – Women’s Basketball
Max Khull (Echo Bay/Police Foundations) – Men’s Hockey

The festivities concluded with the naming of our Athletes of the Year presented by Matt Trainor, Director of Student Services. The Female Athlete of the Year was a graduating women’s basketball player Mercedes Ryan (Sault Ste. Marie/CYW) who took home the prestigious award capping a brilliant career at the college. Mercedes, the captain of the basketball team, was named as the OCAA Athlete of the Week in February. Over her time at the college she has been a leading scorer and dominate force for the Cougars.

The Ross Bachert Male Athlete of the Year was awarded to Ryan Vendramin (Sault Ste. Marie/Police Foundations) of the Men’s Hockey team. Vendramin, the team’s captain, was chosen this year to represent the American Collegiate Hockey Association as a member of the ACHA Division 3 Selects in Russia for the Student Hockey Challenge. He went on to become the overall leading scorer in the ACHA Division 3 and was selected as the league MVP in Dallas where he led the Cougars to their first National Championship in school history.

The Cougars Athletic department would like to wish all of its graduating student-athletes good luck and thank all of our coaches and staff who made the year’s successes possible through their hard work and dedication. The Cougars are looking forward to the next season as they welcome in a new year of recruits and the pursuit of both provincial and national glory.