Courtesy Canadian Interuniversity Sport
CIS men’s hockey
Tourney host UNB seeded No. 1 for University Cup
March 20, 2011
OTTAWA (CIS) – The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds have been established tournament favourites for the 49th CIS men’s hockey championship, which they are set to host later this week at the Aitken University Centre in Fredericton.
University Cup website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mice
The Cavendish University Cup tourney gets underway on Thursday with the first of three days of pool play and culminates next Sunday with the national final, live on Rogers Sportsnet at 8 p.m. Atlantic Time.
Rogers Sportsnet will also broadcast Saturday’s two round-robin games, while SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all seven contests.
The seeding for the six-team competition was announced on Sunday.
Joining the AUS champion Varsity Reds in Fredericton will be the second-ranked McGill Redmen (OUA champions), No. 3 Alberta Golden Bears (Canada West champions), No. 4 Western Ontario Mustangs (OUA finalists), No. 5 St. Francis Xavier X-Men (AUS finalists) and No. 6 Calgary Dinos (Canada West finalists).
UNB, Western and Calgary will battle in Pool A in the preliminary round, while McGill, Alberta and StFX skate in Pool B. The first-place finishers from each group advance to the national final.
The Redmen and X-Men face off in the tournament opener Thursday at 2 p.m. AT, while the V-Reds and Dinos kick off Pool A action at 7 p.m. AT.
The Bears and Mustangs take the ice on Friday against the losing teams from opening day.
New University Cup champions will be crowned next Sunday as the Saint Mary’s Huskies, who captured their first-ever CIS title with a dramatic 3-2 overtime win over Alberta in last year’s gold medal final in Thunder Bay, fell to StFX in the semifinal round of the Atlantic conference playoffs two weeks ago.
UNIVERSITY CUP NOTES: Alberta was the last team to triumph as the No. 1 seed in 2006... The 2006 Bears were also the last tournament hosts to hoist the University Cup when they were crowned at Rexall Place in Edmonton... McGill and Alberta are the only schools to return from last year’s championship in Thunder Bay, where the Bears reached the title match for a record 18th time and the Redmen went 0-2 to finish last in Pool B... The V-Reds return for the first time since they won the third title in program history in 2009, in Thunder Bay... Western last competed for the University Cup in 2009, StFX in 2007 and Calgary in 2000... Alberta holds most University Cup records including all-time titles (13), appearances (35 including 2011), appearances in the final (18), games played (91), wins (61), losses (28), goals for (415) and goals against (272).
SEEDING & POOLS
1. UNB Varsity Reds (AUS champions: 23-5-0 regular season / 6-3 playoffs)
2. McGill Redmen (OUA champions: 24-2-2 regular season / 7-1 playoffs)
3. Alberta Golden Bears (Canada West champions: 19-6-3 regular season / 4-0 playoffs)
4. Western Ontario Mustangs (OUA finalists: 20-3-5 regular season / 6-2 playoffs)
5. StFX X-Men (AUS finalists: 17-10-1 regular season / 7-5 playoffs)
6. Calgary Dinos (Canada West finalists: 17-8-3 regular season / 2-3 playoffs)
Pool A
1. UNB
4. Western
6. Calgary
Pool B
2. McGill
3. Alberta
5. StFX
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (Atlantic Time)
Wednesday, March 23
12:45 Meet The Coaches Media Conference (Aitken University Centre)
19:00 All-Canadian Awards Ceremony (The Playhouse)
Thursday, March 24
14:00 Pool B #1: StFX vs. McGill (SSN Canada webcast)
19:00 Pool A #1: Calgary vs. UNB (SSN Canada webcast)
Friday, March 25
14:00 Pool B #2: Loser Pool B #1 vs. Alberta (SSN Canada webcast)
19:00 Pool A #2: Loser Pool A #1 vs. Western (SSN Canada webcast)
Saturday, March 26
14:30 Pool B #3: Winner Pool B #1 vs. Alberta (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 Pool A #3: Winner Pool A #1 vs. Western (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
Sunday, March 27
20:00 University Cup Final (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
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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