MONTREAL – On the seventh anniversary of the passing of a Hockey Hall of Fame legend, the recipients of McGill University's Jean Béliveau Athletic Awards for 2021 have been announced.  
 
Hockey's Samuel Tremblay of St. Basile le Grand, Que., was selected along with volleyball's Audrey Trottier of Longueuil, Que., rugby's Owen Cumming of Toronto and swimmer Hiba Doueihy of Ehden, a mountainous town in northern Lebanon.
 
These Athletic Financial Awards were established in 2016 to honour the memory of the Montreal Canadiens captain, Hall of Fame member and inspirational community leader who passed away on Dec. 2, 2014. They recognize outstanding McGill student-athletes for leadership in the community. Recipients receive a medallion accompanied by a bursary which ranges between $2,500 and $6,000, as per OUA and U SPORTS regulations.
 
Tremblay, a speedy 5-foot-11, 175-pound centre, serves as team captain of the hockey program. In 2019 and 2021, he was selected for the Quebec university all-star team that played a preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens rookie squad, serving as captain in this year's contest. A 26-year-old master's student in science, he is majoring in human bio-mechanics after graduating last spring with a science degree in kinesiology. Tremblay is a past recipient of the Martlet Foundation's 1938 Champions Award for combining leadership with athletic performance and academic proficiency. He made the Principal's Student-athlete Honour Roll and qualified for Academic All-Canadian status. He missed the first half of the 2019-20 season after a knee injury but bounced back to play down the stretch and tallied 10 points in 10 regular season games. In 2020, he was a co-recipient of the Dr. Mac Teskey Award, presented to a McGill student-athlete for overcoming adversity and serving as an inspiration to others. Off the ice, he served on the Students' Athletics Council, sat on the Varsity Renaming Committee and volunteered with the hockey team's mentorship program, which offers support to freshmen. Among the projects that he was involved with was a Motionball fundraiser in support of the Special Olympics and a team fundraiser in support of the Black Youth Hockey Community in Nova Scotia. He also helped coordinate the McGill hockey team's Seeds of Change campaign and Alumni Summer 4-on-4 Tournament, both fundraisers. Finally, Tremblay also serves as a team representative on the McGill Varsity Council.

Trottier is a 22-year-old honours sophomore in science, majoring in kinesiology. The 5-foot-9 setter became a starter midway through her freshman season in 2019-20, earning both RSEQ and U SPORTS all-rookie honours. In her role on the court, she is the equivalent of a quarterback in football, setting up the team's offensive plays. Over the past two years, Trottier has volunteered as a service helper at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, as well as in the day surgery department at the Montreal General Hospital and in the radiology department of the Charles-Lemoyne Hospital.
 
Cumming is a 21-year-old senior, majoring in political science with a minor in communications and Canadian studies. He made the Dean's List and qualified for the Principal's Student-athlete Honour Roll. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound scrum-half earned all-star second-team status in the RSEQ this past fall. In 2019, he was selected to play for the Quebec Selects in the Canadian university national sevens tournament. Cumming serves as co-president of the McGill rugby program and is in his second term as vice-president (communications) of the McGill Varsity Council, a leadership group of volunteers that serves the needs of the campus's 30 intercollegiate teams and offers charitable assistance for worthy causes in the community. The rugby squad ended up raising about $5,000 at the 2020 RBC Race for the Kids, in support of CHU Sainte-Justine Children's Hospital, and over $18,000 from the past two Movember campaigns to combat cancer and other related men's health issues. Cumming and his teammates also volunteered with local on-campus groups like Meals for Milton Park, a food drive for the needy. He helped lead the rugby program's 2021 Seeds of Change Campaign, which raised about $62,000 as part of McGill24, the University's one-day fundraising campaign.
 
Doueihy is a 20-year-old sophomore in international development studies. In her first year of competition as a 5-foot-6 butterfly specialist with the Martlets, she is also a member of the Lebanese national swim team. Doueihy has spent much of her free time being active in her community, helping to rebuild the societal fabric in Lebanon. She serves with Odyssey, a sports volunteering organization that offers much-needed supplies and helps clean streets, schools and homes of people in Beirut affected by a terrorist explosion in August 2020. Doueihy has volunteered at the Red Cross in Lebanon, caring for the elderly, as well as children affected by Down's Syndrome. She also volunteered at a social kitchen in Beirut, cooking meals and distributed them to families and needy people.

The impetus for implementing these Jean Béliveau Athletic Awards at McGill came from several donors (George Lengvari and Terry Tretiak of Lengvari Capital, The Rossy Family Foundation, the Joe Weider Foundation, Power Corporation and the Martlet Foundation). The endowed fund -- expected to generate approximately $25,000 per year -- is awarded to four full-time varsity student-athletes (two men and two women) who have demonstrated academic achievement and leadership in student and/or community affairs.
 
Béliveau skated for 18 seasons with the Canadiens from 1953 to 1971. He was a member of 10 Stanley Cup-winning teams as a player and seven more as an executive with the team. Off the ice, Béliveau supported charities in Quebec and throughout Canada. In 2003, the Montreal Canadiens introduced the Jean Béliveau Trophy, which is awarded to the Canadiens player who best demonstrates community involvement and spirit.  In 2006, he was presented with an honourary doctorate of law from McGill. 

McGill's Jean Béliveau Award Recipients
 

2016	Mélodie Daoust	Hockey (w)
2016	Joel Houle	Football (m)
2017	Alex Kiss-Rusk	Basketball (w)
2017	Nathan Chiarlitti	Hockey (m)
2017	Marjolaine Ste-Marie	Volleyball (w)
2017	Sanchit Gupta	Soccer (m)
2018	Dominic Talbot-Tassi	Hockey (m)
2018	Jeremy Sauvageau	Football (m)
2018	Sarah Dubois	Soccer (w)
2018	Rebecca Gillis	Swimming (w)
2019	Dori Yeats	Rugby (w)
2019	Quentin Basiren	Rowing (m)
2019	Gabriella Doueihy	Swimming (w)
2019	Dylan Havelock	Rugby (m)
2020	Daphne Danyluk	Swimming (w)
2020	Louis-Philip Guindon	Hockey (m)
2020	Maria Gheta	Artistic Swimming (w)
2020	Cameron Butterfield	Soccer (m)
2021	Samuel Tremblay	Hockey (m)
2021	Audrey Trottier	Volleyball (w)
2021	Owen Cumming	Rugby (m)
2021	Hiba Doueihy	Swimming (w)

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Off.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca