CALGARY — An Olympian, a soon-to-be Olympian and an aspiring CFL quarterback are in the running for Canada’s university sport awards.
University of Calgary quarterback Andrew Buckley, 2014 Olympic hockey player Melodie Daoust from McGill and Rio-bound University of Toronto swimmer Kylie Masse are among eight nominees for the annual BLG Awards.
The awards have recognized the best student-athletes in Canadian Interuniversity Sport since 1993.
The Jim Thompson Trophy goes to the female winner and the Doug Mitchell Trophy is given to the top male athlete. Both receive $10,000 post-graduate scholarships. This year’s recipients will be announced May 2 in Calgary.
McMaster volleyball player Stephen Maar, hockey players Jordan Murray out of the University of New Brunswick and Guillaume Asselin from the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres are the other male finalists.
Acadia basketball player Paloma Anderson and Thompson Rivers University volleyball player Iuliia Pakhomenko join Daoust and Masse as this year’s female nominees.
The awards ceremony ends one chapter and starts another for Buckley. He capped his fifth and final season with the Dinos winning the Hec Crighton Trophy that goes to the top CIS football player for a second straight year.
The six-foot pivot from Calgary put an exclamation point on his university career with a single-season CIS passing yards record (3,162). Buckley has signed with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders and will attend their rookie camp in May.
"The transition from CIS to CFL is huge, but given that I’ve been to two CFL camps and had a chance to play in an exhibition game last year, it gave me a year to mentally prepare for what I need to get done," Buckley said.
"This award, when it wraps up on May 2, will be basically be the last CIS thing I’ll be doing. The CIS career has been great and I’ve accomplished a lot of cool things. I’m ready to move on to see what the next chapter holds."
Buckley was also a BLG nominee in 2015, while Daoust was a finalist in 2013.
Student-athletes must compete in CIS sport a minimum of two years to be eligible and can’t be a previous recipient of a BLG Award.
CFL football player and Olympic bobsledder Jesse Lumsden, Olympic women’s hockey team goaltender Kim St. Pierre and Olympic heptathlete Jessica Zelinka are among previous recipients of the awards, which are sponsored by the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais.
The Canadian Athletic Foundation that chooses the winners consists of 19 business people from five Canadian cities. Lawyer Doug Mitchell, a former CFL player, executive and commissioner, is chairman of that board.
The public is also invited to vote online on the CIS, BLG and Sportsnet websites.
A quick look at this year’s BLG nominees:
Iuliia Pakhomenko — In her two seasons at Thompson Rivers, the five-foot-11 left-side hitter helped transform the WolfPack from a winless squad to a playoff team. From Ukraine, she’s in the process of applying for Canadian citizenship.
Kylie Masse — Won the 100-metre backstroke at the recent Olympic trials to earn a berth on Canada’s swim team for Rio. The 20-year-old from Lasalle, Que., swept three backstroke finals and finished in the top two in all seven of her events at the CIS championship.
Melodie Daoust — In what was a comeback season after major knee surgery, the 24-year-old from Valleyfield, Que., led the CIS in goals-per-game (0.9) and points per game (1.7). Daoust was a member of Canada’s victorious Olympic team in 2014.
Paloma Anderson — First BLG nominee from Acadia, Anderson’s 18.7 points per game ranked second in the country and lifted Acadia to a 16-4 record.
Jordan Murray — Defenceman from Riverview, N.B., helped the Varsity Reds win a CIS championship. Once cut from a midget triple-A team, Murray contributed at both ends of the ice with 28 points in 27 games and a plus-24 rating.
Guillaume Asselin — Right-winger from Quebec City is the first BLG nominee from UQTR. Asselin led the Patriotes and the CIS in goals (27), points (46) and game-winners (6) in 28 conference games.
Stephen Maar — Six-foot-seven outside hitter from Aurora, Ont., led a rebuilding Marauders volleyball team to an 18-2 record and a silver medal at the national championship.
Andrew Buckley — In addition to a CIS passing record in his final season, the Dinos quarterback also set a Canada West conference record in completion percentage (72). The Dinos went 8-0 in the regular season, but were upset in the Hardy Cup by eventual Vanier Cup champion UBC.