2018-2019 AUS Thread

[UNB Bruins Fan]

The AUS released the men's hockey schedule today so I figured it was a good time for a new thread.

We can use this thread to discuss anything AUS related (news/recruits/predictions/season/playoffs) during the upcoming 2018-2019 season.

What I found particularly interesting was how early the season is starting (September 26th) and how some teams (UNB/Acadia/UPEI) are off the following weekend (Thanksgiving) while the others are playing. IIRC you are no longer allowed to play exhibition games while the regular season is going on (have to be prior to the regular season or over the Christmas break)...Thanksgiving weekend is usually when the AUS/NCAA games are played so are they doing away with that rule and allowing those three teams to go down south that weekend if they so choose? Or are there not going to be any AUS/NCAA games this season?

Click to read more...

 

[northvanman]

Looks like they've relaxed that rule for the upcoming season 2018-19 Men's Ice Hockey Schedule - University of Massachusetts Lowell

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I figured that must’ve been the case. Good catch.

 

[AUS Fan]

Another road trip. I went last year to Lowell and Maine. Good time. Have to see where SMU is playing before I commit to Acadia.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

SMU at Dal and St. FX at Moncton play on Friday, October 5th in league action...no games scheduled for the 6th. I wonder if any would go down for one game on Sunday the 7th.

 

[AUS Fan]

Don't think so. Too long of a trip for 1 game. UNB can hop down to Maine in a few hrs. Bit longer for the others.

 

[Drummer]

The 2017-18 rule outlined no Exhibition games prior to the first games in October. It doesn't explicitly say the first game of the season. Since the season didn't start until Wed. 4th, teams were free to go down on the 29, 30 and 1st. (in this case, it's basically the same thing - semantics)

> From the date of the first regular season league game in October
> to the completion of the last regular season game of the first half

However, this year - the league starts on Sept 26th, 5 days after they're allowed to even play an exhibition game. So, how do you get more than 2 games played in that time period?

> The first day of exhibition competition for men’s hockey is fourteen (14) days
> following the start date - Sept. 21st (The start date for AUS men’s hockey
> is the Friday of the Labour Day weekend (Sept. 7th)

This is the earliest UNB has ever started by a week - likely the impact of the 30 game schedule.

The updated manual will likely explain all of this - it's just not out yet.

I wish the AUS would get their act together - these nickel and dime changes each year are annoying.

 

[Drummer]

This season will be another 18-12 split. Going back to the 90s, you could be a bit slow out of the gate and look to recoup over the break and have a strong second half, but that's less so now - 12 games (approx. 6 weekends) doesn't leave you much time to 'catch up'.

It's likely the same number of games as in the past, but strong teams can have a larger lead now going into the break.

A 6pt spread requires you to make-up 3 wins on your opponent over 12 games. If they go 8-4 (.750) you have to go 11-1 or better. That's tough in this league - this isn't the OUA-W .

 

[Drummer]

I wonder how many players from the AUS will attend WUG - interesting to see.

I started a new thread on this topic.

 

[HockeyPuck]

In terms of just looking at the quality/quantity of recruits brought in this summer (ie/ not taking into consideration who teams lost/might lose), this is how I would rank it.

1) UNB - Only 6 guys but all of them are above-to-well-above average. Gatenby and Rassell are blue-chip with Dove-McFalls possibly in that tier as well. Boucher/Watling/McEwan are all solid pieces, especially when you consider they may be 3rd/4th liners, at least to start. Also keep in mind they have the ability to add one more piece, most likely a d-man.

2) Acadia - Obviously the biggest class in the conference and a lot of quality as well. The recent addition of McFadden pushes Acadia close to UNB IMO as he was arguably one of the best CHL defencemen available. Houck, MacDougall, Corneil, Fergus, Colello, Flodell all look like "top of the line-up" type additions. The rest appear to be just depth pieces right now. I believe they are at the maximum of 22 skaters right now.

3) SMU - Like UNB in that it is a small class but Friend, DeNoble, Theede, and Welsh all look to be above-average. I don't think they have maxed out their roster yet so could still add someone.

4) St. FX - Not going to lie, I am a little underwhelmed with their class outside of Holwell. Thompson and Webster are ok. They are probably better than their numbers show and could turn into very good shutdown defenders in the AUS, but right now I see St. FX as having a weaker class than the above three teams. I am surprised they recruited exclusively east coast guys this summer after being one of the more active teams to recruit from the OHL in recent years. Sounds like they are done adding for the summer.

5) Moncton - St. Cyr and Montpetit are upper-echelon guys and Lanoue is a big addition for them. Getting another CHL defenceman in Desjardins should help as keeping pucks out of the net has been their biggest weakness recently. With three top notch recruits you could make an argument it’s a better class than St. FX. What isn’t an argument is that it is their best class in recent memory and hopefully this is a sign of things to come to get them back on track to where they once were.

6) UPEI - Three of their four announced recruits have CHL experience, but no real stand-out player like the teams ahead of them have been able to land.

7) Dalhousie - Par for the course I guess with a bunch of Jr A players.

(Just thought about talking about AUS here instead of the Recruitment thread.)

UNB Bruins Fan, I agree with you. Great recap here.

UNB - Great recruit class as you said. Don't think Dove-McFalls is a top 6. Will play good as a bottom 6.
Acadia - Huge upgrade compare to last year. Their recruitment class is massive.
SMU - Agree. Small but good. Welsh had a really good year in the Q. Kind of a High-Risk D.
STFX - I don't think they've been able to replace the key players that left.
MCT - St. Cyr, Montpettit and Lanoue have the potential to be 1st line - AUS best goalie and One of the best offensive Dman. They lost one of their recruit to the AHL too (Bissonn I think)... I hope they will move to a top-3 soon. That would be good for the league and for us, the fans. But, for that, they need to bring other key players to support the 3 previously mentioned.
PEI - Kirwan is a good recruit. But I don't think that Marcus Power and McKinnon have been replaced.
DAL - Boes left. Don't know too much about their recruits.


What are your thoughts guys ? Projection ?

 

[Rob]

The battle for the top two spots for the Nationals will be intense. UNB is probably safe at #1. I still think X will take second. SMU third. Acadia fourth.
I think PEI will edge out Moncton for fifth because Les Aigles are still going to be weak. Hope Dal doesn't go the way of STU.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Acadia has been strongly connected to F - Mason McCarty, however as of right now they are at the cap of 22 players on their roster so it will be interesting to see what happens. I am guessing a guy like MJHL D - Duncan McKie, although listed on the roster, is just insurance and won’t play at all as to give them another roster spot to work with. McCarty would be another huge addition for them if it comes to fruition.

 

[Rob]

Who has X lost from last year? So far I the only one I know for sure is Dirk. Kontos has played four years but might come back for a fifth. They still have Cooke, Clarke, and Needham so I don't think they've lost that much.

Just noticed that UPEI lost Dman Ryan MacKinnon who was second on the team in points last year. Could be a rough year for them.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

X has also lost Clarke (Europe) and I’m pretty sure Kontos is done.

 

[Prov1X]

X has also lost Clarke (Europe) and I’m pretty sure Kontos is done.

For some reason, I was under the impression that they were losing up to 9 players. I was sure someone mentioned that to me after the nationals.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I think Stevens, Turnbull, and Duininck were mentioned as graduating as well. Never know though, some of those 4th years could come back.

 

[ProjectAUS]

I think Stevens, Turnbull, and Duininck were mentioned as graduating as well. Never know though, some of those 4th years could come back.

X has lost: Turnbull, Clarke, Dirk, Duininck, Kontos for sure. Stevens may be going back for 5 from what I've heard, and there is still big questions in the air with Brandon Hope and Cody Hendsbee.

 

[ProjectAUS]

Also, my predictions for the season:

1. UNB - this is a given, the rich get richer when it comes to their recruits.
2. SMU - Good team, had the same core for a few years, think this is the year they better ACA/X.
3. X - Like said above, lost a lot and the recruiting class is pretty under-whelming for a team of their calibre.
4. ACA - Young, and a lot of rookies compared to the above teams, but I think they will be very close to X. Not much separating 2-4 points-wise in my opinion.
5. UdeM - Montpetit is gonna steal a few games and I believe they have significantly improved.
6. UPEI - Same old, same old. Forbes is gonna tell you it is there year to go to Nationals, like he always does, but this could be a tough year for the Panthers.
7. DAL - Things are only gonna get tougher without Boes.

 

[Drummer]

1. UNB (1st until proven otherwise - stronger then average, for UNB, rookie class, which means they will not miss a beat. The Top 10 in team scoring all return)
2. SMU (if their core can stay healthy, the Top 10 in team scoring are returning other than Shipley, they will battle for 1st - may not know if they are 1-2-3 until they play their last Head-2-head on Feb. 6th vs ACD)
3. ACD (figure their strong rookie class will separate them from the pack, but they lost Leier & Giftopoulos who were #2 and #4 in team scoring)
4. SFX (lost too much and the everyone above them got stronger)
5. PEI (Lost some good guys, but will battle and have a home ice advance, those island refs are a bit bias, so they'll get the best of UdeM, but not enough to catch SFX)
6. UdeM (not enough depth)
7. DAL (no Boes, no chance)

note (edit): I swapped SMU/ACD having done some research for a CHSR radio show on UNB & AUS hockey that enlightened me to change my selections.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Too early to give my predictions...will wait until we know exactly what the rosters will look like as there is still time for guys to be added/not show up.

 

[Drummer]

For those who are interested - the AUS Men's Hockey Operations Manual is now available. It does list that no Exhibition games should occur in October, but maybe there is an 'understanding'?

Sport Operations Manuals

 

[Prov1X]

X has lost: Turnbull, Clarke, Dirk, Duininck, Kontos for sure. Stevens may be going back for 5 from what I've heard, and there is still big questions in the air with Brandon Hope and Cody Hendsbee.

Hope and Hendsbee were not listed on the scoresheet of last nights game vs Moncton.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Hope and Hendsbee were not listed on the scoresheet of last nights game vs Moncton.

I don’t think Cook was listed either, but could be just injured. In fact I think I only counted 17 skaters dressed for them last night.

Stevens did play though so he is indeed back for his 5th year.

 

[HockeyPuck]

Blue Eagles are looking good in preseason so far. Their defense seems pretty good. They are small though. I was in PEI for their first game and St.Cyr will be really good for them. No doubt, that guy can score.

 

[Drummer]

Blue Eagles are looking good in preseason so far.

Yes, but they've been outshot in each game; 22-30 vs PEI, 36-38 vs DAL & 14-35 vs SFX. You can't keep that up and expect to win a lot of games - but on the other hand they don't have to win a lot of games, just 1 more than DAL