Work ethic, drive, and determination helped Cole Beaudoin become one of junior hockey’s top prospects, and it was his ability to do it all within the framework of the rules of the game that led the Barrie Colts centre to walk away with one of the Canadian Hockey League’s top awards this season.
The Colts’ captain was named the CHL Sportsman Player of the Year on Monday afternoon at the 2026 CHL Awards ceremony held in downtown Toronto.
Presented annually to the most sportsmanlike player, the Utah Mammoth top prospect racked up 33 goals and 56 assists for 89 points in just 54 games while playing a disciplined game that resulted in just 29 penalty minutes.
“It’s just respecting your teammates, your coaches, respecting your opponents, and most importantly respecting the game of hockey,” the 20-year-old Kanata native told Barrie 360. “I’m a hardworking kid, and that’s the way I’ve grown up to be since I was a little boy playing the game.
“I’ve always had respect for the game and what hockey has done for me, and my family, so it’s the biggest thing for me.”
Beaudoin is just the second Colt to receive the award in franchise history, joining Evan Vierling, who took home the same honours for the 2022-23 season.
“It’s always an honour to win an award, but I wouldn’t be capable if I didn’t have the group I had behind me,” said Beaudoin, who was the 10th overall pick by Barrie in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection. “(It’s the) support system of my family, everyone that’s been there for me. It’s crazy the journey I’ve been through with Barrie the last four years, but a huge thanks to everyone that has helped me get where I am.”
Beaudoin led the OHL in playoff scoring with 10 goals and 29 points in just 15 games, before suffering a nine-centimetre tear in his oblique that forced him out for the remainder of the playoffs in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Brantford Bulldogs.
Missing their star forward, Barrie would go on to lose the OHL Championship in four games to the Kitchener Rangers.
“Obviously not the way we wanted it to end,” said Beaudoin.
For Colts general manager Marty Williamson, no one was more deserving of the award than Beaudoin, who edged out fellow nominees Braeden Cootes of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders and Alex Huang of the QMJHL’s Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
“I’m just so proud of him,” said Williamson. “What a career he has had with the Barrie Colts. This is just a great way for any individual to top it all off with the fantastic season he had. Obviously, we all wanted to win it, but when you sit back and look at it now, how impressed we are with the kind of season he put together for us.”
Selected 24th overall by the Mammoth in the 2024 NHL Draft, the six-foot-two, 211-pound centre registered 222 points in 236 career games over four seasons with Barrie.
Beaudoin went to Utah training camp determined to do all he could to make the NHL club but was returned to Barrie at the start of this season. The forward didn’t hide his disappointment with being sent down, but instead of sulking went right to work putting together the best season of his OHL career.
“I used it as motivation,” said Beaudoin. “I think that was the biggest thing for me going into the Utah camp. Everyone knew I wanted to make the team. Unfortunately, I got sent back, but I was going to use that time to my advantage every single time I was on the ice in practice or in the gym. Every single second of the day, I wanted to get one per cent better, and I’m happy with how the year went.
“It’s not the way we wanted it to end, but I’m overall pretty happy, and I’m just trying to have a good summer now and have the same mindset as I had last year. Go into the Utah camp with the focus of making that team and being there in the starting lineup.”
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Williamson wasn’t surprised to see Beaudoin respond the way he did.
“He’s just a guy that’s all in,” said the Barrie GM. “He wanted to be all in with Utah and believed he could have helped them. He was disappointed about being sent down, but when he got sent down, he was all in with us. There was never a point where we thought there was a period of time it was going to take him.
“It was basically as soon as he was back with us, he was Cole Beaudoin, even to a different level. I go back to Bryan Little a little bit, but what a dominating year (Beaudoin) had for us. Just every game, every night.”
Teammate Kashawn Aitcheson, the OHL Defenceman of the Year, was one of three nominees for the CHL honour, but the award was given to Bryce Pickford of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers.
Other CHL award winners announced Monday were:
David Branch Player of the Year – Maxim Masse of the QMJHL’s Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
Goaltender of the Year – Ryder Fetterolf of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s.
Rookie of the Year – Tommy Bleyl of the WHL’s Moncton Wildcats.
Top Scorer Award – Markus Ruck of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers.
Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award – Steve Hamilton of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips.
Top Draft Prospect Award – Chase Reid of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
Scholastic Player of the Year Award – Alex Weiemair of the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks
Humanitarian of the Year Award – Marcus Kearsey of the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders.
