HIGH ACHIEVERS: Ivanie Blondin, Tyrone Henry repeat winners of Ottawa Sports Awards’ athletes of the year

By Martin Cleary

Ivanie Blondin and Tyrone Henry play two completely different sports, but they have one thing in common that fuels their performance: blades.

Blondin, one of the world’s best long-track speed skaters, zips around an icy oval over various distances, wearing lengthy boot blades, which can range between 41 and 56 centimetres.

Henry, a para hockey defenceman, sits on a metal sled only a few centimetres off the ice. He zigs, zags and sprints over the hockey rink on a pair of long blades measuring about 25 centimetres in length.

Despite their different approaches to two successful Canadian winter sports, they also have something even more special in common than sharp blades.

On Feb. 5, Blondin and Henry will be introduced not only as world champions, but also as the respective female and male athletes of the year during the 72nd Ottawa Sports Awards Dinner at a new banquet venue, the Infinity Convention Centre at 2901 Gibford Drive.

Celebrating the best in amateur sports for the previous year, the largest sports awards dinner in Canada will also highlight the female and male coaches and teams of the year.

Dinner organizers also will honour three individuals with lifetime awards in the fields of technical official, coaching and volunteer/administration. The Mayor’s Cup for outstanding contribution to sport in Ottawa will be presented as well.

Blondin’s off-ice win is a record-tying milestone as she will become only the second individual to capture the female athlete-of-the-year award for a sixth time. Accomplished long-track speed skater Kristina Groves won the dinner’s top female athlete prize in 2004 and strung together another five honours from 2006-10. The award is named after Groves.

The achievement by Blondin gave her five consecutive female athlete-of-the-year honours over the past six years. (There was no Ottawa Sports Award Dinner in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Blondin was the outright female-athlete-of-the-year winner for 2024, 2023, 2019 and 2014, and shared the award with long-track speed skating teammate Isabelle Weidemann in 2022 and 2021.

During her 2023-24 season, Blondin, 34, capped her campaign by winning three medals at the world single-distance championships in March. She claimed the gold medal in team sprint, and silver medals in the team pursuit and mass start.

Read More: HIGH ACHIEVERS: Blondin, Weidemann win multiple medals at speed skating worlds

Blondin, known for her longevity and versatility, opened her 2024-25 season by winning three races at the Canadian championships (1,000, 1,500 and 3,000 metres). The Gloucester Concordes product also captured the 3,000-metre race at the opening World Cup stop and was part of Canada’s bronze-medal-winning mixed-gender relay team, which was a first for the national team in a race that was introduced last season.

By winning the men’s athlete-of the-year award, Henry also achieved some historic milestones. Not only did the Canadian assistant captain help his team win the second world para ice hockey championship during his career and Canada’s first-ever on home ice with six assists during Canada’s run to its first-ever world title won on home ice, but also he played in his 100th international match.

Henry, 31, became only the fourth male to be the city’s top men’s athlete two or more times. In 2022, Henry won the male athlete-of-the-year award for the first time.

He joins multiple-winners Vincent De Haitre (long-track speed skating – 2014, 2016 and 2017), Craig Savill (curling – 2007 and 2012) and Horst Bulau (ski jumping – 1981 and 1982).

Henry also became the first athlete with a disability to win the award more than once. Visually-impaired runner Jason Dunkerley was the first para athlete named as male athlete of the year in 2004.

At the 2024 world para ice hockey championship in Calgary, Henry used his defensive skills to limit the powerful United States team to only one goal, while Canada counted two in the gold-medal final.

Henry’s fellow Sledge Hockey of Eastern Ontario product Anton Jacobs-Webb scored the game-winning goal in the championship game as Canada ended USA’s streak of three consecutive world titles and a pair of Paralympic crowns.

Read More: 3 local players capture Canada’s first para hockey world gold in 7 years, first on home ice

Henry’s 2024 season also included winning silver medals at the Para Cup and the Para Hockey Cup.

The 2023-24 women’s basketball season was filled with celebration for Carleton University Ravens head coach Dani Sinclair and it continues with her first coach of the year honour from the Ottawa Sports Awards.

Sinclair guided the Ravens to a 21-1 regular-season record to win a second straight OUA pennant in 2024 and added six playoff victories to capture provincial title and the U Sports national championship.

Her accomplishments also allowed Sinclair to be named the 2024 OUA coach of the year across all university sports.

At the FISU Americas 3×3 women’s basketball tournament last May, she sparked her four-member team to a gold medal and a berth in the FISU University Basketball World Cup, where the Ravens claimed the silver medal.

In the first half of the 2024-25 season, the Ravens were 11-0 in OUA regular-season play.

The stellar record of the Ravens women’s basketball team also earned it the Ottawa Sports Awards’ women’s team of the year for the second time in a row.

The Ravens won their second consecutive OUA and U Sports championships in 2024 and finished the season with an overall 35-1 record. They led the country in both scoring and points against. Carleton has won a career four OUA titles and three national championships.

Player depth was a key aspect to the Ravens’ success as four players averaged 10 points or more a game and 10 players averaged a minimum of 10 minutes or more a game.

Internationally, the Ravens were the FISU Americas 3×3 champions and the FISU University Basketball World Cup silver medallists. The Ravens will start the 2025 portion of their 2024-25 season with an 11-0 OUA record.

Besides basketball, soccer was a prominent sport in Ottawa in 2024. David Fox of the Ottawa South United was named the men’s coach of the year, while the Gloucester Celtic FC men’s premier squad was selected the men’s team of the year.

Fox was the Ottawa South United Force’s Ontario Player Development League technical lead and helped guide the girls’ U16 and U17 and boys’ U15 and U17 teams to provincial championships in 2024. The boys’ U15 squad also earned a national championship.

He also was the head coach for OSU’s girls’ U16 5×5 team, which won the Gatorade Canada tournament and the Global tournament by defeating Colombia 4-0, Brazil 1-0 and Colombia again 3-2 in the gold-medal final.

When his teams weren’t playing, he continued to follow the progress of former player Annabella Chukwu, who set a Canadian record for career international goals at the youth level (28 goals in 34 matches) and surpassed the record (27 goals in 19 games) held by Christine Sinclair.

Fox coached Chukwu, who attends the University of Notre Dame, in the girls’ U13, U14 and U15 divisions.

The Gloucester Celtic FC men’s premier team recorded a dominating season, 25 wins and two ties, and won its third Canada Soccer Toyota national championship. The Celtic also were Canadian champions in 2022 and 2013.

At the national championships, the Celtic posted four wins and one tie and defeated Nova Scotia’s Suburban FC of Bedford 1-0 for the gold medal. Joey Kewin counted the game-winning goal and Anton Favre earned the shutout.

The Celtic prepared for the national championships by winning the MilkUp Ontario Cup men’s title 6-1 over Scarborough for its fifth career provincial title and third in the last four seasons. At home, the Celtic won the Ottawa-Carleton Soccer League at 13-0-1 as well as the Ottawa Cup trophy with three victories.

Maureen and Sandeep Chopra, who are considered “the engine behind the rejuvenation and development of the local field hockey scene,” will receive the Mayor’s Cup for their many years of support and dedication to amateur sport in Ottawa.

The Chopras have not only played the game at the international level, but also have coached at the high school and club levels, expanded field hockey programs and venues in the city and have made inclusion an important ingredient.

They co-founded the Nepean Nighthawks in 2002, developing skilled players and are community builders. The Nighthawks have acted on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action by creating the Stick Together Program, which provides free field hockey programs and equipment to local Indigenous youth 8-14 years old. The club’s 18-member coaching staff recently completed the Aboriginal Coaching Module.

Maureen, who played for Canada at the 1987 Pan American Games, received the Grassroots coach of the year award in 2021 from Field Hockey Canada and has volunteered at every Ontario Summer Games since 1995.

Sandeep, who played for Canada’s men’s masters teams at the 2018 and 2022 World Cup competitions, has coached for more than 40 years and continues to try to grow the game in Ottawa by spearheading the creation of the Field Hockey Centre.

For making significant contributions in athletics, golf and curling, Ann Perry will receive the lifetime award for a technical official.

Since 1979, Perry has been an athletics’ official, who served as an umpire at the 2015 Pan American and Para Pan American Games and was the chief photo judge at the Canadian track and field championships from 2016-19.

In curling, she has been an umpire, coach, instructor and was a long-time Ottawa Ladies’ Curling Association rep. She used her skills as a timer at the Brier and the world men’s curling championship in 2023, and the 2022 world university games qualifier.

For his contributions to the Ottawa cricket scene through his dedication to being an administrator and statistician, John Lexmond will receive the lifetime award for volunteer/administrator.

He has been a member of the Ottawa Valley Cricket Council since 1977 and his knowledge of cricket and his commitment to volunteering has earned him the respect of his peers.

President of the Ottawa Cricket Club for the past 10 years, Lexmond has served on the Ottawa Valley Cricket Council for more than 20 years.

In 1980, he became the OVCC’s official scorekeeper and statistician and still charts league matches on his laptop.

For being a caring and committed coach and giving her students a positive and fulfilling sport experience in rhythmic gymnastics, Xinhong (Sing) Jin has won the lifetime award for coaching.

Xinhong founded the Ottawa Rhythmic Gymnastics Club in 1996 and is its head coach and owner. She is a certified NCCP level III coach and judge and an NCCP course conductor.

For more than 15 years, she has taught Special Olympic athletes and helped five rhythmic gymnasts reach the Special Olympics World Games.

When she’s not coaching at her club, she has taught a rhythmic gymnastics program for the City of Ottawa and in schools. She also has developed a program for gymnasts interested in becoming a coach.

Tickets are now on sale through OttawaSportsAwards.ca.

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