Courtesy Canadian Interuniversity Sport
CIS Men’s Hockey Top 10 (#17)
No. 1 UNB off to AUS final
March 8, 2011
OTTAWA (CIS) – The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds top the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s hockey rankings for the ninth straight week, while the McGill Redmen follow in second place for the eighth week in a row.
The V-Reds (23-5-0 regular season / 4-1 playoffs) received all 17 first-place votes from the national media panel in the new poll for a total of 170 points. The Redmen (24-2-2 / 6-1) earned 144 points.
The Alberta Golden Bears (19-6-3 / 2-0), the reigning University Cup champion Saint Mary’s Huskies (18-9-1 / 2-2) and the Western Ontario Mustangs (20-3-5 / 6-1) once again round out the top 5, while the Calgary Dinos (17-8-3 / 2-1) leapfrog the St. Francis Xavier X-Men (17-10-1 / 4-2) for sixth place.
The UQTR Patriotes (19-8-1 / 5-4) and Saskatchewan Huskies (17-11-0 / 1-2) stay put at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, while the previously unranked Acadia Axemen (14-11-3 / 3-3) complete the 17th poll weekly of the campaign.
The field is almost set for the 49th University Cup tournament, March 24-27 in Fredericton.
In addition to the CIS championship host Varsity Reds, McGill, Alberta, Western and Calgary have all punched their tickets for the Nationals.
The last berth will allocated tonight when StFX visits Saint Mary’s in the fifth and final game of an AUS semifinal series. The reigning CIS champion Huskies forced a decisive match with a 4-1 road win on Sunday.
Top-ranked UNB advanced to the Atlantic conference final thanks to a 3-2 defeat of Acadia in Game 4 of the other AUS semi, last Friday. The best-of-five AUS championship series will kick off Friday evening in Fredericton.
The Redmen will travel to London, Ont., on Saturday to battle the Mustangs in the 100th edition of the Queen’s Cup.
McGill advanced to the OUA final with a dominating 6-1 victory over archrival UQTR in the third and decisive game of their Ontario semifinal series, Sunday night in Montreal. Western completed a two-game sweep of Guelph with a 4-2 victory on Saturday.
In Canada West, Calgary and Alberta will meet in the best-of-three final in Edmonton starting on Friday night.
While the Bears swept Manitoba 4-0 and 2-1 in the semifinal round, the Dinos needed a 4-1 Game 3 win on Sunday to eliminate Saskatchewan and earn their first trip to the CIS tourney since 2000.
Below is a complete CIS men’s hockey schedule for the period of March 8-13.
CIS MEN’S HOCKEY TOP 10 (#17)
Voting is based on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, with a 1st place vote worth 10 points. The CIS Men’s Ice Hockey Top Ten Committee is made up of media members from across Canada.
(regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (previous rankings)
1. UNB (23-5-0 / 3-1 playoffs) / 170 pts (17) / (1)
2. McGill (24-2-2 / 6-1 playoffs) / 144 / (2)
3. Alberta (19-6-3 / 2-0 playoffs) / 138 / (3)
4. Saint Mary’s (18-9-1 / 2-2 playoffs) / 109 / (4)
5. Western Ontario (20-3-5 / 6-1 playoffs) / 108 / (5)
6. Calgary (17-8-3 / 2-1 playoffs) / 84 / (7)
7. St. Francis Xavier (17-10-1 / 4-2 playoffs) / 78 / (6)
8. UQTR (19-8-1 / 5-4 playoffs) / 40 / (8)
9. Saskatchewan (17-11-0 / 1-2 playoffs) / 37 / (9)
10. Acadia (14-11-3 / 3-3 playoffs) / 19 / (NR)
Other teams receiving votes: Guelph (5), Manitoba (3).
CIS MEN’S HOCKEY SCHEDULE: March 8-13 (all times LOCAL)
NOTE: Schedule for best-of-5 AUS final to be announced following completion of semifinals.
Tuesday, March 8
19:00 StFX at Saint Mary’s (Game 5 best-of-5 AUS semifinal / series tied 2-2)
Friday, March 11
TBD StFX or Saint Mary’s at UNB (Game 1 best-of-5 AUS final)
19:30 Calgary at Alberta (Game 1 best-of-3 Canada West final)
Saturday, March 12
15:30 McGill at Western (OUA final – 100th Queen’s Cup)
19:30 Calgary at Alberta (Game 2 best-of-3 Canada West final)
Sunday, March 13
19:00 Calgary at Alberta (Game 3 best-of-3 Canada West final – if necessary)
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
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