2022 MUFLL Awards and Season Recap

The Dalhousie Tigers, fresh off their 11th consecutive championship, lead the way with 8 total All-Stars, including 3 on the first team and 5 on the second team. Halifax Thunderbirds draft pick Keaton Brown led the way on defence for the Tigers, being voted a first team All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year again, despite missing championship weekend to attend NLL Training Camp. Lucas Mazer, a first team All-Star in the Midfield was named Top Senior, as he looks to graduate in the spring from Dalhousie after a successful 5 year-run with the Tigers, winning his 4th consecutive championship. Zane Fletcher was the other Tiger named to the first team, as the 2021 Freshman of the Year led the team in goals, finishing with 19 for the second consecutive year. Second team All-Stars for the Tigers are headlined by Zach Richards, the first year goalie who garnered MVP votes despite losing out on the top individual award. Also named to the second team were Jake Piper at Attack, Hayden MacDougall on Defence, Anton Jasa as a face-off specialist, and Nate Contant at LSM. Jasa returns to the All-Star teams for another year, while Contant, Piper (both first year players), and MacDougall were all first time All-Stars alongside Richards.

 

The STFX X-Men dominated the first team with 5 players, including both specialist positions at the face-off dot (Scott Boucher) and LSM (Liam O’Hara). Kale Gordon, voted league Offensive Player of the year for the first time, was instrumental in their tight 7-4 loss to Dalhousie in the Championship Game on November 6th at Husky Stadium in Halifax. Payton Tasse, the leading point-scorer in the MUFLL in 2022, was also named a first-team all-star, despite losing to Dal in the championship game for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons. Peter Lattanzi was also voted a first-team All-Star at Midfield, while Max Janousek and Cole Pedersen were voted second team All-Stars at Midfield and Defence respectively as the team finished second in the standings during the regular season.

 

The SMU Huskies hung tight as hosts to start in the semi-finals before falling to the eventual champion Tigers. Nate Jollymore stood on his head as per usual, leading the team all campaign. For his efforts, Jollymore was voted MVP by his peers for the 2022 season. He was also named a first team All-Star alongside teammates Cole Reschny and John-David Todd,  though the Huskies ultimately fell short of their goals in 2022. Todd led his team in scoring from the Midfield and finished tied for second in league goal-scoring with 20 goals, while Reschny was a lockdown presence and leader in the defensive half. Matt Duggan and Chris Meredith were named second team All-Stars for the Huskies at attack and midfield, respectively. Midfielder Niko Davies was also named the MUFLL Freshman of the Year, despite not being named to an All-Star team. As hosts of Championship weekend 2022, SMU provided an exceptional product, including streaming games for the first time in several years. SMU also had their coaching staff voted as the Coaching Staff of the Year for 2022, with the team finishing 3rd overall in the regular season standings.

 

The UNB Reds were led on the scoresheet, on the field and on the bench (by the time the playoffs came around) by longtime attack-man and coach Chris Burgess. Burgess finished the season tied for second in league goal-scoring with 20 goals of his own, 13 more than his closest UNB teammate. Burgess and teammates Daniel Gilbert and Nick Parsons were all named second team All-Stars for their efforts, leading UNB to the 4th seed in the regular season, as well as a a quarter final win against the 5th seeded UPEI Panthers. Despite the loss of Burgess for the playoffs, UNB managed to squeak past the Panthers before falling to the X-Men in the semi-finals.

 

The UPEI Panthers sent a defender to the first All-Star team for the second consecutive year, with Joe Hansen being voted to the first team. Leading the Panthers on defence as the team gave up only 100 goals across the 10 game regular season, Hansen also received defensive player of the year consideration. The Panthers finished the year strong despite dropping a close quarter-final matchup with the UNB Reds. While he wasn’t named an All-Star, Mathieu Valois was the second Panther since the team’s founding in 2019 to score double digit goals, after Bradley Norman did the same last season. Goalie Dave Burke followed up his first-team masterpiece in 2021 with a strong showing in 2022, despite not repeating as an All-Star.

 

The Mount Allison Mounties occupied their usual position at the bottom of the regular season standings, despite putting forth a valiant effort each and every weekend against touch competition. Early-season losses to the Panthers 10-6 and Huskies in 1-goal fashion brought promise, though it fizzled out with back-to-back crushing defeats to the defending champion Tigers to cap off the regular season. Despite the disappointment of 2022, the team had a strong first-year showing, as Connor Smith and Aidan Hazen bring promise for the future as the first double digit goal scorers for the Mounties since Gus Doane and Nick Scott in 2017. 

 

As the league looks ahead to the 2023 season, we wish everyone a Happy New Year, and best of luck with the new semester to all the student athletes from all our teams. 

 

 

 

MVP: Nate Jollymore (SMU)

OPOY: Kale Gordon (STFX)

DPOY: Keaton Brown (DAL)

Freshman: Niko Davies (SMU)

Senior: Lucas Mazer (DAL)

Coaching Staff: Saint Mary’s Huskies

Top Scorer: Payton Tasse (STFX)

 

 

*All-Star teams and Individual Awards were voted on by team representatives from each of the MUFLL’s 6 teams. First place votes were used as a tiebreaker.