Canada West celebrates 2025 SID Award recipients

April 25, 2025 - Canada West has announced its 2025 SID Award recipients, celebrating excellence in sports information, communications and media across the conference.

The annual awards honour the vital role sports information professionals play in sharing the stories and achievements of Canada West's student-athletes, coaches and teams. Each season, sports information departments work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure high standards are met in statistical accuracy, webcasting, social media, photography and more. They are often the last ones to leave the venue on game nights, making sure reporting requirements are fulfilled.

The awards feature six categories and are voted on by SIDs from each of Canada West's 17 member institutions, making the awards a true peer-to-peer recognition.

2025 SID Award Recipients

Feature Story of the Year: Remembering Dylon Powley: Passionate, competitive, selfless leader touched the entire soccer community

Writer: Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Griffins

"Remembering Dylon Powley" is a powerful tribute to the former MacEwan Griffins men's soccer goalkeeper who tragically passed away in a motorcycle crash last June. Powley played for the Griffins during the 2015 and 2016 Canada West seasons before launching into a professional career in the Canadian Premier League.

Hagen poignantly paints a picture of the incredible impact Powley had on his teammates, coaches, and the entire Edmonton soccer community. The article’s strength lies in its ability to immortalize Powley’s spirit, using intimate quotes from former teammates that leave a lasting emotional impact on readers.

Action Photo of the Year

Photographer: Liam Richards, Saskatchewan Huskies (Electric Umbrella)

This year's Action Photo of the Year captures the defining moment when Vince Loschiavo kept the Huskies’ season alive with a last-minute goal in the third period of Game 2 of the Canada West semifinals. The goal not only secured the win but also propelled the Dogs to a series victory and ultimately a conference title.

The photo encapsulates the raw emotion of the moment for both teams – Loschiavo’s jubilation with teammate Chantz Petruic celebrating in the background, as well as the agony of defeat for the visitors. The photo taken by Liam Richards embodies the intensity and drama of playoff hockey while capturing an unforgettable moment for the Huskies in 2024-25.

Social Media Content: Calgary Dinos - "Gen Z CEO Promo Video Series"

Contributors: Robbert Van Lambalgen, Ben Matchett

The Dinos capitalized on the "Gen Z marketing script" trend to produce a video promoting "Pack the Jack," their largest basketball event of the season. It helped the team draw over 1,400 fans to the game, marking the second-largest crowd for a court sport since 2020.

The video was scripted, shot, and edited by Robbert Van Lambalgen, who joined the Dinos team this season in a social media role. Calgary Director of Athletics Ben Matchett was a good sport while starring as the "Main Character." The video proved to be the most talked-about piece of content for the Dinos this season, drawing over 31,000 views and 18,000 accounts reached. The video was so popular, a sequel was produced to promote the Crowchild Classic.

Sports Info Assistant of the Year: JT Martine, Brandon Bobcats

JT Martine quietly and humbly went about his duties during the 2024-25 Bobcats season, but made an impact that deserves more than just a pat on the back. The graduate of Brandon’s Neelin High School stepped up in a major way during a period of time where the Bobcats were without an SID, taking on the challenge of learning stat entry and game setup.

Problems and issues were inevitable, but JT calmly handled the situation anytime something came up. The U SPORTS Men’s Volleyball Championship – Presented by Sunrise Credit Union – was the final mountain summit to climb and JT helped the team reach the top and pull off a spectacular event. JT is in his second year as a BU student and is majoring in physics with a minor in math.

CanadaWest TV MVP: Neil Noonan, Manitoba Bisons

Neil Noonan has been the heart and soul of Manitoba Bisons broadcasts since 2018, when he was originally hired as webcast director.

Now in an expanded role as Digital Production Coordinator, Neil has single-handedly taken the Herd’s broadcasts to a new level. He sets up the tricaster in-venue for every single sport, going back and forth from the rink to the court all season, while setting up all the graphics and background details needed to tell an engaging story. He also troubleshoots any issues that happen in real-time. His passion for the area of Canada West TV has elevated the conference’s brand significantly and he is always looking for new ways to enhance the viewer’s experience. That included the addition of volleyball net cameras, which multiple schools have followed suit with.

Neil is someone who works behind the scenes and prefers it that way. But there’s no denying the strong impact he has had. Manitoba consistently has some of the highest viewership totals on CWTV, and the Bisons also boast the two largest national championship viewership totals in U SPORTS history, with track and field last year and men’s volleyball nationals in 2022.

This year, Neil took his game up even further, culminating in a seven-camera setup for the U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball National Championship. His passion and hard work resulted in 40,000 views on YouTube of the national final, with 132,000 total views of all games over the three day event.

Video of the Year: Mount Royal Cougars - “The Comeback"

Contributors: Labeled Agency & Katie Mueller

"The Comeback" chronicles the dramatic scenes from the MRU Cougars men's hockey home opener against UBC. The video tells the tale of one of the craziest comebacks in Canada West history, as the Cougars managed to erase a 3-0 deficit in the final two minutes of play before winning the game 4-3 in regulation. The video's reach was impressive, amassing 24,803 views.

View "The Comeback" on Instagram.

About Canada West

As the leading university athletic conference in the country, Canada West is home to student-athletes that excel in the classroom and their communities. The conference is comprised of 17 member institutions spanning from Victoria to Winnipeg, with over 3,200 student-athletes competing across 14 sports. Canada West’s mission is to train leaders and build champions by providing leadership in the delivery, regulation, and promotion of university level high performance sports programs throughout western Canada.