Ridgebacks men's hockey captain named nominee for Randy Gregg award
February 24, 2011
The Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Randy Gregg Award is annually given to the player who best exhibits outstanding achievement in hockey, academics and community involvement. The national Randy Gregg Award winner will be announced at the CIS national men's hockey championships from March 24 to 27 at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.
"No person could have embodied the ideal student-athlete any better than Nathan has," said UOIT head coach Marlin Muylaert. "His unselfishness, his giving of his time and his willingness to step up and be a leader with these endeavours goes hand in hand with what the Randy Gregg Award serves to highlight."
Spaling is the first Ridgeback player to be nominated to receive this honour. The fourth-year student in Criminology and Justice who will receive his degree this June, played in all 28 games for UOIT this season, leading the team with 10 goals and 16 assists. Spaling has played in every UOIT game in the men's hockey program's four-year history and is the team's all-time leading scorer.
Off the ice, Spaling excels in the classroom and in his community. He is a two-time CIS Academic All-Canadian, two-time UOIT Ridgebacks Scholastic award winner, two-time winner of the UOIT Ridgebacks Men's Hockey Top Scholar Athlete award, and the inaugural James-Baun Cup recipient as the male hockey student-athlete who best represents commitment, dedication, perseverance, academic responsibility, leadership and excellence at UOIT.
Among the highlights of Spaling's long list of community involvement, he is a mentor at the Eastview Boys and Girls Club in Oshawa, assisting with outreach to at-risk youth and for the last three years has acted as an instructor at the Craig Fisher Hockey School assisting youth with development of skills. He is also actively involved in many endeavours in his hometown of Drayton, Ontario, where he is an event volunteer, motivational speaker, youth advisor, personal support worker and also an assistant in bereavement services at the Drayton Heritage Funeral Home.
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