Concordia Stinger defenceman Carl Neill won the Guy Lafleur Award of Excellence, a prestigious honour presented annually by the Montreal Canadiens to a Quebec university hockey player who successfully combines athletic performance and academic excellence.
The award was presented to Neill by the iconic Lafleur before a packed media conference at the Bell Centre this morning. The honour comes with a $6000 scholarship spread out over three years.
The Lachute, Que. native enjoyed an exceptional rookie campaign with the Stingers in 2017-18. He was named to the U SPORTS all-rookie team and was an OUA first team all-star. In 28 games, he scored five goals and added 26 assists for 31 points. He was the top scoring defenceman in U SPORTS hockey.
Neill puts a lot of time and effort into community service. He has a long list of activities he has supported over the years including Leucan, the pediatric ward at Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke and more recently he has helped with a few minor hockey initiatives.
He maintained a GPA over 3.0 while working on a Certificate of Arts and Science. Neill will transfer into the Human Relations program this coming season.
Neill is the first Stinger to win the award since Olivier Hinse won the scholarship in 2015.
