(HALIFAX, N.S.) – Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2013-14 men's and women's regular season hockey schedules. Both seasons are set to begin on Friday, Oct. 18.
The men's regular season format will once again see all teams play a 28-game schedule while the women's format will consist of 24 regular season contests for each team.
The men's and women's teams will once again play in a single division, with the top six qualifying for post-season play. The top two regular season finishers will receive byes to the conference semifinals.
The 2013-14 season will also see the AUS women's hockey championship format move from a four-day tournament held at a single location to three rounds of playoff series, where teams will play each other in best two-of-three series.
Link to full 2013-14 AUS Men's Hockey Schedule: http://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/mice/2013-14/schedule?confonly=1
Link to full 2013-14 AUS Women's Hockey Schedule: http://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/wice/2013-14/schedule?confonly=1
MEN
All eight AUS men's hockey teams will see action on the opening weekend of regular season play.
Among the games on opening night, the reigning CIS champion UNB Varsity Reds will raise their AUS and CIS championship banners on Friday, Oct. 18th as they host the StFX X-Men in a 7 p.m. start at the Aitken Centre.
The Saint Mary's Huskies, 2012-13 CIS silver medalists, will travel to Moncton to face the Aigles Bleus to open their regular season before moving on to Fredericton Saturday evening to battle the Varsity Reds where fans at the Aitken Centre will be treated to a rematch of the 2013 CIS gold medal game, won 2-0 by UNB at the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon.
Of note, there are no games scheduled for the November 8 to 10 weekend. Atlantic University Sport will be representing Canada in men's hockey at the 2013 Winter Universiade in Trentino, Italy, slated for December 11 to 21, 2013.
Head coach Gardiner MacDougall (UNB) and assistant coaches Brad Peddle (StFX) Forbes MacPherson (UPEI) will be hosting a final selection camp during this brief break in the schedule where the participants will be determined.
The 2013-14 regular season concludes on Saturday, Feb. 15.
With a single team from the Atlantic conference advancing to the 2014 CIS championship in Saskatoon, the AUS playoff format will feature a pair of best-of-three quarterfinal series, followed by a best-of-five format in both the semifinal and final rounds.
WOMEN
The 2013-14 AUS women's hockey schedule will also kick off on Friday, Oct. 18 with a pair of games in Antigonish and Charlottetown.
The StFX X-Women, reigning AUS champions and CIS bronze medalists, will take on the Dalhousie Tigers in their season opener at the Charles V. Keating Centre where their 2012-13 squad will be recognized as they celebrate their accomplishments from last season.
In the other women's regular season opener, the Saint Mary's Huskies, AUS finalists this past season, will travel to the MacLauchlan Arena on the UPEI campus to face the Panthers, who were the 2011-12 Atlantic conference champions.
The women's hockey season will once again consist of 24 games with all seven teams playing the other teams in the conference four times, twice at home and twice away.
The 2013-14 regular season wraps up on Sunday, Feb. 16 and the top six teams in the standings will move on to post-season play where a new championship format will be utilized.
Instead of a four-day tournament held at a single location, three rounds of playoff series will be played with the top two seeds receiving byes into the semifinal round.
Quarter-finals will feature the third place team taking on the sixth place finisher, while the fourth place team will face off against the fifth place team.
The quarter-final, semifinal and final rounds will all be best-of-three affairs using a 'home-away-home' format where the higher seeded team will host the opening game of the series as well as the third and deciding game, if necessary.
The 2014 CIS women's hockey championship will be hosted by St. Thomas University and will take place March 13 to 16 at the brand new Grant Harvey Centre in Fredericton, N.B.
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