This article is the seventh of an eight-part series. To read more about what The Ubyssey’s Sports Awards are, check out the first award here.
Often unheralded, always vital. While players that primarily play on defence may not get the same pop as their offensive counterparts, not putting up gaudy stats, not always getting to celebrate after a big play, there’s a reason that saying “defence wins championships” is a cliché. A great defender — the kind of player that selflessly puts the good of the team over themselves, that can lock down an opponent and ease pressure on their offence — is key in any sport.
So, while these nominees may not be household names just yet, they deserve their time in the spotlight. That’s what this award, Defensive Player of the Year, is for. Whether someone is a defensive player because of their position, their play style, or often both, this is where we get to celebrate them.
As a refresher, each one of our beat writers from the sports team nominated one athlete for this category, then, after discussion among us, we voted for the winner. Reporters could not vote for their own nomination, and in the case of a tie, Caleb Peterson, the Sports & Recreation Editor, would cast the deciding vote. This was our voting committee:
- Luiza Teixeira: Women’s Hockey Reporter
- Maia Cesario: Women’s Soccer Reporter + Women’s Basketball Reporter
- Ian Cooper: Men’s Basketball Reporter
- Sofia Campanholo: Women’s Volleyball Reporter + Men’s Soccer Reporter
- Annaliese Gumboc: Football Reporter
- Caleb Peterson: Sports & Recreation Editor + Men’s Hockey Reporter
And here was our discussion.
Nominations:
(Caleb Peterson | Men’s Hockey): For Defensive Player of the Year, I’m going to nominate defenceman Jake Lee for Men’s Hockey. He is quite incredible as a dual threat, in line with a lot of people that win the Norris Trophy for best defenceman in the NHL. He's not just good on defence, he is quite spectacular on offence as well. He's a two-way player.
While, for Defensive Player of the Year, that's obviously not the number one consideration, I think it's important to put in perspective that despite being a defenceman, he was more than a point-per-game player. I’ve talked about Sasha Mutala for Offensive Player of the Year. I’ve talked about Ty Thorpe for Breakout Player of the Year. Lee is right there with those forwards as a top scorer in Canada, coming in 18th in points nationwide — as a defenceman.
So, that’s pretty crazy. He also earned first team all-Canadian defenceman honours — one of only two Thunderbirds to make it, along with Mutala — because he was also incredible on defence. He's not one of those guys that racks up points and is basically a glorified forward on the defensive side. He is very much a defenceman. The penalty kill does not work without him, he is the leader of that unit.
In their playoff losses against Saskatchewan, he saved multiple goals with these sliding blocks across the ice that kept them in games, more than they probably should have been. He is a very strong contender for this award. So I nominate Jake Lee.
(Luiza Teixeira | Women’s Hockey): I'll nominate Jaylyn Morris. She's a third-year defender, and was the defender of the year in Canada West. She was also the rookie of the year in the conference in 2023, earning back-to-back first team All-Star selections.
I think the reason why she's so good is, similar to Lee, she's really good at locking things down on defence, while also being great at finding offensive opportunities. She has 25 goals and 41 assists in her career, having 66 points in three years. Despite being a defender, she’s the fourth-highest scorer in the conference this season and number two in the country in power play goals.
(Maia Cesario | Women’s Soccer): I have to say Ella Sunde because not only was she the captain of the team and really important to the team in the year, but she also won Canada West defensive player of the year. She was a big part of UBC not allowing any goals in the regular season, and was a strong defensive presence throughout the playoffs. She was really solid on offence as well, with six goals in the season, which was eighth in the conference. She had 16 points, including four assists. So, outside of her defence, she was also making a large impact on offence.
Now, a European club has signed her to play professionally for the remainder of the 2025-2026 season as a defender, which is pretty incredible for a player who's just finished university, and is graduating this year. She's already moved on to the next thing. She's just a really great defensive player and a leader all-around for UBC.
(Annaliese Gumboc | Football): Overall, UBC wasn’t good defensively this year, but one of the team’s bright spots was Kinsale Philip. He was No. 1 in the nation for tackle assists and No. 4 in the nation for tackles overall.
There were so many moments where he would make an impact play and just shake up the other team. Also, we brought him out for a few trick plays, because he's a former quarterback. He's a fun player.
(Ian Cooper | Men’s Basketball): My nomination is Tobi Akinkunmi. He's similar to Cerys Merton from Women’s Basketball in that he's pretty much like their premiere defensive player, and that's where he earns his starting role from. He has a bit more of an offensive impact, he had a pretty good year offensively, but he's really just in there to visibly get in the heads of his opponents and shut things down defensively.
He led the team in steals, and he also brings energy, a certain grit and character that you just don't really find in many other people.
(Sofia Campanholo | Women’s Volleyball): I'm going with Leonora Barbulovich-Nad. She's a second-year and has been in every single game this season, which is insane, because like I said in our Rookie of the Year discussion, UBC’s coach doesn't like to put freshmen and like second-year players in games often. He often makes players wait a little bit, so the fact that she has been in every single game this entire season as a second-year is notable.
She's a middle blocker and she was near the top of the conference in multiple statistical categories. She was No. 2 in block assists this year. She was No. 4 in blocks per set. She was No. 5 in total blocks, with 80 blocks total this season. She's just very impressive — as I'm gonna keep saying — as a second-year, because I know the coach, he doesn’t like to play younger players too early, so for him to trust her that much, to put her in every single game, that shows how much of a good blocker she is.
Verdict:
Another relatively tight race here. Barbulovich-Nad made a run for it with two votes, but in the end, Jake Lee took home the honour following his senior season. Here are the voting results:
- Men’s Hockey: Jake Lee – 3 votes
- Women’s Volleyball: Leonora Barbulovich-Nad – 2 votes
- Women’s Hockey: Jaylyn Morris – 1 vote
- Men’s Basketball: Tobi Akinkunmi – 0 votes
- Football: Kinsale Philip – 0 votes
- Women’s Soccer: Ella Sunde – 0 votes
(Caleb Peterson | Sports + Rec Editor): As the Men’s Hockey beat writer, I was obviously in favour of this pick. Lee’s presence on the ice is palpable, both in terms of his leadership, his physicality, his scoring and his defensive finesse. He’s the kind of defenceman you can build a team around, and quite honestly, it seems like UBC has — he’s central to everything they do.
While the loss of UBC’s top line on offence stings, with Mutala, Scott Atkinson and Chris Douglas all graduating, Lee, by himself, feels like nearly as big of a loss. Having a true anchor back there is invaluable — especially one that can set the tone on the penalty kill, while also picking up points of his own.
I would like to give a bit of an honourable mention to the other hockey nominee here — Morris is quite an incredible player. Since I couldn’t vote for Lee, she was my choice for this award, as she passes the “eye test” better than any player I’ve watched for this section this year, in any sport.
Her highlights just jump off the screen – as a defender, she has this incredible burst, where she’ll be in the neutral zone one moment, then in the next, the puck is in your net. Her ability to almost single-handedly jump up on the rush is special, and will make her a great potential PWHL prospect next year (or the year after, depending on when she graduates).
But that’s no slight to Lee. While he doesn’t have the speed Morris has, he’s a more well-rounded player. He can truly fit in any situation and excel, and that versatility has made him immensely valuable to this T-Birds team. He’ll be sorely missed next year — but for now, his last year as a Thunderbird can be honoured with the Defensive Player of the Year award.
