Purdue Northwest ACHA DI Hockey junior Sam Bourdages (Hearst, Ontario/) has received ACHA DI Hockey National Player of the Year after his record setting 2023-24 campaign. This is the first National Player of the Year recognition for Purdue Northwest Athletics regardless of sport and affiliation. 

Bourdages, a 5-foot, 10-inch, 170-pound junior from Hearst, Ontario, capped off a fantastic season as the Pride's leading scorer with 62 points by potting 27 goals and dishing out 35 assists in 31 regular season games. Bourdages also added a goal and three assists in three games at the 2024 ACHA Men's Division I National Championships.  In the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League (GLCHL), Bourdages was named Most Valuable Player to go along with 1st Team All-League honors.

Categorically, Bourdages led all Men's Division I players in points (62), tied for the lead in goals (27), was third in points per games (2.00), and finished fourth in assists (35).  For his three-year career at Purdue University Northwest, Bourdages has 54 goals and 85 assists for 139 points in 82 games played.

With Bourdage's contributions, the Pride finished the 2023-2024 regular season in second place of the GLCHL, defeated the ACHA Men's Division I National Champions from Adrian College 5-3 in the GLCHL Playoffs championship game, and qualified for the 2024 ACHA Men's Division I National Championships for the first time in only its second season at the Men's Division I level as the No. 11 seed.

At the 2024 ACHA Men's Division I National Championships, Bourdages and Purdue University Northwest made it to the quarterfinals, falling to No. 3 University of Central Oklahoma 3-1.  Earlier, the Pride defeated No. 22 seed Indiana University of Pennsylvania 11-3 before upsetting No. 6 seed Maryville University 3-2.  As a result, the Pride finished the season with a No. 7 ranking, its highest in team history.

Prior to arriving at Purdue University Northwest, Bourdages played his youth hockey in the Hearst Minor Hockey Association, midget hockey with the Kapuskasing Flyers of the Great North Midget Hockey League (GNML), and junior hockey in several leagues: Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) with Niagara Falls Canucks; Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) with Milton Menace;  Northern Ontario Junior Hockey (NOJHL) with Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, Powassan VooDoos, Hearst Lumberjacks, and Iroquois Falls Eskimos; and Ligue de Hockey Junior du Québec (QJHL) with Lac St-Louis Révolution.