Charlottetown Islanders' Jardine, P.E.I.'s MacDougall win CHL awards
Charlottetown Islanders defenceman Max Jardine made franchise history while P.E.I.'s Gardiner MacDougall joined select company at the 2025 Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Awards Luncheon in Toronto on June 13.
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Jardine became the first Islanders' player to be named the CHL humanitarian of the year, which is presented annually to a 'player judged to have made the most notable contribution to his community,' noted a media release.
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'It's a great honour,' said Jardine during a media availability after accepting the award. 'It's hard to take credit for it all.
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'A big thanks primarily to the Charlottetown Islanders for making all this possible and to Special Olympics, Make-A-Wish and Crime Stoppers for getting me involved this year. I'm happy to do it.'
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MacDougall. from Bedeque, is only the third winner of the Brian Kilrea Trophy as coach of the year in their first year with a CHL team along with fellow Prince Edward Islander Gerard (Turk) Gallant of Summerside and Craig Hartsburg. Gallant won the award with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in the 2009-10 season while Hartsburg accomplished the feat in the 1994-95 campaign with the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
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The coach-of-the-year award honours Kilrea, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame who coached the OHL's Ottawa 67's for 32 seasons and is the winningest coach in CHL history.
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'It's obviously a historic, significant honour when you look at the names on the trophy; just the tradition of that,' said MacDougall.
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The CHL awards feature the award winners from the QMJHL, OHL and Western Hockey League (WHL). Jardine and MacDougall were named the QMJHL winners for their respective awards in Quebec City on June 5.
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Islanders general manager and head coach Jim Hulton said Jardine winning the national award is 'an extremely proud moment' for the entire organization.
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