Women's Hockey | 3/20/2025 2:00:00 PM
York University Lions women's hockey player Ava Ricker-Singh does as much work off the ice as she does on it.
Ricker-Singh's community work both on-campus and off has been a hallmark of her time as a Lion, and, for it, the two-time U SPORTS academic all-Canadian has been named the 2024-25 recipient of the OUA's Marion Hilliard Award.
The award – the namesake of Dr. Marion Hilliard, a renowned Canadian physician who played for the Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team from 1922-27 – is given to the women's hockey player who exhibits outstanding achievement in hockey, academics, and community involvement.
The pride of Smithville, Ont., is a member of York Sport Council, serving as Executive Communications Coordinator. Her duties in that post include developing and disseminating messaging to fellow student-athletes and department administration on community initiatives. Some causes Ricker-Singh has spearheaded include the student-athlete on-campus blood drive, Roar for a Cure – York women's hockey's cancer awareness campaign – and sport clinics at Shoreham Public School in North York.
Ricker-Singh is the fourth Lion to win the Marion Hilliard Award at the OUA level, joining Erin Locke (2019-20), Jenna Gray (2018-19) and Autumn Hills (2009-10). Gray also earned the U SPORTS version of the award in 2018-19.
On the ice, the Master of Science student posted six goals and seven assists in 26 games in 2024-25, plus a crucial empty net goal in the Lions play-in win over the Windsor Lancers. She finished second on the team in points with those 13, and led the team in points and goals by a defender. She recently set a new York women's hockey record for games played with 127.
