Hollywood3
Bison/Jet/Moose Fan
- May 12, 2007
- 6,453
- 958
I was looking up some information about Newfoundland hockey and I saw that in 1967 the MUN Beothuks represented Newfoundland at the Canada Games. Apparently all provinces were represented by university teams. The story did not list all provinces, but this is what they had:
Ontario: McMaster Marlins
Quebec: Laval Rouge et Or
New Brunswick: St. Thomas Tommies
B.C.: UBC Thunderbirds
Alberta won the gold, B.C. the silver, and Ontario the bronze.
LINK: http://www.cbncompass.ca/Sports/2015-02-27/article-4052998/A-Games-connection/1
I got to thinking what a great tournament this would have been. And what if they did this now? And what if they let AAA Senior Allan Cup teams challenge for provincial titles?
To make provincials work they would need a single knock-out and some would be wild.
B.C. (7)
CIS: UBC
BCIHL: Victoria, Selkirk College, Trinity Western, Simon Fraser
Senior: Powell River Regals, Fort St. John Flyers
One team would get a bye through the quarter-finals but this could go over a weekend. UBC should win pretty easily.
ALBERTA (16)
CIS: Alberta, Calgary, Mount Royal, Lethbridge
ACAC: NAIT, SAIT, Augustana, Keyano, Red Deer, MacEwan, Concordia, Portage
Senior: Bentley Generals, Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs, Innisfail Eagles, Stony Plain Amirals
This would be the toughest province. It would require two weekends. There would need to be four preliminary tournaments with four teams each, followed by a "Final Four", just like the NCAA. They could hire Sepp Blatter to pull the balls from the pots to make the groups. One team from the CIS, one from the top 4 of the ACAC, one from the bottom 4 of the ACAC, and one senior team.
SASKATCHEWAN (6)
CIS: Saskatchewan, Regina
ACAC: Briercrest
Senior: Rosetown Red Wings, Shellbrook Elks, Lloydminster Border Kings
This could be done on one weekend with two teams getting byes past the quarter-finals. Though the Mutts faltered last year they should be able to get through this collection. Altough a sudden-death final featuring Cats v Dogs would be quite a battle.
MANITOBA (2)
CIS: Manitoba
Senior: Southeast Prairie Thunder
A small group but the SEPT are defending Allan Cup champs. And their coach is the Bison assistant coach and three players are on the Bison staff. I would see this being an old-school 2-game total goals series. I think it would draw pretty well out in Steinbach where the SEPT could hold a banner-raising. The Bisons would likely win but it wouldn't be easy by any means.
ONTARIO (22)
CIS: Brock, Guelph, Lakehead, Laurier, Ryerson, Toronto, Waterloo, Western Ontario, Windsor, York, Carleton, Laurentian, Nipissing, Queen's, RMC, UOIT
Senior: Brantford Blast, Dundas Real McCoys, Norwood Vipers, Stoney Creek Generals, Whitby Dunlops, Kenora Thistles
Like Alberta, Ontario would need two sets of tournaments. The opening round would have two 6-team tournaments and two 5-team tournaments, leading to a final 4. Just following along this massive knockout tournament would be a bit like the FA Cup in English soccer. With the right draw I could see a senior team making the final 4 in Ontario.
QUEBEC (3)
CIS: McGill, UQTR, Concordia
It is amazing that Quebec would have so few teams capable of challenging for this. At one time they had a thriving college league. Anyhow, two of the three teams would be medal threats at the Canada Games.
NEW BRUNSWICK (4)
CIS: New Brunswick, Moncton, St. Thomas
Senior: Lameque Au P'tit Mousse
I bet they could draw large crowds for this perfect little tournament. Four teams, semi-finals Saturday and a final on Sunday. UNB would be heavy favourites but possible rivalry match-ups with the Pids and Eggs would make this dangerous for them.
NOVA SCOTIA (4)
CIS: Acadia, Saint Mary's, St. FX, Dalhousie
There would be no inter-league intrigue for this provincial, but again it has the advantage of being the perfect little 4-team tournament. I would think this would draw well with all teams having a fan base in close proximity to any poential location, and it would be really unpredicatable.
P.E.I. (1)
CIS: UPEI
This would have the intrigue of a Soviet-era election. At least the Panthers would be competitive at the Canada Games, much moreso than PEI usually is.
Newfoundland (2)
Senior: Clarenville Caribous, Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts
Until MUN decides to resurrect the Beothuks, or Sea-Hawks as they now would be, the cod-kissers would have to be represented by a senior team.
Yukon (1)
Senior: Whitehorse Huskies
This squad could be resurrected. They have always had trouble finding leagues up north.
N.W.T./Nunavut (0)
Senior: All-Star Team
"Hockey North" represents both NWT and Nunavut, so they would have to scrounge together a team from the men's leagues across both places. Doesn't sound good but no worse than the Canada Games have been for northern teams in the past.
CANADA GAMES
This is how the pools would look if they used the format as from 2015:
Pool A
1 Ontario
4 Quebec
5 Nova Scotia
8 New Brunswick
Pool B
2 Alberta
3 Manitoba
6 B.C.
7 Saskatchewan
Pool C
9 P.E.I.
10 Newfoundland
11 Yukon
12 N.W.T.
It's funny how the seedings worked out in having the east in one pool and the west in the other. However, if they had this format they may want to include Pool C teams "in the mix" so to speak. Then the pools would look like this:
Pool A
1 Ontario
6 B.C.
7 Saskatchewan
12 N.W.T.
Pool B
2 Alberta
5 Nova Scotia
8 New Brunswick
11 Yukon
Pool C
3 Manitoba
4 Quebec
9 P.E.I.
10 Newfoundland
Pity Yukon being in that potential "Pool of Death" with (possibly) Alberta, UNB, and SMU or Acadia.
Ontario: McMaster Marlins
Quebec: Laval Rouge et Or
New Brunswick: St. Thomas Tommies
B.C.: UBC Thunderbirds
Alberta won the gold, B.C. the silver, and Ontario the bronze.
LINK: http://www.cbncompass.ca/Sports/2015-02-27/article-4052998/A-Games-connection/1
I got to thinking what a great tournament this would have been. And what if they did this now? And what if they let AAA Senior Allan Cup teams challenge for provincial titles?
To make provincials work they would need a single knock-out and some would be wild.
B.C. (7)
CIS: UBC
BCIHL: Victoria, Selkirk College, Trinity Western, Simon Fraser
Senior: Powell River Regals, Fort St. John Flyers
One team would get a bye through the quarter-finals but this could go over a weekend. UBC should win pretty easily.
ALBERTA (16)
CIS: Alberta, Calgary, Mount Royal, Lethbridge
ACAC: NAIT, SAIT, Augustana, Keyano, Red Deer, MacEwan, Concordia, Portage
Senior: Bentley Generals, Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs, Innisfail Eagles, Stony Plain Amirals
This would be the toughest province. It would require two weekends. There would need to be four preliminary tournaments with four teams each, followed by a "Final Four", just like the NCAA. They could hire Sepp Blatter to pull the balls from the pots to make the groups. One team from the CIS, one from the top 4 of the ACAC, one from the bottom 4 of the ACAC, and one senior team.
SASKATCHEWAN (6)
CIS: Saskatchewan, Regina
ACAC: Briercrest
Senior: Rosetown Red Wings, Shellbrook Elks, Lloydminster Border Kings
This could be done on one weekend with two teams getting byes past the quarter-finals. Though the Mutts faltered last year they should be able to get through this collection. Altough a sudden-death final featuring Cats v Dogs would be quite a battle.
MANITOBA (2)
CIS: Manitoba
Senior: Southeast Prairie Thunder
A small group but the SEPT are defending Allan Cup champs. And their coach is the Bison assistant coach and three players are on the Bison staff. I would see this being an old-school 2-game total goals series. I think it would draw pretty well out in Steinbach where the SEPT could hold a banner-raising. The Bisons would likely win but it wouldn't be easy by any means.
ONTARIO (22)
CIS: Brock, Guelph, Lakehead, Laurier, Ryerson, Toronto, Waterloo, Western Ontario, Windsor, York, Carleton, Laurentian, Nipissing, Queen's, RMC, UOIT
Senior: Brantford Blast, Dundas Real McCoys, Norwood Vipers, Stoney Creek Generals, Whitby Dunlops, Kenora Thistles
Like Alberta, Ontario would need two sets of tournaments. The opening round would have two 6-team tournaments and two 5-team tournaments, leading to a final 4. Just following along this massive knockout tournament would be a bit like the FA Cup in English soccer. With the right draw I could see a senior team making the final 4 in Ontario.
QUEBEC (3)
CIS: McGill, UQTR, Concordia
It is amazing that Quebec would have so few teams capable of challenging for this. At one time they had a thriving college league. Anyhow, two of the three teams would be medal threats at the Canada Games.
NEW BRUNSWICK (4)
CIS: New Brunswick, Moncton, St. Thomas
Senior: Lameque Au P'tit Mousse
I bet they could draw large crowds for this perfect little tournament. Four teams, semi-finals Saturday and a final on Sunday. UNB would be heavy favourites but possible rivalry match-ups with the Pids and Eggs would make this dangerous for them.
NOVA SCOTIA (4)
CIS: Acadia, Saint Mary's, St. FX, Dalhousie
There would be no inter-league intrigue for this provincial, but again it has the advantage of being the perfect little 4-team tournament. I would think this would draw well with all teams having a fan base in close proximity to any poential location, and it would be really unpredicatable.
P.E.I. (1)
CIS: UPEI
This would have the intrigue of a Soviet-era election. At least the Panthers would be competitive at the Canada Games, much moreso than PEI usually is.
Newfoundland (2)
Senior: Clarenville Caribous, Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts
Until MUN decides to resurrect the Beothuks, or Sea-Hawks as they now would be, the cod-kissers would have to be represented by a senior team.
Yukon (1)
Senior: Whitehorse Huskies
This squad could be resurrected. They have always had trouble finding leagues up north.
N.W.T./Nunavut (0)
Senior: All-Star Team
"Hockey North" represents both NWT and Nunavut, so they would have to scrounge together a team from the men's leagues across both places. Doesn't sound good but no worse than the Canada Games have been for northern teams in the past.
CANADA GAMES
This is how the pools would look if they used the format as from 2015:
Pool A
1 Ontario
4 Quebec
5 Nova Scotia
8 New Brunswick
Pool B
2 Alberta
3 Manitoba
6 B.C.
7 Saskatchewan
Pool C
9 P.E.I.
10 Newfoundland
11 Yukon
12 N.W.T.
It's funny how the seedings worked out in having the east in one pool and the west in the other. However, if they had this format they may want to include Pool C teams "in the mix" so to speak. Then the pools would look like this:
Pool A
1 Ontario
6 B.C.
7 Saskatchewan
12 N.W.T.
Pool B
2 Alberta
5 Nova Scotia
8 New Brunswick
11 Yukon
Pool C
3 Manitoba
4 Quebec
9 P.E.I.
10 Newfoundland
Pity Yukon being in that potential "Pool of Death" with (possibly) Alberta, UNB, and SMU or Acadia.
Last edited:
