The 2018

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

Men's

University Cup The David Johnston University Cup is a national collegiate sports award, presented annually to the champion of a season-ending tournament played by U Sports men's ice hockey teams in Canada. The UQTR Patriotes are the current champions for the 2 ...

Hockey Tournament (56th Annual) was held March 15–18, 2018 in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...

and played at the

Aitken Centre The Aitken University Centre is located on the campus of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Constructed in 1976, it is the home of the UNB Varsity Reds hockey and hosted UNB basketball games until the construction of t ...

on UNB's Fredericton campus. This event marked the second 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 & 2004 and again in 2011 & 2012. UNB is the first program to host the event 3 times since the expanded format was introduced in 1998. The

Alberta Golden Bears The Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas are the sports teams that represent the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Alberta athletics teams have won a total of 93 national championships, including 79 U Sports sanctioned sports, making ...

won their 16th title over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men. Alberta last won the University Cup in 2015. St. F.X. was last in the final in 2016 when they lost to

UNB Varsity Reds The UNB Reds are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. The Reds compete in the following sports: men's and women's basketball, men's and women's hockey, men's and women's socce ...

in the finals. It was announced a month prior to the tournament, that the next two tournaments would be 'singles', first hosted by

Lethbridge Pronghorns The Lethbridge Pronghorns, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. They have men's and women's teams that compete in U Sports basketball, rugby union, soccer, swimming, and track ...

(2019/UCup57 -

ENMAX Centre The ENMAX Centre (formerly Canada Games Sportsplex) is a 5,479-seat multi-purpose arena, in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. It features a full-size ice rink, and a walking track. An outdoor sports field, with capacity for 2,000 people, is no long ...

) followed by

Acadia Axemen The Acadia Axemen and Axewomen are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. The on-campus sports facilities used by Axemen teams include Raymond Field for various field sports and An ...

(2020/UCup58 -

Scotiabank Centre Scotiabank Centre (formerly known as Halifax Metro Centre) is the largest multi-purpose facility in Atlantic Canada, located in the heart of downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The main entrances to the building are located on Brunswick Str ...

). The tournament format would remain unchanged for both years.

Road to the Cup

AUS playoffs

OUA playoffs

Note 1: UQTR forfeit their first 13 games due to an ineligible player, resulting in the loss of eight(8) wins. Their record of 15-6-1, at the time of the January announcement, was correct to 7-14-1. They finished with a record of 8-19-1 (17pts for 10th). Note 2: The

Queen's Cup The Queen's Cup was an annual football cup competition in Thailand, run by the Football Association of Thailand. The competition was named after Queen Sirikit. It was first contested in 1970, with Bangkok Bank and Royal Thai Air Force ...

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.

Canada West playoffs

University Cup tournament

The eight teams to advance to the tournament are listed below. The three(3) conference champions must be seeded 1-3 based on the pre-tournament Top 10 Rankings 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 advancing as the AUS Champion, Acadia - as the AUS 3rd-place finisher (AUS Bronze), would take the place of the 'host'. To avoid a first round all-conference matchup between UNB and Acadia, Acadia #8 and Concordia #7 swapped seeds.

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).

Tournament All-Stars

Stephan Legault, from the Alberta Golden Bears, was selected as the Major W.J. 'Danny' McLeod Award for U Sports University Cup MVP. Stephan had 2 goals and 5 assist for 7 points in 3 games. Joining Legault on the tournament all-star team were:Gold Medal Summary https://usports.ca/en/championships/hockey/m/news/2018/03/3623405361/gold
Forward: Mark Simpson (UNB Varsity Reds)
Forward: Michael Clarke (St. Francis Xavier X-Men)
Defenseman: Jagger Dirk (St. Francis Xavier X-Men)
Defenseman: Kendall McFaull (Saskatchewan Huskies)
Goalie: Zach Sawchenko (Alberta Golden Bears)

References

External links

Tournament Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017 CIS University Cup U Sports ice hockey Ice hockey competitions in New Brunswick University Cup, 2017 Sport in Fredericton 2018 in New Brunswick