Slater Doggett has dedicated much of his life to hockey, but he never expected the accomplishments that followed suit.

This year, Doggett has been recognized as one of U SPORTS’ top student-athletes. Each year, only one female and one male Academic All-Star are chosen from each conference to receive the designation of Academic All-Canadian.

Doggett was given this award for his last season (2018/19) playing with the men’s varsity hockey team.

However, for Doggett, this recognition was a complete shock to him.

“Looking back at my high school grades, I have never expected to win an academic award,” Doggett chuckled in a phone interview with The Journal.

“Not only the academics, but what is surprising to me is how many other people, at least the people I was surrounded with at Queen’s, I would expect to win the award over me. I am the one receiving the award, but there are so many guys who I played hockey with who could have got it before me.”

“If there was one word to sum up how I felt when I found out, [it] was ‘surprised,’” Doggett said.

Prior to Queen’s, Doggett had played in the Ontario Hockey League for the Kingston Frontenacs and the Windsor Spitfires. The freshly-minted economics graduate also had stints in the Eastern Coast Hockey League, and he’s lighting up Europe’s Alps Hockey League with the Vipiteno Sterzing Broncos.

Following his successes in the last year—like leading the Gaels to their first Queen’s Cup since 1981 and assuming the title of All-Canadian for his efforts on the ice—being named an Academic All-Canadian was an unexpected cherry on top for Doggett.

He has always worked hard to achieve his goals, but last year was especially crucial, since it was the last year he donned a Queen’s jersey.

It didn’t start how he’d wanted. “We got off to a rocky start, I hurt my ankle, I wasn’t really playing up to how I expect myself to play,” Doggett said.

Because of his injury, Doggett missed a few of the early games of the season, and he was concerned that his last season as a Gael would be disappointing.

Luckily, his injury didn’t determine the season. Once his ankle healed, Doggett hit the ice in full stride.

“We had a really good team atmosphere. As soon as we got going, we never stopped and winning the OUA Championship in my last year is kind of the best-case scenario. I worked and the whole team worked for four years [to get there].”

This season, Doggett has been locked in on his new position in the Alps Hockey League. He’s excited for what’s to come.

“We’re trying to push for a playoff spot right now, so everyone is pretty focused […] I’m having a pretty good season. I didn’t know what to expect over here, but I’m pretty happy with how I’ve been playing and how our team has done as well.”

Although the Gaels are missing him, the Broncos are already benefiting from Doggett’s mix of top-end talent and work ethic—he’s scored 47 points for them in just 31 games.