 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Venue(s) | Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto, Ontario |
| Dates | March 14–17, 2024 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | UNB Reds (10th title) |
| Runner-up | UQTR Patriotes |
| Third place | McGill Redbirds |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 8 |
| MVP | Brady Gilmour |
The 2024 U Sports University Cup was the 62nd edition of the U Sports men's ice hockey championship held between March 14-17, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, to determine a national champion for the 2023–24 U Sports men's ice hockey season.
The UNB Reds defeated the UQTR Patriotes 4-0 victory to claim their 10th National Championship. [1] [2] This marked UNB's second title defense - they also won back-to-back championships in 2016 & 2017. Similarly, this was UNB's second consecutive shutout posted in the finals (defeated Alberta 3-0 in 2023) and their fourth shutout in a final overall (2011, 2013, 2023 & 2024).
UNB became the first ever U Sports team to concede no goals at the U Cup [3] and completed the first undefeated season in Canadian collegiate hockey since 1962, going 43-0 (30-0, 5-0, 3-0 plus 5-0 in exhibition play). McMaster Marlins are the only other undefeated championship team, going 12-0-0 on their way to a U Cup title (10-0, 2-0). [4]
Milestones
- With 9 under his tenure, UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall tied Tom Watt for the most U Cup Championship titles.
- UNB became the first team in the 8-team/3-game tournament format to win all three games via shutout.
Host
The tournament was played at the Mattamy Athletic Centre located in the former Maple Leaf Gardens and was hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). [2] This was the first time that TMU hosted the tournament, but was the 15th time that the championship was played in Toronto. [5]
The finals were played 27 years to the day of the last University Cup finals played at Maple Leaf Gardens - Guelph Gryphons (OUA Queen's Cup Champions) won 4-3 over the UNB Varsity Reds (AUAA Champions) on Monday, March 17, 1997.
Qualification
AUS playoffs [6]
| Quarter-finals (Best of 3) | Semi-finals (Best of 5) | Finals (Best of 3) | ||||||||||||
| 1 | UNB Reds | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Saint Mary's Huskies | 2 | 4 | Saint Mary's Huskies | 0 | |||||||||
| 5 | UPEI Panthers | 0 | 1 | UNB Reds | 2 | |||||||||
| 2 | Moncton Aigles Bleus | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Moncton Aigles Bleus | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | St. Francis Xavier X-Men | 2 | 3 | St. Francis Xavier X-Men | 0 | |||||||||
| 6 | Acadia Axemen | 0 | ||||||||||||
OUA playoffs [7]
| Division Quarter-finals (Best of 3) OUA Top 12 | Division Semi-finals (Best of 3) OUA Quarter-Finals | Division Finals (Best of 3) OUA Semi-Finals |
Queen's Cup (Single Game) OUA Championship | ||||||||||||||||
| 1E | McGill Redbirds | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4E | Queen's Gaels | 0 | 5E | Concordia Stingers | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 5E | Concordia Stingers | 2 | 1E | McGill Redbirds | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 2E | UQTR Patriotes | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2E | UQTR Patriotes | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3E | Ottawa Gee-Gees | 2 | 3E | Ottawa Gee-Gees | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 6E | Ontario Tech Ridgebacks | 0 | 2E | UQTR Patriotes | 3 (2OT) | ||||||||||||||
| 2W | TMU Bold | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1W | Brock Badgers | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4W | Windsor Lancers | 2 | 4W | Windsor Lancers | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 5W | Lakehead Thunderwolves | 0 | 1W | Brock Badgers | 1 | Third place (Single Game) | |||||||||||||
| 2W | TMU Bold | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2W | TMU Bold | 2 | 1E | McGill Redbirds | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| 3W | Toronto Varsity Blues | 0 | 6W | Laurier Golden Hawks | 0 | 1W | Brock Badgers | 2 | |||||||||||
| 6W | Laurier Golden Hawks | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Note 1: The Queen's Cup championship game must be held in Ontario (part of the arrangement when the RSEQ hockey league merged with the OUA). When a Quebec-based OUA-East representative is the higher seed and should 'host' the game - the game shall be hosted by the OUA-West team instead, but the OUA-East team shall be the 'home' team and have last change. This rule was applied this season as UQTR had a better record than TMU - thus, TMU would host the game but UQTR would be the 'home' team.
Note 2: The OUA 'Host' rule mentioned in Note 1 now, as of 2019-20, also applies to the bronze medal game. This rule was also applied this season as McGill had a better record than Brock - thus, Brock hosted the game but McGill was the 'home' team.
Note 3: Laurier defeated 7th place Nipissing 5-4 in the OUA West Play-In Game to qualify for the playoffs.
Canada West playoffs [8]
| Quarter-finals (Best of 3) | Semi-finals (Best of 3) | Finals (Best of 3) | ||||||||||||
| 1 | UBC Thunderbirds | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Saskatchewan Huskies | 1 | 5 | Alberta Golden Bears | 1 | |||||||||
| 5 | Alberta Golden Bears | 2 | 1 | UBC Thunderbirds | 2 | |||||||||
| 2 | Calgary Dinos | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Calgary Dinos | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Mount Royal Cougars | 2 | 3 | Mount Royal Cougars | 0 | |||||||||
| 6 | MacEwan Griffins | 0 | ||||||||||||
University Cup Tournament
The eight teams advancing to the tournament are listed below. The three (3) conference champions must be seeded 1-3 followed by the OUA Runner-up (seed #4). The remaining four seeds are for the AUS Finalist, Canada West Finalist, OUA Third-place and host respectively. Their seedings are based on the pre-tournament rankings. Since TMU would advance as the OUA Runner-up, the loser from the OUA Bronze Medal game (Brock) would represent the host.
Participating teams and seeding
| Seed | Team | Qualified | Record | Last App | Last Win | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UNB Reds | AUS Champion | 30–0–0 | 2023 | 2023 | 9 |
| 2 | UQTR Patriotes | OUA Champion | 21–7–1 | 2023 | 2022 | 5 |
| 3 | UBC Thunderbirds | CW Champion | 22–4–2 | 2022 | None | 0 |
| 4 | TMU Bold | OUA Finalist (Host) | 19–8–1 | 2022 | None | 0 |
| 5 | Calgary Dinos | CW Finalist | 21–5–2 | 2023 | None | 0 |
| 6 | McGill Redbirds | OUA Bronze | 21–5–2 | 2018 | 2012 | 1 |
| 7 | Moncton Aigles Bleus | AUS Finalist | 20–9–1 | 2012 | 1995 | 4 |
| 8 | Brock Badgers | OUA Semifinalist | 21–7–0 | 2022 | None | 0 |
Bracket
| Quarter-finals: March 14-15 | Semi-finals: March 16 | Final: March 17 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | UNB Reds | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Brock Badgers | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | UNB Reds | 7 | ||||||||||||
| Thursday Mar. 14th | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | TMU Bold | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | TMU Bold | 2 (2OT) | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Calgary Dinos | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | UNB Reds | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UQTR Patriotes | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UQTR Patriotes | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Moncton Aigles Bleus | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UQTR Patriotes | 5 | 3rd place game | |||||||||||
| Friday Mar. 15th | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | McGill Redbirds | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | UBC Thunderbirds | 2 | 4 | TMU Bold | 2 | |||||||||
| 6 | McGill Redbirds | 3 | 6 | McGill Redbirds | 3 | |||||||||
Results
Championship final
| March 17, 2024 5:00pm (local) CBC Gem | UNB Reds #1 | 4-0 (2-0, 0-0, 2-0) | UQTR Patriotes #2 | Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto, ON |
| Game reference | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samuel Richard (3-0) | Goalies | Alexis Gravel (2-1) | Referees: Troy Murray Danny Emerson Linesmen: Brian Birkhoff Maxime Ferland | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| 3 for 6 min | Penalties | 1 for 2 min | ||||||||||||
| 33 | Shots | 23 | ||||||||||||
| Game MVPs: Cody Morgan (UNB) & Félix Lauzon (UQTR) |
Awards
The Major W.J. 'Danny' McLeod Award for U Sports University Cup MVP was awarded to UNB forward Brady Gilmour whom finished the tournament tied for first in points with 7 (1G + 6A) along with Simon Lafrance (2G + 5A) of UQTR. His lone goal was the game winner in the Championship Final.
Tournament all-star team were:
[11]
Forward: Brady Gilmour (UNB Reds)
Forward: Simon Lafrance (UQTR Patriotes)
Forward: Austen Keating (UNB Reds)
Defenceman: Kale McCallum (UNB Reds)
Defenceman: Scott Walford (McGill Redbirds)
Goaltender: Samuel Richard (UNB Reds)
Media
Television
All games were broadcast live in English on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, the CBC Sports YouTube channel and the CBC Gem streaming service. [12] [13] It was broadcast in French on Radio-Canada and Ici TOU.TV, while the finals also aired on TVA Sports. [13]
Entertainment
The McGill Fight Band came to support the McGill Redbirds at their three games, providing musical performances in the arena. [14] [15]
References
- ^ "U Sports Calendar". usports.ca. U Sports. 15 September 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
- ^ a b "U Sports awards 2024 University Cup to Toronto Metropolitan University". U Sports. November 21, 2022.
- ^ "UNB defeats UQTR 4-0 to take the 2024 U Cup". usports.ca. U Sports. 17 March 2024. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
- ^ Steiner, Ben (17 March 2024). ""It hasn't sunk in": UNB caps off perfect season with record-breaking U CUP". 49-sport.com. 49 Sport. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
- ^ "History". U Sports. 18 July 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
- ^ "2024 AUS Men's Hockey Playoff Schedule - Atlantic University Sport (AUS)". www.atlanticuniversitysport.com. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
- ^ "2023-24 OUA Men's Hockey Postseason Schedule". Ontario University Athletics (OUA). Retrieved 2024-02-25.
- ^ "2023-24 Men's Hockey Playoffs". Canada West. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
- ^ "U Sports Playing Regulations: Men's Ice Hockey" (PDF). U Sports. September 2022.
- ^ "UNB looking to defend its title from the top seed". U SPORTS. 2024-03-10. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
- ^ UNB defeats UQTR 4-0 to take the 2024 U Cup https://usports.ca/en/championships/hockey/m/news/2024/03/2682058273/unb-defeats-uqtr-4-0-to-take-the-2024-u-cup
- ^ "CBC Sports to broadcast U Sports national championships for next 4 years". CBC Sports. September 20, 2021.
- ^ a b "How to watch the 2024 U SPORTS Winter Championships". U SPORTS. 2024-02-29. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
- ^ Hewitt, Thomas (2024-03-16). "Redbirds oust UBC in tight U CUP quarterfinal contest -". 49-sport.com. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
- ^ Hewitt, Thomas (2024-03-17). "McGill Redbirds stun TMU to take U CUP bronze medal -". 49-sport.com. Retrieved 2024-03-18.