While operating as 'Mount Royal Junior College' in the 1950s, a team from the school competed in the Calgary Junior B Hockey League. Records from this time are spotty at best, however, in 1954 the Cougars won the league championship, eventually losing in the Alberta-British Columbia Junior B Championship to the Trail Smoke Eaters. The team disappears from league records after 1957. It's unclear whether or not the junior team was officially sanctioned by the school or if they were simply allowed to wear school colors.
In 1964, the Western Inter-College Conference (WICC) was formed for small schools in Western Canada who were looking for a way to field ice hockey teams. Mount Royal jumped at the chance, icing a varsity team for the inaugural year. Mount Royal won two league championships in the first five years, however, the school wasn't satisfied with their situation. In 1969, the Cougars left the WICC for the Highwood Hockey League. After winning the league title, they were again on the move and joined the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) in 1970. After getting knocked out in the semifinals, the Cougars won the regular season championship in 1972 but were ruled ineligible for the postseason as the team possessed overage players who did not qualify for the junior level. Instead, the team participated in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) postseason, the successor to the WICC. By winning the championship, the Cougars went on to the inaugural 4-West Championship, a tournament offered for the provincial college champions of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Mount Royal won the first three championships.
Since they were no longer eligible for the AJHL postseason, now Mount Royal College returned to the ACAC in 1972 and won back-to-back league titles. The team then suffered a severe decline and went winless for two seasons at the end of the decade. The terrible results caused the school to suspend the program for two years but the Cougars again failed to win a single game upon their return. By 1983, however, the team was on the road to recovery and Mount Royal rebuilt its program into a champion by the late-80s. Mount Royal won its first intermediate national championship in 1988 and then captured three over the span of four years around the turn of the century. Unfortunately, their final title in 2001 was the last intermediate championship held. Afterwards, the program was only able to win conference titles, which they did in both 2006 and 2011.
In 2012, by then known as 'Mount Royal University', the school transitioned to the senior level of college hockey and joined Canada West.[2] It didn't take long for the team to grow accustomed to the higher level and they posted their first winning season in 2015. The Cougars were also able to advance in the postseason for the first time that year, however, that was where the program plateaued. As of 2024, Mount Royal had reached the conference semifinals seven times but has yet to make a championship round appearance. Additionally, they have finished as high as 3rd in the standing four times but never as one of the top two seeds.[3]
Season-by-season results
Junior and intermediate hockey
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points