UNB ENTERS AS HEAVY FAVOURITES TO WIN THIRD STRAIGHT TITLE; OPEN WITH GEE-GEES THURSDAY NIGHT
The U SPORTS men’s hockey championships have arrived at TD Place for the first time ever. Eight teams from across Canada will compete for the prestigious U Cup, beginning Thursday afternoon with a clash between the OUA’s Toronto Metropolitan Bold and the Canada West’s Mount Royal Cougars. How does every team stack up entering the four-day tournament?
#1 University of New Brunswick (UNB) Reds
AUS champions — 28-1-1 regular season — 5-0 playoffs
Gardiner MacDougall left the country’s most successful university hockey program for the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats last year after leading the Reds to over 600 wins in 24 seasons resulting in nine national championships — but the program he built remains just as dominant as the day he left.
Coming off a perfect season which resulted in the program’s tenth U Cup win overall — and allowing no goals in last year’s Final 8 — the Reds dropped a 4-3 overtime decision in October to St. Francis Xavier X-Men and a 1-0 decision to the X-Men a month later, making for a 28-1-1 regular season record.
The Reds took down Acadia (5-2, 7-1, 4-1) and Acadia (5-3, 4-2) in the AUS playoffs. UNB boasts four of the nation’s top six scorers in forwards Emmett Sproule, Benjamin Corbeil, and Peter Reynolds and defender Kale McCallum.
Between the pipes, 24-year-old Sainte-Catherine, Q.C. native Samuel Richard is in his third season backstopping the Reds. Richard came to the Reds after three standout seasons with the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
UNB will face the host Gee-Gees at 7 p.m. on Thursday night and enter as heavy favourites. Their team goals-against average of 1.6 stands almost a half goal better than the second-best team in the country.
Though they score 5.7 goals per game, expect a much lower per game-average against some better goaltending, beginning with Franky Lapenna and Zach Dietz’s Gees.
#2 Saskatchewan Huskies
CW champions — 23-5-0 regular season — 4-2 playoffs
The Canada West’s East Division’s Saskatchewan Huskies defeated the West Division’s Mount Royal University in a three-game conference championship (6-3, 1-2 OTL, 3-0). Their power play (31.6 per cent) and penalty kill (90.0 per cent) were both the best marks in the nation.
Former SJHL star Chantz Petruic scored 20 of the team’s 112 goals during the regular season. Vince Loschiavo (12) and Dawson Holt (11) joined Petruic in double digits.
Landon Kosior, a 6’0” defender from Regina, led the backend with four goals and 21 assists. Kosior potted 35 goals and dished out 73 assists during his final two seasons with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders (128 games).
The 22-year-old lasted 19 games with the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders last season, scoring two goals and adding nine assists before returning to the Huskies midway through the season.
Between the pipes, two former NHL draft picks have platooned this season. Roddy Ross (Philadelphia, #169 in 2019) and Jordan Kooy (Vegas, #208 in 2018) have led the Huskies to the country’s fourth-best goals-against average (2.25) and fifth-best save percentage (.916).
Saskatchewan’s national tournament appearance is their first since 2020, a quarterfinal loss that capped off a streak of five straight appearances which included silver and bronze medals. Their bid for the program’s first national title since 1983 will begin against Queen’s at 7 p.m. on Friday.
#3 Concordia Stingers
OUA champions — 21-5-2 regular season — 5-1 playoffs
The Concordia Stingers prevailed as the eventual champions of a historic OUA East division that will see three berths in the national championships. Their Queen’s Cup victory over the TMU Bold was the first in program history.
Former Rimouski Oceanic and Gatineau Olympiques centre Mathieu Bizier was a huge part of that OUA title run, picking up three goals and six assists in six playoff games. Rookie centre Mikael Huchette led the way during the regular season, with nine goals and 19 assists in 26 games.
Hurchette (6’3”) and Bizier (6’2”) are joined by Nicholas Girouard (6’3”) and Isiah Campbell (6’4”) up front. The big forwards rank one through fourth on the team in scoring.
On the back-end, former Blainville-Boisbriand Armada defender Simon Lavigne tied for first on the team with 12 goals, adding 10 assists and finishing as a finalist for the league’s Defenceman of the Year award.
The Stingers entered the season hot, rattling off a 15-game point streak that only saw overtime losses to Ottawa and Queen’s. After a 4-2 loss to Windsor broke that streak out of the Christmas break though, the Stingers struggled to finish strong, recording regulation losses to UQTR and Ontario Tech, an overtime loss to the U of T, and a shootout loss to Lakehead.
In goal, former Victoriaville Tigre and St. John Sea Dog Nikolas Hurtubise stands just 5’10”, but ranked fourth in the country with a 2.10 goals-against average — though his .908 save percentage ranked 18th.
Concordia begins their bid for the program’s first ever national championship at 1 p.m. on Friday against the Moncton Aigles Bleus.
#4 Toronto Metropolitan Bold
OUA finalists — 17-10-1 regular season — 4-2 playoffs
The TMU Bold have made the big dance for the third time in the last four years, the only three appearances for the program. In both previous appearances, the Bold have won their opener but lost their semifinal matchups and bronze medal games.
The Bold took down Lakehead in the OUA quarterfinals and dropped their opener to the U of T before bouncing back with wins and games two and three to advance to the Queen’s Cup finals against the Stingers.
Concordia jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in that game before TMU added a power play goal in the third period. Two empty netters in the final minute would make the game appear more lopsided than it was.
The Bold lost last year’s leading scorer Kyle Bollers to the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones after that tournament and number-one defender Aaron Hyman to Rapid City Rush of the same league, but return with an otherwise familiar cast.
20-year-old Russian winger Daniil Grigorev led the team in scoring, potting 13 goals during the regular season and two more in six playoff games. One of the youngest full-time players in U SPORTS, the 5’9 winger broke onto the scene alongside countryman and Arizona second-rounder Artyom Duda a year ago.
Guarding the twine is Carlsbad Springs native Kai Edmonds. In his third year of starting for the Bold, the 6’3” netminder has slightly regressed from the past two seasons, finishing with a .917 save percentage and 2.52 goals-against average.
The TMU Bold have not exactly been rewarded for finishing as finalists in the OUA, as they will take on the formidable Mount Royal Cougars in the tournament’s opening game at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
#5 Mount Royal Cougars
CW finalists — 22-6-0 regular season — 3-3 playoffs
Calgary’s Mount Royal University Cougars joined U SPORTS in 2012 after 40 seasons in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC). Since joining the Canada West conference, the Cougars have come excruciatingly close to breaking through to the national championships, losing in the conference’s semifinals in all seven appearances.
This year, that would all change. Led by U SPORTS player and defenceman of the year Clay Hanus, the Cougars enjoyed their most successful regular season to date. In the semifinals, they were able to finally get over their glass ceiling, taking down the Alberta Golden Pandas in three games.
Hanus, who starred for the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks before coming to Mount Royal in 2022, recorded 12 goals and 31 assists for 43 points, good for second most in the country. Hanus became the fifth Cougar to lead Canada West in scoring.
Up front, 5’7” centre Connor Bouchard led the way with seven goals and 30 assists, while 6’1” winger Justin Lies paced the team with 18 goals. Joining Lies and Hanus in double digit goals were 6’1” centre Josh Tarzwell (15) and 6’2” winger Robbie Holmes (11).
The Cougars can score in bunches, leading the country in power play goals (44) and placing fifth overall in goals-per-game (4.36) but their own end of the ice could spell trouble in Ottawa. The team’s save percentage of .892 ranks 24th of 35 teams in U SPORTS, and well below the next lowest tournament entrant (Concordia, .908).
Similar to Edmonds, Cougars starter Shane Farkas has regressed from last season, where he posted a 2.21 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. Expect Thursday’s 1 p.m. opener to be a high-scoring affair.
#6 Moncton Aigles Bleus
AUS finalists — 19-9-2 regular season — 3-4 playoffs
The Moncton Aigles Bleus were unable to come close to taking down the Reds during the regular season, losing 8-2 and 5-2 in October, 5-2 again in November, 4-1 in January, and finally a 2-1 shootout win in February.
In the playoffs, the Aigles would be taken to five games by the Saint Mary’s Huskies in a wild set that saw 37 combined goals, good for an average of 7.4 per game.
In the three-game finals matchup against the Reds, losses of 5-3 and 3-2 proved a much-improved Aigles team from the regular season.
Winger Nathael Roy picked up goals in each of those losses, part of an encouraging four goal, six-point playoffs. Roy finished the regular season with just six goals after recording 14, 14, and 12 the three seasons prior.
Leading the team alongside Roy this season were 2019 St. Louis seventh-rounder Jeremy Michel (15 goals, 14 assists) and former Moncton Wildcat star Michael Cyr (11 goals, 16 assists). On the backend, former Drummondville Voltigeur Jacob Dion picked up four goals and 22 assists, who along with winger Olivier Hache round out a quintet of Aigles who have starred on the team for at least three seasons.
Second-year head coach Derek Cormier employed a strict timeshare in goal this year, giving 16 starts apiece to Nathan Darveau and Olivier Adam — with vastly different results. Darveau (.934 save percentage, 2.03 goals-against average) earned six out of seven playoff starts over Adam (.905, 2.61)
The Aigles are in the big dance for the first time since 2012. The once-dominant program won national titles in 1981, 1982, 1990, 1995. Their hunt for a fifth kicks off against Concordia on Friday at 1 p.m.
#7 Queen’s Gaels
OUA bronze medallists — 22-6-0 regular season — 3-2 playoffs
The Queen’s Gaels shocked the Gee-Gees in their semifinal matchup, pouring 11 goals between the posts in a two-game sweep. Fourth-year centre Holden Katzalay was a big reason why, notching three goals and three assists in that two-game set.
Fourth-year winger Nolan Hutcheson was another, picking up two goals and two assists. The former Sudbury Wolves star finished tied for third in goals in Canada with 20, adding nine assists for 29 points during the regular season.
On the blueline, Owen Lalonde continued his four-year stretch of excellence, recording two goals and 25 points.
The Gaels finished with the best penalty kill in the OUA (89.6 per cent) on the least times shorthanded, while sporting the conferences second-best power play (24.1 per cent) on the second highest number of opportunities. That discipline and penalty-drawing will be key against a Huskies squad that will bury you on the power play.
The Gaels allowed the least goals in the OUA East (60), led by the goaltending duo of Christian Purboo (.927, 2.25) and Aidan Spooner (.928, 1.84). Expect a low-scoring matchup against the similarly-stingy Huskies.
A season split with Concordia did not foreshadow their OUA semifinal playoff series, as the Stingers won the three-game series with tight decisions over the Gaels (2-1, 1-0) despite Purboo’s best efforts.
Any one of Queen’s, Concordia, or Ottawa could have emerged victorious from the OUA — this is not a seven-seed to take for granted. The Gaels have just one win in three appearances at nationals all-time. Their bid to take home the program’s first ever U Cup will go Friday at 7 p.m.
#8 Ottawa Gee-Gees
Hosts — 19-6-3 regular season — 2-2 playoffs
The host-berth Gee-Gees round out the trio of OUA East bids. The Gee-Gees suffered through a never-ending slew of injuries in the first half of the season, forcing multiple defenders to spend extensive time at forward.
Despite the challenges, the Gees rallied to a 19-win season with the help newcomer rookie duo Andrew Belchamber (10 goals, 20 assists) and Zach Giroux (10 goals, 16 assists). Veterans Mathieu Mathieu Desgagnes and Bradley Chenier rounded out the quartet of Gees with double digit goals; scoring 11 and 13 respectively.
A member of last year’s OUA East Second Team and All-Rookie Team, Luka Verreault was held out of all but seven games this year due to injury, scoring four goals and adding four assists in those four games. Similarly, 6’4″ winger Mitch Martin joined the Gees from the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers in the offseason, but his U SPORTS career took until after Christmas to begin.
On the blueline, fourth-year Peter Stratis enjoyed a breakout season, potting seven goals and adding 14 assists while quarterbacking the power play, earning him OUA Second Team All-Star honours.
The Gees scored the most power play goals in the OUA (28) while not allowing a shorthanded goal against. That powerplay will be key against a dominant UNB squad who can control play at 5-on-5.
Season splits with Concordia and Queen’s and a 6-3 win over the TMU Bold prove that the Gees belong in the championships, even after a semifinal sweep from those Gaels eliminated them from Queen’s Cup contention.
A OUA East Goaltender of the Year last season, Franky Lapenna at times lost the net to backup Zach Dietz, who posted a .932 save percentage and 1.77 goals-against average in nine games, including a stint as starter while Lapenna was with Team Canada at the FISU University Games in Italy.
The home team’s bid to upset the tournament favourite gets underway at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
