Awards

Sports Awards in Canada

He shoots. He scores! Nothing compares to winning and Canadians have won a variety of major sports medals, trophies and awards at home and abroad.

Few Canadian sports awards are more famous, or have such an enduring legacy, as the Stanley Cup. Named for a Canadian governor-general, this silver cup is awarded annually to the winning team of the National Hockey League. It is currently the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America. One of the newer sports awards was created in 2005 when outgoing Governor General Adrienne Clarkson created the Clarkson Cup, the women’s hockey equivalent of the Stanley Cup.

Many award-winning Canadian hockey players have won a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. One of the highest scoring hockey players, “Rocket” Richard, was inducted in 1961.

Richard “scored” a vast number of sports awards. He was inducted into the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame. He also received the country's highest civilian award, the Companion of the Order of Canada. Several sports awards were named after Richard. The Maurice Richard Trophy is given to the player with the highest number of regular-season goals.

Other Canadian athletes, such as speed skater Catriona LeMay Doan, proved themselves at the Olympics. This double Olympic gold medal winner earned the title "the fastest woman on ice” at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and four years later at the 2006 Olympics Winter Games in Torino, speed skater Cindy Klassen proved herself to be Canada’s most successful Canadian Olympian ever winning five Olympic medals to add to her bronze medal from the 2002 Games.

Canada’s top male and female Aboriginal athletes receive The Tom Longboat Award Past winners include Angela Chalmers, one of Canada’s greatest track and field athletes.

The names of Canada’s sports champions are enshrined in Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Just a few of the names who have been inducted over the years include gold medal sprinter Donovan Bailey, cyclists Curt Harnett and Steve Bauer, canoeist Alwyn Morris, speed skater Nathalie Lambert, curler Sandra Schmirler, hockey great Wayne Gretzky and the winning 1972 Summit Series Canadian hockey team.

This section is about sports awards in Canada.