2014 CIS Nationals (Saskatoon)

MiamiHockey

Registered User
Sep 12, 2012
2,087
187
Well the slump is over!
Alberta out-shot their opponents 131-58 over three games but only out-scored teams 9-5 in Saskatoon.
McGill clearly was well-coached. Played within their limitations. But lacked the horses up front. Carleton is a couple years away but coming.

Great insight. I spoke with one of the head coaches there and he said that this year's Alberta team was the fastest team he's seen in 15 years at the University Cup. Clearly, they were a cut above everybody.

Carleton is the most talented team in the OUA, but McGill is the best-coached. Watch out for both teams next year - Carleton will learn from this experience, and McGill's entire core is returning with the majority of their roster being in their 1st or 2nd year of eligibility.
 

Bearpaw

Registered User
Mar 21, 2014
48
3
Back from Saskatoon and agree with the comments posted - Alberta was the best team. The difference between Alberta and other teams in the CIS is when Alberta is up in the score, they continue to pressure and attack. Not once during the year or in this tournament did they take their foot off the gas in the pressure style. Their defense was quick and very active in the forecheck from start to finish and when the puck got into their own end, the defense moved the puck quickly up - the transition was outstanding. The other key was no one had the depth of the Bears who rolled 4 lines almost consistently all year. The final score could have been a lot worse if they did not hit 4 posts in the first period.

The Bears will be losing some key contributors next year but the cupboard is far from empty. The defense will not be as mobile (but will be bigger and meaner) but the scoring will not be diminished up front.
 

Hollywood3

Bison/Jet/Moose Fan
May 12, 2007
6,441
941
why do they want to expand it to 8 teams, how would that work?

Basketball and volleyball have 8-team tournaments, single knock-out format. I imagine hockey will do the same. That format would ensure two true semi-finals on Saturday, which is what the broadcasters want.
 

rethinking

Registered User
Mar 4, 2013
252
58
The Alberta win is not a surprise unlike the poor showing of the Acadia Axemen. The Saskatchewan / Windsor result made it even harder to understand Acadia's loss to Windsor. That somewhat shocking result forced Acadia to play somewhat differently against the Huskies while needing to win by 3 goals to stand a mathematical chance.

However, it was evident that Acadia's top line did not respond well to the close checking of either Windsor and Saskatchewan and their frustration was very evident in their combined penalties and penalty minutes which did not help the situation.

Acadia's injuries also had an effect.
 

AUS Fan

Registered User
Aug 1, 2008
3,952
1,700
At the Rink
I'm still away in Florida, but now that the cat is out of the bag on the next Hockey Nationals I can add that SN wants to have a "Championship Sunday" next spring where they will show Men's and Women's Basketball finals as well as Men's and Women's Hockey finals. Time zones could present a problem with some games. Imagine playing a 7 pm semi-final game and then playing 10:30 am for the championship.

Again, when I get back home next week, I will get more info.
 

SP Saskatuned

Registered User
Aug 2, 2011
92
4
Saskatoon, SASK.
Alberta deserves full credit for its win. The Golden Bears were the best team during the regular season and they were the best team here in Saskatoon. Their relentless puck pressure and transition game were both outstanding. They were a little faster and deeper than the host Huskies. That was the difference.
Even so, the Huskies still had a shot to win it all. They certainly could have used a few lucky bounces or breaks during the final two periods, and, somehow, they couldn't seem to get another power play chance, no matter what, through the final 29 minutes of the game.
Give the Huskies some credit, too. This is a Saskatchewan team many of you on these boards have repeatedly bashed as being such a weak host and having absolutely no chance ... I bit my tongue through all of that. I knew that there were enough quality veteran players on the squad who would give them a fighting chance. A number of them were playing in the third University Cup tournament. Their experience included the 2012 tourney in Fredericton, where the Huskies were the only team to defeat the eventual champion McGill Redmen.
Given the unexpected and late off-season departures (Bubnick, Bortis, Herrod and a few others) that took a big chunk out of their scoring depth, and not much luck on the recruiting front where most of their hopeful recruits (Lane Scheidl, Dylan Wruck, Brock Montgomery, Brenden Walker, Jesse Mychan and Joey Leach) turned pro, the Huskies struggled out of the gate. They were hoping to add a couple of these players at Christmas, Wruck and Montgomery in particular, but Wruck was done for the season due to injury and Montgomery got a pre-Christmas AHL call-up.
After a slow start to the season, the Huskies finished strong in the second half with a 11-3 record before bowing out to UBC in Canada West best-of-three quarter-finals, where the third game was decided by an extremely hot goalie and highly questionable officiating, which ultimately played a factor in the final outcome.
It was a season where nearly everything seemed to go wrong before the Huskies nearly made everything right.
The team loses team captain Brennan Bosch and fellow fifth-year grads Andrew Bailey, Cody Hobbs and Brett Ward. U-Cup MVP Derek Hulak, who was clearly the best player at this year's tournament after playing injured a year ago, is expected to report to the Dallas Stars AHL affiliate this week. Cody Smuk may also be done.
CIS CEO Pierre Lafontaine confirms that next year's University Cup in Halifax, N.S., will see an 8-team, single-knockout format.
Personally, I've attended 11 University Cup national championships now and I've seen a lot. Always an interesting tournament.
 

CanWestFan

Registered User
Mar 19, 2011
49
0
Off topic question...anyone know why the trophy changed this year? Obviously a bigger base had to be added so more champion shields could be added. However, the entire bowl was changed on this years trophy compared to last years.
 

mikeandI

Registered User
Jun 30, 2010
281
10
my guess is they want all the trophies to look the same just like the tournament formats.
good old cis!
 

Drummer

Better Red than Dead
Mar 20, 2009
1,688
182
Freddy Beach, NB
www.vredshockey.com
Off topic question...anyone know why the trophy changed this year? Obviously a bigger base had to be added so more champion shields could be added. However, the entire bowl was changed on this years trophy compared to last years.

Just a guess - the handles broke off and they decided not to re-attach them. The original 'Cup' is in the HHoF where it will remain after it was damaged when Alberta lost it in 2005.

I wonder where the old base and cup went?
 

RED ARMY EAST

Registered User
Feb 14, 2010
1,928
286
Freddy Beach,N.B.Canada
Well the slump is over!
Solid job by the #1 ranked Alberta Golden Bears and their 2nd year Head Coach Ian Herbers.
The scores did not neccessarily reflect how dominant Alberta really was in Tournament.
Alberta out-shot their opponents 131-58 over three games but only out-scored teams 9-5 in Saskatoon.
The Golden Bears vaunted PP which has gone from 17% to 31% over the last two seasons under Herbers had a bad weekend.
Herbers ran Milwaukee's PP in the AHL and they went 10th, 7th, and 5th over three years, my guess is he is already working on tweaking it for next season.
Again IMO this was the best Alberta team since the 2005 University Cup Champion. This year's Bears squad was deeper up front, but did not have quite as talented back end.
Alberta should in theory return seven of their top nine forwards, both goaltenders but will lose three of their top six D.
The Golden Bears have now won FIVE of the last SIX University Cups played in Western Canada ('99, '00-both in Saskatoon, '05,'06-both in Edmonton, and 2014 in Saskatoon)
I fully expect to the U of A. to bid for 2017 and 2018.
It should be mentioned that the team that played Alberta the closest was Calgary...never want to discount a UNB or for that matter an AUS School, but I think it can be suggested the Dinos may have had the 2nd best team in the CIS this season.
McGill clearly was well-coached. Played within their limitations. But lacked the horses up front. Carleton is a couple years away but coming.


Cheers

Stauffer
Alberta PxP from 1989-92, 1998-2008 (Six Titles in 13 seasons) and Alberta SID 2000-2008

Congratulation to the Bears, but I would argue that Calgary wasn't the second best team in the country. their performance wasn't very consistant down the stretch and I believe they may have been over-rated??
Nevertheless, Mark Howell continues to build a solid program and with the West having at least 2 reps next year, there is a good chance we will see the up and coming Dino's next year in Halifax.
 

Drummer

Better Red than Dead
Mar 20, 2009
1,688
182
Freddy Beach, NB
www.vredshockey.com
Tournament All-Stars

MVP (Major W.J. ‘Danny’ McLeod Award): Derek Hulak, Saskatchewan

All-Tournament Team:
Goaltender: Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, McGill
Defenceman: Jesse Craig, Alberta
Defenceman: Kendall McFaull, Saskatchewan
Forward: Derek Hulak, Saskatchewan
Forward: Brett Ferguson, Alberta
Forward: Kruise Reddick, Alberta

No one from Carleton, Acadia or Windsor

Kind of surprised at a Huskie player getting MVP, generally the committee looks to have someone from the winning team. Lazo hurt his chances with the Major and GM.

I recall at the Western/McGill final they had penciled in Unice, if Western won, and Verrault-Paul, if McGill won (despite the GM for charging the goalie in the 3rd period fo the gold medal game - which almost cost them the game). In the end, McGill won and Verrault-Paul was selected.
 

Bearpaw

Registered User
Mar 21, 2014
48
3
Hulak was a good choice for the MVP as he made the biggest difference to his team. Lazo did hurt his chances in the final, but he did not have a strong first game. The two Bears that stood out were Ferguson and Reddick in all three games - and my choice would have been Reddick since it was his first action in about 2 months coming off injury.
 

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