BURLINGTON, ONT – Three members of the McGill men's hockey team were among the laureates announced by the Ontario University Athletics conference, Thursday. Nikolas Brouillard of St. Hilaire, Que., was named defenceman of the year and Louis-Philip Guindon of St. Joseph du Lac, Que., was voted goaltender of the year. They both merited first-team all-star status along with teammate Dominic Talbot-Tassi, a senior rearguard from Mascouche, Que.

It marked the first time in school history that McGill had both defencemen on the league's top all-star squad. The last time that a McGill threesome made the first all-conference squad was in 2010-11. That year, the McGillians featured forwards Alexandre Picard-Hooper and Francis Verreault-Paul, along with defenceman Marc-André Dorion.

Brouillard, 24, who was a second team all-star a year ago, becomes McGill's sixth recipient in 11 years to receive the division's most outstanding defenceman award. He joins a list that includes Samuel Labrecque (2016), Ryan McKiernan (2014) and Marc-André Dorion, who won it on three occasions (2012, 2011, 2010).

Brouillard posted a 7-16-23 record in 28 regular season games, ranking third among OUA rearguards in goals and fifth in points. The 5-foot-11 economics junior possesses a shot as hard as any blue-liner in the league and forces opposing teams to defend differently when he is on the ice, especially on the power-play. Since joining the university ranks, he has 22 goals and 49 points in 57 regular season games, scoring more goals than any OUA defenceman during that span. He also has a 3-12-15 record in 17 career OUA post-season contests. Brouillard played for U SPORTS all-stars against Canadian junior prospects in each of the last two years and has registered a 1-4-5 record in his five games (Dec. 2019, Dec. 2018).

He also played -- along with Guindon and Talbot-Tassi -- for a university all-star squad from the Quebec-based teams in the OUA East against the Montreal Canadiens rookie team (Oct. 2019) and was previously invited to NHL training camps with Winnipeg (2013), San Jose (2014) and Toronto (2015, 2016).

Guindon, 24, proved to be one of the toughest goalies to beat this season. A two-time all-star and double recipient of  OUA East goaltender of the year award, the 6-foot-1, 188-pound masters student in exercise physiology finished among the upper echelon of the leaderboard. He registered a nation-best .941 save percentage and ranked third among his OUA counterparts with a 2.22 goals-against average, while registering three shutouts and posting a 12-8 record. Guindon shone brightest with a pair of 56-save performances this season, including a 3-2 overtime win over Concordia and a 4-2 road victory over Ottawa. Both outings equaled the second-highest save total in school history and the most ever in a McGill victory.

Talbot-Tassi, who stands 5-foot-9, merits all-star honours for the third time, having previously earned second-team status in 2016 and 2017. The 25-year-old mining engineer led McGill in scoring and finished third among OUA rearguards with a 4-20-24 record in 28 league games. He will graduate this spring as the only McGill player to dress for all 28 regular-season contests in each of his five years, re-writing the school's iron-man record to 140 consecutive games.  He also became McGill's all-time top-scoring blue-liner in league play with a career dossier of 135 points, including 106 assists in 140 OUA games. He surpassed the regular season standard set by Marc-André Dorion, who tallied a 23-107-130  total in 105 league games from 2008 to 2012. Including non-conference and playoffs, Talbot-Tassi played a school record 201 contests and sits second among rearguards in career points with 190, two shy of Dorion's overall record.

2019-20 OUA Men's Hockey Major Award Winners & All-Stars

OUA East Division

Major Awards
Most Valuable Player – Chris Paquette, RMC
Defenceman of the Year – Nikolas Brouillard, McGill
Goaltender of the Year – Louis-Philip Guindon, McGill
Rookie of the Year – Chris Paquette, RMC
Randy Gregg Award – Brendan Jacome, Ottawa
Most Sportsmanlike Award – Austin Eastman, Ontario Tech
Coach of the Year – Shaun Van Allen, Carleton

First Team All-Stars
F – Chris Paquette, RMC
F – Kevin Domingue, Ottawa
F – Austin Eastman, Ontario Tech
D – Nikolas Brouillard, McGill
D – Dominic Talbot-Tassi, McGill
G – Louis-Philip Guindon, McGill

Second Team All-Stars
F – Tyler Hylland, Concordia
F – Cody Caron, Carleton
F – Alexandre Boivin, Carleton
D – Joshua Burnside, Carleton
D – Carl Neill, Concordia
G – Justin Nichols, Carleton

All-Rookie Team
F – Chris Paquette, RMC
F – Tyler Hylland, Concordia
F – Julien Tessier, UQTR
D – Dominic Cormier, Ottawa
D – Gabriel Bilodeau, Concordia
G – Luke Richardson, Queen's

OUA West Division

Major Awards
Most Valuable Player – David Thomson, Toronto
Defender of the Year – Gregory DiTomaso, Ryerson
Goaltender of the Year – Jonathan Reinhart, Windsor
Rookie of the Year – Franco Sproviero, Western
Randy Gregg Award – Anthony Stefano, Western
Most Sportsmanlike Award – Daniel Del Paggio, Lakehead
Coach of the Year – Ryan Medel, Toronto

First Team All-Stars
F – David Thomson, Toronto
F – Mathew Santos, Ryerson
F – Todd Winder, Guelph
D – Gregory DiTomaso, Ryerson
D – Brendan Bornstein, Toronto
G – Jonathan Reinhart, Windsor

Second Team All-Stars
F – Matt Mistele, Ryerson
F – Joey Manchurek, Toronto
F – Ryan Valentini, Guelph
D – Kyle Jenkins, Wilfrid Laurier
D – Jordan Sambrook, Brock
G – Alex Bishop, Toronto

All-Rookie Team
F – Franco Sproviero, Western
F – Anthony Salinitri, Windsor
F - Giordano Finoro, Guelph
D – Jordan Sambrook, Brock
D – Brendan Bornstein, Toronto
G – Matt Williams, Wilfrid Laurier