MONTREAL – This week marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of a Hockey Hall of Fame legend and as is customary, the recipients of McGill University's 2024 Jean Béliveau Athletic Awards for combining leadership with academic excellence and athletic prowess have been announced.
 
Hockey player Mathieu Gagnon of Gatineau, Que., is among the laureates, along with soccer's Mara Bouchard of Granby, Que., and swimmers Iris Tinmouth of Comox, B.C., and Mats Baradat, a native of Hyères, a town on the Mediterranean coast of France.
 
Gagnon is a 23-year-old management junior who qualified for U SPORTS Academic All-Canadian status and made the President's Student-athlete Honour Roll. With the men's hockey team, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound centre has scored 76 points, including 24 goals, in 101 career games overall. Earlier this week, U SPORTS announced that he was selected to play for the Canadian university all-star squad that will confront the Team Canada hopefuls next week in preparation for the IIHF world junior championship. An alternate captain with the Redbirds, he will also represent Canada next month with the U SPORTS all-star team headed to the FISU Winter University Games in Italy.
 
Bouchard is a 23-year-old psychology senior, taking a double minor in sociology and behavioural science. She qualified for the President's Student-athlete Honour Roll. With the soccer Martlets, she is a four-time conference all-star who has earned All-Canadian status in each of her last three seasons. The 5-foot-4 midfielder is a defensive minded specialist renowned for stealing the ball without fouling. She was voted as the league's rookie of the year in 2021 and made the U SPORTS All-Rookie squad. Over her four years, she didn't miss a game, dressing for 56 consecutive regular season outings and four more in playoffs. She served as team captain in her last three campaigns. 
 
Tinmouth is a 20-year-old science junior, majoring in microbiology and immunology, who serves as an alternate captain with the women's swim team. In the pool, she scored significant points last season, helping lead the Martlets to the 2024 RSEQ conference championship and a fourth-place finish at the U SPORTS championship in Pointe Claire, Que. At the Nationals last spring, she reached the "A" finals in four events, including a fourth-place finish in the 200m butterfly. She also broke the swim team's longest standing school record (800m freestyle), which was set back in 2001. In the classroom, Tinmouth earned Academic All-Canadian status and made the President's Student-athlete Honour Roll. She served as a team ambassador for the campus-wide McGill 24 fundraiser. Among her many scholarships is the Genereux and Legault Award for high athletic achievement and the Tomlinson Engagement Award for Mentoring (TEAM) students in biology. She is the holder of a Dorothy Nichol Scholarship for academic achievement, combined with leadership in the McGill community. Last year, Tinmouth also received the varsity swim program's Dimock-Meloche Award for leadership and team spirit, along with the Marie-Claude Samure Award for combining excellence in athletics and academics.
 
Baradat is a 21-year-old economics sophomore with a minor in management. A key member of the men's swim team, he qualified for the President's Student-athlete Honour Roll. In the pool, Baradat is coming off an impressive freshman campaign, where he was named as both, the RSEQ and McGill Athletics rookie of the year, in addition to earning conference swimmer of the year honours. Baradat also merited league all-star and U SPORTS All-Canadian status. Over his four conference meets, he tallied seven gold medals and a pair of bronzes, including a triple golden performance at the RSEQ title meet, where McGill captured the 2023-24 championship banner. He qualified for five events at Nationals last spring, where he was the team's second leading scorer with 80 points. He claimed gold in the 4x200 freestyle relay and bronze in the 400 free, leading the Redbirds to a third-place podium finish. In his other events, he placed sixth in the 1500 free, 11th in 200 butterfly and 14th in 200 free. This past summer, he was selected to serve as a lifeguard at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
 
The Jean Béliveau Athletic Awards were initiated in 2016 thanks to the generosity of several donors, including 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 in interest per year – is awarded annually to four full-time varsity student-athletes (two men and two women).
 
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, he 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. 
 
All-time List of McGill's Jean Béliveau Athletic Award Recipients
 

YEAR	NAME	SPORT
2016	Melodie 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)
2022	Monty Weatherall	Rugby (m)
2022	Christiana Colizza	Hockey (w)
2022	Victor Rolland	Rowing (m)
2022	Makayla Mitchell	Track & Field (w)
2023	Pablo Collin	Swimming (m)
2023	Victoria Iannotti	Volleyball (w)
2023	Eliana Zhang	Badminton (w)
2023	Chris Cinelli-Faia	Soccer (m)
2024	Mathieu Gagnon	Hockey (m)
2024	Mara Bouchard	Soccer (w)
2024	Iris Tinmouth	Swimming (w)
2024	Mats Baradat	Swimming (m)

 
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca