2017 U Sports University Cup

2017 U Sports University Cup

Tournament details
Venue(s)	Aitken Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Dates	March 16–19, 2017 (2017-03-16 – 2017-03-19)
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	New Brunswick Varsity Reds (7th title)
Runner-up	Saskatchewan Huskies
Third place	Acadia Axemen
Fourth place	St. Francis Xavier X-Men
Tournament statistics
Games played	8
Attendance	24,000 (3,000 per game)
MVP	Philippe Maillet (New Brunswick)

The 2017 U Sports Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament (55th Annual) was held March 16–19, 2017, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, to determine a national champion for the 2016–17 U Sports men's ice hockey season. The tournament was played at the Aitken Centre on UNB's Fredericton campus. This event marked the first year of a successful two-year bid to host the 2017 and 2018 USports University Cup. This is the 3rd time UNB has hosted the University Cup – they first hosted a two-year bid in 2003 and 2004 and again in 2011 and 2012. UNB is the first program to host the event 3 times since the expanded format was introduced in 1998.

The UNB Varsity Reds won their 7th title (6th under head coach Gardiner MacDougall) and their first title defense over the Saskatchewan Huskies coached by Dave Adolph. The #5 seed has appeared in the finals six times since the expanded format started in 1998 and has won three titles; UNB in each case (2007, 2016 and 2017). The #6 seed has appeared in 4 finals and has not yet won.

UNB's title defense follows on the heels of Alberta's back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015.

UNB and Alberta are the only two teams to host and win since the expanded format was introduced in 1998 – they each have two titles at home (Alberta – 2005 and 2006 / UNB – 2011 and 2017)

This is the 3rd straight appearance for UNB in the finals (2015-Silver, 2016-Gold and 2017 Gold). This has only occurred three other times going back to 1983 (34 years):

• UNB (2007-Gold, 2008-Silver, 2009-Gold)
• UQTR (2001-Gold, 2002-Silver, 2003-Gold)
• Saskatchewan (1981-Silver, 1982-Silver, 1983-Gold)

Road to the Cup

AUS playoffs

Further information: Atlantic University Sport

	Quarter-finals (Best of 3)					Semi-finals (Best of 5)					AUS Championship (Best of 3)
						1	UNB Varsity Reds	3
	4	Saint Mary's Huskies	2			4	Saint Mary's Huskies	1
	5	UPEI Panthers	1								1	UNB Varsity Reds	0
											3	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	2
						2	Acadia Axemen	0
	3	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	2			3	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	3
	6	Moncton Aigles Bleu									Third place
											2	Acadia Axemen	2
											4	Saint Mary's Huskies	0

OUA playoffs

Further information: Ontario University Athletics

Division Quarter-finals (Best of 3) OUA Sweet 16

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 Redmen

2

8E

Laurentian Voyageurs

0

1E

McGill Redmen

2

5E

UQTR Patriotes

0

4E

Carleton Ravens

1

5E

UQTR Patriotes

2

1E

McGill Redmen

0

OUA East

3E

Queen's Golden Gaels

2

2E

Concordia Stingers

2

7E

UOIT Ridgebacks

1

2E

Concordia Stingers

1

3E

Queen's Golden Gaels

2

3E

Queen's Golden Gaels

2

6E

Ottawa Gee Gees

1

3E

Queen's Golden Gaels (V)

3

2W

York Lions (H)

4

1W

Ryerson Rams

2

8W

Waterloo Warriors

1

1W

Ryerson Rams

0

5W

Windsor Lancers

2

4W

Laurier Golden Hawks

1

5W

Windsor Lancers

2

5W

Windsor Lancers

1

OUA West

2W

York Lions

2

2W

York Lions

2

7W

Lakehead Thunderwolves

0

2W

York Lions

2

3W

Guelph Gryphons

0

3W

Guelph Gryphons

2

6W

Brock Badgers

0

	Bronze Medal (Single Game)
	1E	McGill Redmen (H)	6
	5W	Windsor Lancers (V)	3

Note: UQTR Patriotes forfeit all games from January 25, 2017, to February 25, 2017, as well as their first 13 games of the next season, due to an ineligible player. Their original 2016–17 record of 16–10–2 (34 points for 5th) was corrected to 13–13–2 (28 points for 7th). However, this change is not reflected here because the foul and subsequent forfeitures were not announced until January 18, 2018 (the following season) when the infraction became known.

Canada West playoffs

Further information: Canada West Universities Athletic Association

	Quarter-finals (Best of 3)					Semi-finals (Best of 3)					Canada West Championship (Best of 3)
						1	Saskatchewan Huskies	2
	4	Mount Royal Cougars	2			4	Mount Royal Cougars	0
	5	Manitoba Bison	1								1	Saskatchewan Huskies	1
											2	Alberta Golden Bears	2
						2	Alberta Golden Bears	2
	3	Calgary Dinos	2			3	Calgary Dinos	0
	6	UBC Thunderbirds	0

University Cup tournament

The eight teams to advance to the tournament are listed below. The three 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. Their seedings are based on the pre-tournament rankings. Since UNB advanced as the AUS Runner-up, Acadia would represent the host.

Rank	Seed	Team	Qualified
1	1	Alberta Golden Bears	Canada West Champion
2	2	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	AUS Champion
5	3	York Lions	OUA Champion
6	4	Queen's Golden Gaels	OUA Finalist
3	5	UNB Varsity Reds	AUS Finalist
4	6	Saskatchewan Huskies	Canada West Finalist
7	7	McGill Redmen	OUA Third Place
8	8	Acadia Axemen	Host

Weather

A Nor'easter traveled across Ontario, Quebec, New England and the Maritimes on Tuesday, two days before the tournament started. The storm cancelled flights east out of Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. This impacted Queen's who had scheduled to leave on Tuesday by bus to Toronto where they would fly to Fredericton. They were informed their flight was cancelled and they instead booked a bus to Fredericton leaving Tuesday afternoon. They got as far as Quebec City where they stayed the night. McGill had also started their journey by bus on Tuesday and got as far as Riviere-du-Loup.

Poor road conditions and road closures stranded both teams for the entire day on Wednesday in their respective locations. As such they were not able to attend the UCup Gala on Wednesday night. They continued their journeys on Thursday and both arrive mid-day on Thursday. This had the biggest impact on Queen's who was scheduled to play UNB that night at 7 pm local (AST). The game was delayed by 1 hour to 8pm to provide Queen's some additional time to prepare. The travel impact was less for McGill whose first game wasn't until Friday.

Saskatchewan Huskies arrived on Monday but not all of their equipment did – they had to purchase a sizable amount of equipment from a local sporting goods store to outfit the team for their first practice on Tuesday. The missing bags did arrive late Wednesday.

Tournament format

The tournament is a traditional 8 team, single elimination ladder with Bronze medal game between the two semi-final losers. Games that are tied after regulation play a 10-minute overtime period following the 3rd period. If there is no score after the first overtime, the ice is cleaned and they would play 20 minute periods (with ice cleaned between periods) until there is a winner.

The higher seed is the 'Home' team for each game (the home team must wear their 'white' jerseys and will get the last change during stoppages of play).

The UNB Varsity Reds played as the visitor in games 1 but as the home team in games 2 and 3. The Saskatchewan Huskies were the visitor in all three of their games.

	Quarter-finals (Single Game)					Semi-finals (Single Game)					Championship final (Single Game)
	1	Alberta Golden Bears	1
	8	Acadia Axemen	4
						8	Acadia Axemen	0
	Thursday
						5	UNB Varsity Reds	3
	4	Queen's Golden Gaels	1
	5	UNB Varsity Reds	5
											5	UNB Varsity Reds	5
											6	Saskatchewan Huskies	3
	2	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	4
	7	McGill Redmen	1
						2	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	0
	Friday
						6	Saskatchewan Huskies	8
	3	York Lions	0
	6	Saskatchewan Huskies	1 OT1

	Bronze Medal (Single Game)
	8	Acadia Axemen	7
	2	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	3

Bronze game

March 19, 2017 09:30 (local)

Acadia Axemen #8

7–3 (2–0, 4–2, 1–1)

St. Francis Xavier X-Men #2

Aitken Centre, Fredericton Attendance: 2,624 (80.0%)

Game reference
	Robert Steeves (1–1)	Goalies	Chase Marchand (1–1)	Referees: Korey Bannerman Colin Watt Linesmen: David Geris Jesse Marquis
	M. Clarke (1) (M. Pufahl) – 01:13 1–0 M. Clarke (2) (M. McNulty) (PP) – 16:01 2–0 2–1 20:14 – S. Studnicka (1) (M. Tremaine) B. Leier (1) (B. Thompson) (SH) – 32:03 3–1 L. Maaskant (1) (D. Pettersson) – 32:34 4–1 D. Pettersson (1) (B. Leier, T. Makin) – 33:30 5–1 5–2 38:26 – E. Locke (1) (H. Cook, K. Kontos ) D. Pettersson (2) (A. Lepkowski, M. Clarke) – 39:38 6–2 6–3 43:25 – N. Pancel (1) (R. Spears, C. Macdonald ) T. Makin (1) (S. Trask, D. Pettersson) – 59:44 7–3
	5 for 10 min	Penalties	6 for 20 min
	34	Shots	29

Game MVPs: Michael Clarke (ACD) and Eric Locke (SFX)

Championship final

March 19, 2016 1:00 (local) Sportsnet 360 TVA Sports 2

UNB Varsity Reds #5

5–3 (2–1, 4–2, 5–3)

Saskatchewan Huskies #6

Aitken Centre, Fredericton Attendance: 3374 (102.9%)

Game reference
	Etienne Marcoux (2–0)	Goalies	Jordon Cooke (2–0)	Referees: Stephen Starzomski Jonathan Alarie Linesmen: Mike MacDonnell Josh DeYoung
	C. Braes (1) (P. Maillet, C. Clappert) – 4:04 1–0 1–1 10:47 – C. Gay (1) (unassisted) M. Simpson (1) (P. Halley, M. Petgrave) – 12:19 2–1 C. Braes (2) (P. Maillet, C. Clappert) – 23:17 3–1 C. Braes (3) (P. Maillet, R. Mignardi) (PP) – 26:16 4–1 4–2 28:25 – J. Fransoo (C. Gay and A. Johnson) (PP) 4–3 44:17 – Kohl Bauml (C. Gay and L. McVeigh) (PP) C. Braes (4) (J. Murray, P. Maillet) (PP) – 48:50 5–3
	6 for 20 min	Penalties	3 for 6 min
	36	Shots	21

Game MVPs: Cam Braes (UNB) and Connor Gay (USK)

Tournament All-Stars

Philippe Maillet, from the UNB Varsity Reds, was selected as the Major W.J. 'Danny' McLeod Award for U Sports University Cup MVP. Maillet had 4 goals and 6 assist for 10 points in 3 games. 3 of his goals were scored in their quarter-final game vs Queen's (a hat trick) and 4 of his assists were scored in the gold medal game.

Joining Maillet on the tournament all-star team were:
Forward Cam Braes (UNB Varsity Reds)
Forward Levi Cable (Saskatchewan Huskies)
Defenceman Geoff Schemitsch (Acadia Axemen)
Defenceman Jesse Forsberg (Saskatchewan Huskies)
Goalie Étienne Marcoux (UNB Varsity Reds)

External links

• Tournament website