Brittany Seidler, a fourth-year forward from the University of Guelph, was named CIS player of the year in women's field hockey, Wednesday night.
 
The native of Oliver, Ont., became only the second player in Gryphon history to claim the Liz Hoffman Award. Former Guelph great Brienne Stairs was honoured in both 2009 and 2010.
 
Other winners announced at the All-Canadian Awards Banquet held at the Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel in Toronto were UBC's Hannah Haughn, who captured the Joyce Slipp Award as CIS rookie of the year; Calgary's Carolina Romeo, who merited the Gail Wilson Award as outstanding contributor; Western's Jeff Pacheco, who received the Marina van der Merwe Award as coach of the year; and Denise Pelletier, who referees in the OUA conference and was named umpire of the year for the second straight season.
 
The 2012 Field Hockey Canada - CIS championship gets under way on Thursday at the University of Toronto's Varsity Centre and culminates Sunday at 1 p.m. with the gold-medal final. All 12 matches from the five-team tournament will be webcast live on CIS-SIC.tv.
 
Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/fh/index

Seidler had another stellar campaign for the Gryphons as she repeated as OUA player of the year and earned her third straight selections as a conference all-star and first-team all-Canadian. The 5-foot-6 senior led the OUA in the regular season with a whopping 19 goals – including five penalty strokes - in 12 contests, seven more than any other player in the league.
 
This year, the Gryphons have also utilized Seidler from the midfield position to take advantage of her outstanding play-making abilities. She guided Guelph to a second-place finish in conference play with an 8-3-1 record and an OUA silver medal.
 
"Her technically advanced ball skills and explosiveness have made a huge impact on our forward line and make her entertaining to watch," said Guelph head coach Michelle Turley. "She is the most dynamic player that I have ever had the opportunity to coach."
 
Saint Mary's midfielder Mandy Avery and UBC forward Kate Gillis were the other nominees for CIS MVP honours.

ALL-CANADIAN TEAMS 

The all-Canadian teams were also announced on Wednesday, with reigning national champion UBC and Canada West rival Calgary leading the way with four selections apiece.
 
The nine standouts joining Seidler and Romeo on the first CIS team were league MVPs Kate Gillis of UBC and Mandy Avery of Saint Mary's, as well as York's Adriana Fernandes, Saint Mary's Paige Johnson, Victoria's Kyla Kirby and Toronto's Kaelan Watson on defence, UBC's Natalie Sourisseau and Toronto's Amanda Woodcroft at midfield, and Calgary'sKeara Chicquen at forward.
 
Seidler was named to the top squad for the third straight season, while Avery and Watson both received the honour for the fourth consecutive year. Watson was also voted to the second team as a rookie in 2008.
 
In addition to Haughn, the second all-Canadian unit for 2012 is comprised of Waterloo teammates Courtney Bisch and Winnie Huynh, the UPEI duo of Ellen Dixon and Marina MacAulay, Calgary teammates Courtney Duggan and Sydney Hamm, UBC's Miranda Mann, Victoria's Carly Krestanovich, Western's Katelynn Roganowicz, and Toronto's Tegan Stairs.    
 
2012 CIS WOMEN'S FIELD HOCKEY AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS
 
Liz Hoffman award (player of the year): Brittany Seidler, Guelph
Joyce Slipp award (rookie of the year): Hannah Haughn, UBC
Gail Wilson award (outstanding contributor): Carolina Romeo, Calgary
Marina van der Merwe award (coach of the year): Jeff Pacheco, Western
Umpire of the year: Denise Pelletier, OUA
 

First Team 

Pos.     Athlete                        University       Year    Hometown                  Faculty

M         Mandy Avery              Saint Mary's    5          Halifax, N.S.                Arts
F          Keara Chicquen           Calgary            4          North Vancouver, B.C.            Haskayne Business
M/D     Adriana Fernandes       York                5          Mississauga, Ont.         Health Studies
F          Katherine Gillis            UBC                3          Toronto, Ont.               Arts
D         Paige Johnson              Saint Mary's    3          Burlington, Ont.           Arts
D         Kyla Kirby                   Victoria            4          Victoria, B.C.               Social Sciences
D         Carolina Romeo           Calgary            5          Calgary, Alta.               Engineering
F          Brittany Seidler            Guelph             4          Oliver, Ont.                  Arts
M         Natalie Sourisseau       UBC                3          Kelowna, B.C.             Kinesiology
D         Kaelan Watson            Toronto            5          Richmond, B.C.           Physical Education
M         Amanda Woodcroft     Toronto            2          Waterloo, Ont.             Concurrent Education
 
Second Team
 
F          Courtney Bisch            Waterloo          4          Wellesley, Ont.            Kinesiology
D         Ellen Dixon                 UPEI                5          Kingston, P.E.I.            Unclassified
D         Courtney Duggan         Calgary            4          Calgary, Alta.               Arts/Engineering
G         Sydney Hamm             Calgary            1          Rossland, B.C.             Nursing
M         Hannah Haughn           UBC                1          West Vancouver, B.C. Kinesiology
D         Winnie Huynh             Waterloo          4          Mississauga, Ont.         Chemical Engineering
D         Carly Krestanovich      Victoria            4          Surrey, B.C.                 Education
M         Marina MacAulay        UPEI                4          Vernon River, P.E.I.    Nursing
D         Miranda Mann             UBC                4          Duncan, B.C.               Kinesiology
F          Katelynn Roganowicz  Western           3          Burlington, Ont.           Health Sciences
M/F      Tegan Stairs                 Toronto            3          Kitchener, Ont.            Arts & Science