This article is the fourth of an eight-part series. To read more about what The Ubyssey’s Sports Awards are, check out the first award here.
With university sports often giving deference to older, more experienced players, especially in an environment where eligibility is limited, it can be difficult for true freshmen to see playing time in their first year. So, while we have a more traditional award for Rookie of the Year upcoming, we also wanted to recognize players who had a similar splash on to the scene this year — but may not have been able to make the same impact at the start of their careers while they waited their turn. That’s what the Breakout Player of the Year award is for. It recognizes the largest jump in production for a varsity athlete from one year to another — for non-rookies, since they get their own award — regardless of what year of eligibility they might be in.
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 men's hockey, my nomination will be forward Ty Thorpe. Thorpe has played very well in his three seasons at UBC, but this year, he really broke out. Despite playing in fewer games than the prior two seasons, he put up quite a bit more in the point department, becoming more than a point-per-game player, notching 38.
He was very key to UBC down the stretch. Despite not playing on the top line that dominated most of UBC's offensive production this year — Scott Atkinson, Chris Douglas, Sasha Mutala — Thorpe still produced to an extent where he was the tenth-highest point getter in the nation. That's despite not being on his own team's top line. He’s a very good player, and again, he has been throughout his time at UBC, but this year was where he took it up a notch.
(Luiza Teixeira | Women’s Hockey): I'm nominating Hanna Perrier. Honestly, at first I didn’t notice her much this season, but as the months progressed, I've seen her making a growing impact. Looking at the stats, I can see why. In her first year, she only got one point. Her second year, she got three. This year, she got 17, which is quite impressive.
In the same way as rookie Ilona Markova, she's super energetic. She's always touching the puck. She's always fighting for possession. She was one of UBC’s key players in the national championship this year, especially in their consolation final game against Waterloo. She was taking some nasty hits and she was still fighting. So yeah, I'm nominating her.
(Maia Cesario | Women’s Soccer): I'm going to nominate Ava Alexander. I feel like she's not someone you would immediately think of as a breakout player, but she fits the description. While she was in her fifth season with UBC this year, and has been a solid player throughout her career, she's really been more of a bench player, making less of an impact over the years just because of some of the other talent that has been on the team. She's played really well and made an impact where she can, but she'd always kind of been second-string behind some of their strikers and other offensive players.
But this year, she was a really big part of just the veteran leadership on the team, taking on the main striker role. She started 18 games, only missing one weekend series. She had nine goals and 19 points, which was a large jump from her last four seasons at UBC. The team counted on her when it mattered, playing all 120 minutes in their quarterfinal game against Guelph in the playoffs.
She's just really big on offence for them. UBC had a lot of really high scoring games this year, and a lot of those came from her, even having a hat trick in their Oct. 4 game against UBCO. She stepped up on offence when they had an open role, filling it right away and finding a way to make her mark this year.
(Annaliese Gumboc | Football): Okay, I think this is kind of an easy one for me — Trey Montour, a second-year wide receiver. He was just amazing this season. In his first year, he had 26 yards receiving in nine games, and then this season, he had 763 yards, averaging 85 yards receiving per game.
Despite being on a team with Shemar McBean, who I think is the best wide receiver in the conference, Montour was still sixth overall in the nation for touchdowns and seventh overall in the nation for receptions. Playing on a team that was facing as many struggles as UBC was, it's kind of incredible that he was able to kind of blossom the way he did.
(Ian Cooper | Men’s Basketball): My nomination is Nylan Roberts, easy. He was coming off the bench in his first year, but he wasn't playing much, maybe 10 minutes a game at most. Even in that playing time, he wasn't shooting three-pointers at all, he was like 16 per cent shooting from three on the year, averaging only three points a game.
And then this year, he averaged 12 points a game and was second on the team in three-point percentage. He was easily their most reliable perimeter scorer. He also led the team in rebounds, even though he shared the front court with first team Canada West all-star Nikola Guzina, who's six-foot-10. He brought something that they really needed this year, high-energy shooting, just all the things you could want.
He kind of filled the hole that Adam Olsen left when he transferred to the NCAA this year. They're very similar builds and frames, while also doing similar things. And Roberts is honestly a better rebounder — despite being maybe less of an explosive scorer. It was just a crazy jump to take from having a minimal role to being easily one of the most important members of the team.
(Sofia Campanholo | Women’s Volleyball): Okay, I'm going with — even though she didn’t appear until very, very late in the season, I think it is worth mentioning her — Ella Ungemach.
At the start of the year, she wasn't playing as much. I'm not sure if she was injured, but she's a third-year, and the coach wasn't putting her on the court. Since this is my first year covering volleyball, I had no idea if she was good or not. But at nationals, she came out of nowhere.
I'm not going to say she's the only reason they won their last game, but she was the main reason. Especially for the third and fourth set, I swear to God, she was just notching kill after kill. It was unexpected and insane to watch in-person. She was also a large part of the reason the team was even able to get to the consolation final, as for some of the games prior, the coach started to put in her more and more.
I didn’t understand why he wasn't putting her in more, because every time she entered the court, she would play really well. She's an extremely promising player, even just from what we saw at nationals. She's going to be a very key player next season, and I think she's going to be even better than she was this year.
Verdict:
This one was pretty clearcut. While Thorpe and Roberts both got some love here, the voters had a clear favourite, with Trey Montour taking home this award. Here are the voting results:
- Football: Trey Montour - 4 votes
- Men’s Hockey: Ty Thorpe - 1 vote
- Men’s Basketball: Nylan Roberts - 1 vote
- Women’s Volleyball: Ella Ungemach - 0 votes
- Women’s Soccer: Ava Alexander - 0 votes
- Women’s Hockey: Hanna Perrier - 0 votes
(Caleb Peterson | Sports + Rec Editor): Montour fits the definition of this award to a “T.” Last year, he was essentially a non-factor in their offence. While he got a couple catches, heading into this season, he wasn’t somebody you were going to circle on the depth chart as poised for a top-tier receiving season.
Especially so, considering the crowded receiver room he was a part of. Annaliese mentioned McBean, but Montour was also competing for targets with Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez, who has been an explosive, versatile threat for UBC his whole career. Yet, at points during the season, Montour outshone them both.
There’s also a much less scientific quantifier in play here — the eye test. Montour immediately stands out with how he plays, using his athleticism to win 50/50 balls, making some of the most ridiculous catches you’ll see at this level of football. With McBean graduating, Montour will step into the No. 1 receiver role this year, and after having an off-season to develop further chemistry with quarterback Drew Viotto, he will be extremely dangerous for any opposing defences.
After the T-Birds’ season opener against Manitoba in August, head coach Blake Nill drew a lofty comparison for Montour. He reminisced back to 2019, where he made the prediction that one of his incoming starters on the offensive line would soon be the best player in the country.
That player was Giovanni Manu, the offensive tackle that would become an all-Canadian player, being so exceptional that he was the T-Birds’ first ever NFL draft pick, going in the fourth round to the Detroit Lions, where he’s been for the past three years. Nill’s implication seemed to be that he viewed Montour the same way. That’s a high bar, but one season in, Montour is on pace to hit it.
“I'm telling you, Trey Montour, you're going to hear a lot from him,” said Nill. “He's an extremely talented receiver.”
