2023 U Sports University Cup

2023 U Sports University Cup

Tournament details
Country	Canada
Venue(s)	Eastlink Centre, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Dates	March 16–19, 2023 (2023-03-16 – 2023-03-19)
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	New Brunswick Reds (9th title)
Runner-up	Alberta Golden Bears
Third place	Quebec–Trois-Rivières Patriotes
Fourth place	Prince Edward Island Panthers
Tournament statistics
Games played	8
MVP	Samuel Richard (New Brunswick)

The 2023 U Sports Men's Hockey Championship was the 61st edition of the U Sports men's ice hockey championship, a postseason tournament to determine the national champion of the 2023 U Sports men's ice hockey season. The tournament started on March 16 and ended with the bronze-medal and championship games being played on March 19 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.^[1]

The third-seeded UNB Reds defeated the fifth-seeded Alberta Golden Bears by a score of 3–0 to win the program's ninth national championship.^[2] In the win, UNB Reds's Coach MacDougall ties Tom Watt for the most championship game appearances, with 11, and ties Clare Drake for the most tournament games coached, with 42 ^[3] and extends his record for most tournament wins with 34 and tournament appearances with 16.

This is the third shutout in the past 12 years. The previous two shutouts were in 2011 (4–0 UNB over McGill) and 2013 (2–0 UNB over St. Mary's). Prior to that, in 2003, UQTR shutout St. FX 3–0 followed by a 30 year gap to 1973 when Toronto shutout St. Mary's 5–0.

Host

The tournament was held at the Eastlink Centre, on the grounds of University of Prince Edward Island.^[4] UPEI was originally scheduled to host the 2021 U Sports University Cup, but that tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.^[5][6] This was the second time that UPEI hosted the tournament, having first hosted in the school's inaugural year in 1970.^[7]

Qualification

AUS playoffs

Further information: Atlantic University Sport

	Quarter-finals (Best of 3)					Semi-finals (Best of 5)					Finals (Best of 3)
						1	UNB Reds	3
	3	UPEI Panthers	1			6	Moncton Aigles Bleus	1
	7	Moncton Aigles Bleus	2								1	UNB Reds	2
											2	Saint Mary's Huskies	1
						2	Saint Mary's Huskies	3
	4	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	0			5	Acadia Axemen	1
	5	Acadia Axemen	2

With UPEI eliminated in the first round and not advancing to the AUS Finals, a third place team was not required as a replacement 'host' so there was no third-place series.

OUA playoffs

Further information: Ontario University Athletics

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

UQTR Patriotes

2

4E

Carleton Ravens

2

4E

Carleton Ravens

0

5E

Ontario Tech Ridgebacks

0

1E

UQTR Patriotes

2

2E

Concordia Stingers

1

2E

Concordia Stingers

2

3E

McGill Redbirds

2

3E

McGill Redbirds

0

6E

Ottawa Gee-Gees

0

1E

UQTR Patriotes

3 OT3

2W

Windsor Lancers

2

1W

Lakehead Thunderwolves

2

4W

TMU Bold

1

5W

Toronto Varsity Blues

1

5W

Toronto Varsity Blues

2

1W

Lakehead Thunderwolves

0

Third place – Best of 1

2W

Windsor Lancers

2

2W

Windsor Lancers

2

2E

Concordia Stingers

4

3W

Brock Badgers

2

3W

Brock Badgers

0

1W

Lakehead Thunderwolves

0

6W

Laurier Golden Hawks

1

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. In this case – Windsor hosted UQTR for the Queen's Cup with UQTR as 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. In this case Lakehead was the higher seed and the 'natural' host.

Note 3: OUA Playoffs re-seed teams in each round such that the highest advancing seed plays the lowest advancing seed within their divisional bracket.

Canada West playoffs

Further information: Canada West Universities Athletic Association

	Quarter-finals (Best of 3)					Semi-finals (Best of 3)					Finals (Best of 3)
						1	Calgary Dinos	2
	4	Mount Royal Cougars	1			5	Saskatchewan Huskies	1
	5	Saskatchewan Huskies	2								1	Calgary Dinos	2
											2	Alberta Golden Bears	1
						2	Alberta Golden Bears	2
	3	UBC Thunderbirds	2			4	UBC Thunderbirds	1
	6	Regina Cougars	0

This was Calgary's first Canada West title since 1996.

Participating teams

Seed	Team	Qualified	Record	Last App	Last Win	Total
1	Calgary Dinos	CW Champion	25–3–0	2011	None	0
2	UQTR Patriotes	OUA Champion	21–4–1	2022	2022	5
3	UNB Reds	AUS Champion	24–4–2	2022	2019	8
4	Windsor Lancers	OUA Finalist	18–6–3	2015	None	0
5	Alberta Golden Bears	CW Finalist	20–5–3	2022	2018	16
6	Concordia Stingers	OUA Bronze	19–7–0	2018	None	0
7	Saint Mary's Huskies	AUS Finalist	20–9–1	2020	2010	1
8	UPEI Panthers	AUS Quarterfinalist (Host)	17–10–3	1991	None	0

^[8][9]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Calgary Dinos	2
	8	UPEI Panthers	4
						8	UPEI Panthers	1
	Thursday Mar. 16th
						5	Alberta Golden Bears	4
	4	Windsor Lancers	0
	5	Alberta Golden Bears	7
											5	Alberta Golden Bears	0
											3	UNB Reds	3
	2	UQTR Patriotes	4
	7	Saint Mary’s Huskies	1
						2	UQTR Patriotes	3			3rd place game
	Friday Mar. 17th
						3	UNB Reds	6
	3	UNB Reds	2								8	UPEI Panthers	2
	6	Concordia Stingers	1								2	UQTR Patriotes	3

Results

Championship final

March 19, 2023 7:00 (local) CBC Gem

UNB Reds #3

3–0 (0–0, 1–0, 2–0)

Alberta Golden Bears #5

Eastlink Centre, Charlottetown, PEI Attendance: 2712 (72.9%)

Game reference
	Samuel Richard (3–0)	Goalies	Ethan Kruger (2–1)	Referees: Mike Langin Jesse Gour Linesmen: Matt McConnell Brian Birkhoff
	Cody Morgan (1) (Camaryn Baber) – 33:17 1–0 Cole Mackay (1) (Isaac Nurse) – 54:30 2–0 Austen Keating (1) (Cody Morgan & Camaryn Baber) – 55:52 3–0
	0 for 0 min	Penalties	0 for 0 min
	32	Shots	17

Game MVPs: Cody Morgan (UNB) & Dawson Davidson (ALB)

Awards

Samuel Richard, a goaltender from the UNB Reds, was selected as the Major W.J. 'Danny' McLeod Award for U Sports University Cup MVP. Richard played all three games for UNB and finished the tournament with a GAA of 1.33 and Save Percentage of 0.920 as well as a shutout in the championship final.

Tournament all-star team were:^[10]
Forward: Matt Fonteyne (Alberta Golden Bears)
Forward: Jason Willms (UNB Reds)
Forward: Michael Petizian (UNB Reds)
Defenceman: Ross MacDougall (UNB Reds)
Defenceman: Justin Bergeron (UQTR Patriotes )

References

1. "Atlantic University Sport releases 2022-23 winter sports schedules". Atlantic University Sport. May 19, 2022.
2. "Reds capture 2023 U CUP championship". U Sports. March 19, 2023.
3. "UNB REDS capture ninth national title with 3–0 win over Alberta in U SPORTS final". AUS. March 19, 2023.
4. "U Sports Calendar". U Sports. May 17, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
5. "Panthers, Carabins to host U Sports Hockey Championships in 2020-21". U Sports. August 6, 2019.
6. "U Sports unable to offer national championships in winter 2021". U Sports. October 15, 2020.
7. "About UPEI - Our History". UPEI. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
8. "U Sports Playing Regulations: Men's Ice Hockey" (PDF). U Sports. September 2022.
9. "Calgary named top seed going into 2023 Cavendish Farms University Cup". U Sports. March 12, 2023.
10. Gold Medal Summary https://usports.ca/en/championships/hockey/m/news/2023/03/4189875360/mens-hky-gold-20230319

External links

• Tournament Web Site