Payton Shimoda, left, poses with Dr. Annette Trimbee - President and Vice-Chancellor of MacEwan University - after receiving the prestigious Leadership Award as the top overall Griffins' student-athlete in 2025-26 (Jefferson Hagen photo).

April 12, 2026

Awards Banquet: Men's hockey wins three major trophies, Shimoda takes prestigious Leadership Award

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – After earning the right to host a Canada West playoff series for the first time, men's hockey was rewarded for their historic season with three of the six major awards at the Griffins Athletics banquet on Saturday night.

Forward Kadyn Chabot was named MacEwan Male Athlete of the Year, Myles Gauld won MacEwan Male Rookie of the Year, and the men's hockey squad together claimed the Griffins' Team of the Year award.

Women's volleyball setter Payton Shimoda won the prestigious Griffins Leadership Award, which goes to the top overall student-athlete at MacEwan, based on athletics, academics and community service.

And women's soccer has its day at the awards table, as well, with Anneke Odinga earning Griffins Female Athlete of the Year for a second-straight season and Kiera Inglis winning Female Rookie of the Year.

The awards were presented during a Saturday night gala at the Sandman Signature Downtown Edmonton Hotel, a ceremony which also included inducting five new members into the Griffins Wall of Distinction: swimming coach Linda Swallow (1997-2007), golf co-coaches Jodi Campbell and Alan Riley (2009-20), women's hockey athlete Melody Woolger (2006-09) and women's volleyball athlete Cassidy Ross (2013-18).

Melody Woolger, left, Linda Swallow, Cassidy Ross, Jodi Campbell and Alan Riley formed the Griffins' Wall of Distinction class of 2026 (Jefferson Hagen photo).

Shimoda became the first women's volleyball student-athlete to win the Griffins' Leadership Award (which began in 2023-24) after leading MacEwan back into the playoffs in her final season.

The team captain moved into the top-20 all-time in assists in Canada West history with 625 in 2025-26, running her career total to a program-record 2,769. In the classroom, she is on track to become a five-time U SPORTS Academic All Canadian with a 4.0 GPA in a Bachelor of Commerce. And her community service work included volunteering in her church's kitchen, working with Athletes in Action and serving as a guest coach for schools and clubs throughout Edmonton.

"I feel incredibly honoured," said Shimoda. "It's very cool to be recognized and meet President Trimbee (who presented the award).

"It's sweet to celebrate with my team."

Chabot rewrote the men's hockey program record book with a prolific offensive season, recording 18 goals and 37 points in 27 games. He led Canada West in five-on-five scoring and tied for the conference goals lead. He was named CW Player of the Week three times in 2025-26 – the most-ever by a Griffin.

Chabot is the ninth player in men's hockey program history to win the MacEwan Male Athlete of the Year award.

"Just my teammates, my friends, they made it special," he said. "Brett Bamber, that's a great guy to see. I was just shooting to score. It was just going in this year.

"It's great (to win)," he added. "It was definitely a goal of mine, but there's lots more to come."

Athletes of the Year winners Anneke Odinga, left, and Kadyn Chabot flank MacEwan University Provost Dr. Craig Monk on Saturday (Jefferson Hagen photo).

Odinga recorded a goal and four points – second amongst Canada West defenders in 2025 – to reach 18 points in her career, becoming the program's all-time leading scorer amongst defenders. The speedy fullback was named to the Canada West first all-star team for a fourth-straight season – the first Griffin in any sport to accomplish the feat.

It's the fifth time a student athlete has won the Griffins' Female Athlete of the Year award in back-to-back seasons – the most recent being women's soccer defender Jamie Erickson, who captured it in both the 2018-19 and 2019-20.

"It means everything, especially coming off an injury," said Odinga, whose season ended two games early with a knee injury. "It just makes me feel way more grateful this time around.

"I didn't want to end the season that way at all, but I feel this little award just makes it that more sweet. I'm happy to end my five years here on a good term."

Inglis extended the Griffins women's soccer team's streak to eight seasons in a row of having at least one player on the Canada West All-Rookie team. She drove play from the fullback position, finishing with the most points amongst CW rookie defenders with two, and started 10 games as a first year on the veteran-laden playoff bound Griffins.

Even though she joined the team in January 2024, she didn't consume any eligibility until this season, retaining her rookie status.

"I think it was really great," she said of her 2025 season. "It was a longtime coming for me. I'd been on the team awhile, so just having the opportunity to step up and make an impact for the team was really special.

"It's really special. I owe it all to my team. It's a great group of girls and a really special moment for me."

Kiera Inglis, left, and Myles Gauld won the Griffins' Rookie of the Year awards (Jefferson Hagen photo).

Gauld, who also had co-emcee duties with women's basketball's Ava Regier during Saturday's Awards Gala, became the fifth Griffins men's hockey player to win MacEwan's Male Rookie of the Year honour.

His season included matching the program record for the most points by a Griffins rookie in a Canada West season when he scored eight goals and added 10 assists in 28 games. Gauld also put his name in the record book 10 other times as he helped the Griffins make the playoffs.

"It means a lot (to win)," he said. "A lot of great other people could have won it, so it shows how good we did as a team this year.

"I think just the group of guys that we had (was the difference). We all had the same goal – getting into the playoffs and having home ice advantage. I think just collectively as a team helped me as an individual get better opportunities."

The Griffins men's hockey team won the MacEwan Athletics department's Team of the Year award for 2025-26 (Jefferson Hagen photo).

Men's hockey won the Team of the Year honour for the fifth time in program history after finishing with their best record (12-11-5) since entering Canada West in 2021. That earned them a CW home playoff series for the first time.

Among the other notable accomplishments they had, they became the first MacEwan team to win four CW Player of the Week awards in a season. They won over other finalists, women's volleyball and women's soccer.

"I'm going to be honest with you, usually coming into these awards ceremonies you don't think of those kind of things – it's more about the camaraderie of being together," said men's hockey captain Sam Simard, who accepted the award on stage. "But this one felt really good for the group. We definitely had it circled on our little card. I'm really excited for it to come up because I think we did a lot of things to deserve it.

"I mean, women's soccer was unbelievable this year and women's volleyball was just as good. So, just to be up with those two teams is an honour and to be able to win it means the absolute world."

Individual team awards – Most Outstanding Player (MOP) and Rookie – were also presented during the evening. Here are the winners by team: