The 2020 edition of the Charlatan’s Readers’ Choice Awards saw men’s hockey captain Alexandre Boivin and men’s baseball coach Daylon Courchene take home their respective awards out of the ten athletes and five coaches nominated.
Athlete of the Year: Alexandre Boivin
For five seasons Alexandre Boivin has been one of the poster players for the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team, but his time as a student-athlete has come to a close.
“It’s a bit surreal, now that it’s over,” Boivin said about his career. “It was a great experience, obviously, being able to do school and playing hockey, competing every year with the teams we had, and just meeting a bunch of great guys that came through Carleton while I was there.”
Ending his career by winning Athlete of the Year added that last “little bit of acknowledgment,” according to Boivin.
“It’s amazing … really cool. I’ve put a lot of effort into these past five years … having that at the end of the year, and a little bit of acknowledgement, it’s really awesome,” he said.
“There’s a lot that goes into it, you know, the people who help me along the way, but it’s nice to kind of end with that award and makes me really happy.”
The 2020 season had its ups and downs for Carleton, as the Ravens broke a program record but were knocked out early in the playoffs – eliminating a chance to play at the U Sports National Championships.
“It was a great ride, obviously all year we knew we were going to be a good team, but I don’t think at the start of the year we thought that we’d be that dominant throughout the regular season,” he said.
Despite his time on the ice being cut short, Boivin isn’t giving up hockey for good. Back in March, Boivin signed a deal with the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL. Making the move to professional hockey was always on his radar.
“I think playing pro was always something I wanted to do. Whether or not I would be doing it [on] the east coast, that was a different question.”
“I didn’t expect us to be done as early as we were this year, obviously I was disappointed with that, but it did leave me with the opportunity to go do something a little bit different and play pro hockey in the east coast and build up that pro resume.”
Reflecting on the team which will represent the Ravens over the next few years, Boivin is confident they will continue to test opponents.
“They’re going to compete every year. They have all the pieces of the puzzle and it’s just a matter of going out there… and I think they have all the pieces to have a breakout season that could go a long way next year.”
Coach of the Year: Daylon Courchene
As a former Ravens baseball player, Daylon Courchene has experience representing Carleton. But this season, he found himself in a different position within the team when he was appointed as interim head coach halfway through the season.
As a result of his achievements from the 2020 season, Courchene was awarded Coach of the Year, a “huge honour” for both him and the program.
“Coming into such a good team, a lot of credit goes to the players [and] the way they played, to getting that honour,” he said. “I gotta give a lot of credit to my assistant coach Mike Heffer. He made the transition easier for me, too.”
While taking over the team proved to be a challenge, it was an overall smooth transition for both coach and players, according to Courchene.
“It was a little tough, the coach that had been there before had been there for so long, but I think the players bought it quickly and it was an easy enough transition,” he said.
“I already played with some of the older guys so they knew who I was, how I thought of baseball, and how I was going to coach. So that was a lot easier for the younger guys to buy in when they saw how the older guys were buying in right away as well.”
In addition to a mid-season coaching change, the Ravens were handed the heavy task of competing in their first season in the OUA. Yet, Courchene and his team proved to be underdogs and finished with the silver medal at the OUA championships back in October.
“We kinda took over a team where, you know, loaded with talent but we weren’t achieving probably what we could get to. We just got hot at the right time and were able to make a really good run,” he said.
“I think, top to bottom, from pitching to hitting, it just all clicked at the right time. I think it showed that our ranking probably wasn’t [fit] to what we were as a team.”
“We showed that with a really solid round robin and a team effort through the medal round and getting all the way to the final. I think we ran out of gas a little bit, just from playing so many games, playing so many tough teams, and playing so well. Still a great accomplishment that we did.”
Coming up next season, Courchene has dropped the interim title and will now act as the full time head coach of the baseball team as they look to push their accomplishments one step further.
“We lost a couple key veteran players, but I think after the recruiting we did this year, we will still have a really strong team,” he said.
“I think we’re ready to make another run at trying to win this whole thing this time. A lot of the players, they now understand what it takes to get silver. I think everyone, they want the next step. The next step is to try and win it all.”
Feature images from file
