Grace Elliott of the UBC Thunderbirds has won the Brodrick Trophy as the U SPORTS women’s hockey player of the year. The announcement was made on Wednesday night at the All-Canadian Awards Ceremony in Waterloo, site of the 2025 Miller Waste Systems U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Championship. Other major award winners include Daphné Boutin of Bishop’s, who was named Rookie of the Year, Elise Hugens of UBC, who took home the Marion Hilliard award (student-athlete community service); and Julie Chu, also of Concordia, who won the Fox40 Coach of the Year Award for the second-straight year.
The national championship tournament gets underway on Thursday at the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira, Ontario with the first game set to get underway at 1 p.m. ET Play continues through to the gold medal game, which is set for 6 p.m. ET on Sunday.
View the official championship website
Brodrick Trophy (most valuable player) – Grace Elliott, UBC
Leading the country in goals and points while setting new program records in a dominant offensive coming out party, Grace Elliott has been named the 2024-25 U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Player of the Year. It has been a season to remember for Elliott who exploded out of the gate and never looked back, driving UBC’s conference leading offence with record-setting numbers to earn the Brodrick Trophy.
The fourth-year forward from White Rock, B.C. led the Thunderbirds with 22 goals and 42 total points while setting program records in both categories previously set by Tatiana Rafter in the 2014-15 season.
Finishing 2024-25 with a 10-point lead atop the conference scoring race, Elliott’s remarkable season was also one of consistent production. She was never held off the scoresheet for consecutive games, put up multiple points on 12 different occasions with a season-long point streak of 11 games.
Elliott also led the conference in plus/minus with a +28 rating, power play points with 15, and tied for the lead with seven power play goals and six game winning tallies.
It’s the second straight season a Thunderbird has led the Canada West regular season in points and the third time in the last four years with Mackenzie Kordic accomplishing the feat last year and Chanreet Bassi doing so in 2021-22. Elliott’s 42 points also stand as the highest single season total in the conference since Iya Gavrilova’s 43 in 2015-16.
Elliott is the first Thunderbird to win the Brodrick Trophy and the first player in program history to win a major U SPORTS award.
Other nominees (Brodrick Trophy): Grace Beer (Dalhousie), Émilie Lussier (Concordia), Carly Orth (Waterloo).
Rookie of the Year – Daphné Boutin, Bishop’s
Daphne Boutin is the second straight Bishop’s Gaiter to win the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year award, following Gabrielle Santerre’s history-making win last season.
Boutin, a 5-3 psychology student from Longueuil, Que. made a seamless transition from the Champlain-Lennoxville Cougars – where she played her Cégep hockey – to the U SPORTS level. She tallied 22 points, in 21 games placing her seventh in the conference in scoring.
In the playoffs, Boutin continued to excel. She had three assists, including one for the highlight reels to set up Santerre for an overtime winner in game two of the RSEQ semifinal. That win punched the Gaiters ticket to the U SPORTS nationals for the first time in program history.
Other nominees- : Abby Larkin (Dalhousie), Clara Chisholm (Laurier), Jules Stokes (Regina)
Marion Hilliard Award (student-athlete community service): Elise Hugens, UBC
On the ice, Elise Hugens has been the backbone of the Thunderbirds, holding program records for most wins in a season (18), career wins (58) and most career shutouts (21). But her extensive volunteer and community work off the ice has been just as impactful as her performance in UBC’s net.
Hugens has made a significant impact through her volunteer work, particularly with SuperHEROS Hockey. This program provides children with cognitive and physical disabilities the opportunity to learn how to skate and play hockey. Elise has been a dedicated volunteer with the program for four years, accumulating over 150 volunteer hours while helping the program double in size through her ability to get her teammates and other UBC programs involved.
Beyond hockey, Elise has contributed to the community in numerous ways. She has volunteered with Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, providing support and peer mentorship to sick children and their families. She is also an active member of the Thunderbird Athletic Council and serves as UBC’s representative on the Canada West Student Engagement Council. Her passion for giving back extends to the coaching realm, where she has been mentoring aspiring young hockey players since she was 12 years old. This season, she was the goalie coach for the U-15 A2 Angels and a coach for the U-9 Angels.
Elise’s dedication also extends into research and nonprofit work. She is involved in a kinesiology research lab studying physiological responses to aerobic training. She has also worked with the Paralympic Sports Association in Edmonton, leading inclusive sports summer programs for adults with disabilities. Her leadership efforts include organizing a toy drive for the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau during a recent Thunderbirds home game that collected over 120 toys.
Other nominees: Shaylin McFarlane (UPEI), Emily Baxter (Toronto Metropolitan), Jenna Merk (Regina)
Fox40 Coach of the Year: Julie Chu, Concordia
Julie Chu, head coach of the Concordia Stingers is the 2024-25 U SPORTS women’s hockey coach of the year, her second-straight time winning the award.
The Stingers had a regular season record of 20 wins and one defeat. Chu’s team finished the regular season with 89 goals-for and 31 goals-against, leading the league in both categories. The Stingers finished tops in U SPORTS for goals per game with 4.24, also finishing 2nd in Canada with 148 assists in 21 games. Concordia had the highest powerplay percentage in U SPORTS, scoring at 35.6%.
Julie Chu was named head coach of the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey program on June 9, 2016.
Originally from Fairfield, Conn., she came to Concordia with an impressive hockey résumé from her time as a student-athlete at Harvard University and as an Olympian with Team USA. Chu has been building her coaching résumé since she graduated from Harvard. She was an assistant coach for University of Minnesota Duluth and helped the Bulldogs win their fourth NCAA Division I national championship in 2008. She was also an assistant at Union College from 2010 to 2013. In summer of 2016, she coached at U.S. U18 development camps.
Chu graduated from Harvard with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology.
She is the second Stingers coach to win national coach-of-the-year honours, following Les Lawton in 2000.
Other nominees: Ben Berthiaume (STFX), Kelly Paton (Laurier), Brandy West-McMaster (Regina)
2025 WOMEN’S HOCKEY AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS
Brodrick Trophy (outstanding player of the year): Grace Elliott, UBC
Rookie of the year: Daphné Boutin, Bishop’s
Marion Hilliard Award (student-athlete community service): Elise Hugens, UBC
Fox40 Coach of the Year: Julie Chu, Concordia
First Team All-Canadians
| Athlete | University | Pos | Year | Hometown | Academic Program |
| Grace Elliott | UBC | F | 4 | White Rock, B.C. | Arts |
| Émilie Lussier | Concordia | F | 2 | Sainte-Martine, Que. | Leisure Studies |
| Carly Orth | Waterloo | F | 4 | Bolton, Ont. | Recreation & Sport Business |
| Madison Laberge | Nipissing | D | 5 | Val Thérèse, Ont. | Physical & Health Education |
| Léonie Philbert | Concordia | D | 5 | St-Bruno-de-Montarville, Que. | Mathematics (M.A.) |
| Grace Beer | Dalhousie | G | 3 | Oakville, Ont. | Recreation |
Second Team All-Canadians
| Athlete | University | Pos | Year | Hometown | Academic Program |
| Aliya Johma | Mount Royal | F | 4 | Edmonton, Alta. | Arts |
| Maggie McKee | Nipissing | F | 5 | London, Ont. | Physical & Health Education |
| Maude Pépin | Bishop’s | F | 5 | Pont-Rouge, Que. | Education |
| Daphné Boutin | Bishop’s | D | 1 | Longueuil, Que. | Psychology |
| Mackenzie Lothian | STFX | D | 2 | Allison, Ont. | Business Administration |
| Grace Glover | Alberta | G | 2 | Boissevain, Man. | Education |
All-Rookie Team
| Athlete | University | Pos | Hometown | Academic Program |
| Clara Chisholm | Laurier | F | Granton, Ont. | Psychology |
| Noémie Fontaine | Bishop’s | F | Gatineau, Que. | Psychology |
| Naomi Morin | Ottawa | F | Gaspé, Que. | Human Kinetics |
| Daphné Boutin | Bishop’s | D | Longueuil, Que. | Psychology |
| Sydney Hood | Brock | D | Erin, Ont. | Teacher Education |
| Sarah Howell | Laurier | G | Greely, Ont. | Kinesiology |