WHL alumni celebrate national awards, wild weekend for Mount Royal Cougars
Calgary, Alta.- Mount Royal Cougars Head Coach Bert Gilling admits he wasn’t immediately sold on Connor Bouchard when his coaching staff suggested recruiting the young forward.
But as he rolled through highlights from the young man’s highlights, he saw a spark in his game and gave him a call.
Two seasons later, Bouchard is being celebrated as the top men’s hockey player in all of U SPORTS and the winner of the 2024 Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy after a historic season with the Cougars.
The 23-year-old popped off for 23 goals and 34 assists for 57 points and a +31 rating in 26 matches in 2023-24, becoming the first Canada West player to break the 50-point mark since the 2000-02 season.
“I’m just excited and proud,” Bouchard said. “I play on such a good team and we have so many good players and so many guys that could have won this, so I just feel pretty fortunate and humbled and proud to be part of this organization, this program and university.”
He’s the second Mount Royal standout to win the award in the last three seasons, following in the footsteps of his close friend and former Tri-City Americans and Cougars teammate Nolan Yaremko, who is currently playing professional hockey in Germany.
Bouchard’s teammates have seen his game grow leaps and bounds since cracking the Americans roster as an undersized forward.
“He was on Tri-City and I was on Portland, so we played each other a lot,” Cougars defenceman Clay Hanus recalled. “Even in the WHL, he was a very strong player and I think he just got better every year and then now at U SPORTS, he’s, you know, probably the best player in the league.
His playmaking, his vision and his overall skill set are incredible. I haven’t seen a player since maybe (Carolina Hurricanes forward and Portland Winterhawks graduate) Seth Jarvis in the WHL, kind of do what he does. He just takes the game over and does his thing.”
Ahead of last weekend’s home-opening set against the reigning Canada West Champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, the Cougars honored Bouchard, along with his All-Star teammates, U SPORTS Goaltender of the Year Shane Farkas and U Sports First Team All-Star defenceman Hanus.
Farkas, who suited up for the Winterhawks and Victoria Royals over four major junior seasons, led the conference with 18 wins and four shutouts in 23 games played.
His teammates praised his unflappable presence between the pipes- as Bouchard puts it, Farkas’ calm is simply contagious.
“It felt really rewarding,” Farkas, a third-year Sports and Recreation Management student and 2023 Academic All-Canadian, said. “Not that I’m one for personal achievement, but just to be recognized on any level for anything is always nice. Just going through personal hard work and hardships and trying to overcome obstacles and being recognized for that was honestly quite humbling, but it felt very nice.”
Hanus, who captained the Winterhawks in 2021-22, earned the Canada West Mervyn “Red” Dutton Trophy for top defenceman thanks to a 36-point campaign, towering plus-14 rating and substantial minutes played against tough opposition.
“He’s got good hand skills and puck skills, but boy, his shot and his skating really jump out at you when you’re with him,” Gilling said. “He’s got that gear on the ice. He can take over a moment on the ice. He can go end to end. He can blast it by the goalie at any moment on the power play.
He’s making himself a pro right before our eyes.”
So, how do you go about topping such a monumental season?
“By winning a national championship,” Bouchard simply.
It’s a tall ask in a stacked conference- but in the days after Bouchard’s comments, the Cougars proved they can handle the best by sweeping the reigning champion Thunderbirds in dramatic fashion.
“I think we have a really good core returning group of guys,” Hanus added. “There were some individual awards last year, but I think we’re trying to look past that right now and try to bring awards to the whole team.”
IS THIS MOUNT ROYAL COMEBACK FOR REAL?? 🤯
Down 3-0 to UBC with three minutes to play.
Tied the game with 9.8 seconds left.
Won the game with 1.9 seconds left.
INCREDIBLE. pic.twitter.com/UCWXQuDqTc
— Canada West (@CanadaWest) October 12, 2024
Hanus scored and picked up two assists and Bouchard earned a pair of helpers as Mount Royal scored four unanswered goals in the final four minutes to claim a 4-3 victory over UBC in the Cougars’ home-opener and the group would make it a weekend sweep with another 4-3 victory the following night.
The Cougars are currently 4-0 and lead the conference’s West Division.
Hanus, from Minnetonka, Minn., is tied for the Canada West points lead with three goals and five assists in four games, with Bouchard tied for second with one goal and six assists.
The quest for the first Canada West championship in program history continues with a cross-city tilt against the University of Calgary Dinos (2-1-1) this weekend.