2017 U Sports Playoffs/University Cup (March 16th-19th in Fredericton, NB)

[RED ARMY EAST]

AUS finals

Game 1
X-Men defeat UNB 2-1, despite getting outshot 50-19. Chase Marchand in goal for X was beyond stellar!
This was the first home ice loss for UNB this season.
They are a tough nut to crack, especially when they get an early lead. X defends very well in the defensive zone and is opportunistic on the transition,
They managed to generate just 2 shots in the third period, Monday night, but hung on to win,
They have a chance to win the AUS final on home ice, but don't think they will win the University Cup.
This is a younger X team that lost to UNB in the National final last March, but it is the same coach, with the same systems that dethroned Alberta and knocked off Saskatchewan, in Halifax.
UNB has had their number during the regular season, but St FX has gelled at the right time and has now won 5 straight playoff games.
On another note, the team that meets them at UCup will be in for a dog fight!

 

[cishockeyfan]

This is a familiar scrip when UNB plays X in the post season, since Peddle has been head coach.

UNB will be in tough for game 2 without Jordan Murray again. However I still feel UNB will win the University Cup again even if X wins game 2

 

[cishockeyfan]

On another note I still feel the 8 team format is just too many teams. 1/4 of the CIS League makes the National Championchip. 3/7 Atlantic Teams make championchip almost feels like it takes away the importance of even winning a Conference Title. In a lot of cases the AUS runnerup often gets a better Matchup opening game than the AUS Champion does.

I Know its all about Dollars now but I still like the purest form 4 conference champion 4 team semis and final method the best. But it unfortunately doesnt work anymore cause they want a host team to draw larger crowds.

 

[cishockeyfan]

On another note I still feel the 8 team format is just too many teams. 1/4 of the CIS League makes the National Championchip. 3/7 Atlantic Teams make championchip almost feels like it takes away the importance of even winning a Conference Title. In a lot of cases the AUS runnerup often gets a better Matchup opening game than the AUS Champion does.

I Know its all about Dollars now but I still like the purest form 4 conference champion 4 team semis and final method the best. But it unfortunately doesnt work anymore cause they want a host team to draw larger crowds.

A memorial cup style event would be so much cooler, a host and 4 champs, 4 game round robin play each team once, semis and a final. Couldnt be done in University though away from the books that long

 

[Rob]

Did something happen to Brendon Childerly of the Axemen?

 

[freddy123]

Did something happen to Brendon Childerly of the Axemen?

Apparently suffered a heart attack in the intermission between the first and second overtime of game one in the semi finals. Had to be resuscitated with a defibrillator. I had no idea until I saw he did the puck drop at the first game of the series again SMU and checked out why. Fortunately everything in the story indicates he's going to be OK and plans on returning next year.

Stratford Beacon Story

 

[Bob Stauffer]

I am also not a fan of the 8-team format.
From a bidding and organizing perspective the 6-team format works much better, guaranteeing the home school at least 2 games/gates in the round-robin.
IMO the current 8-team format will limit bids across the Country, because of cost and inability to recuperate the original money for the bid.
And valid point, that the Conference runner-up at least for the Canada West and AUS actually gets an easier game then the Champion...because OUA (whether fairly or unfairly) is perceived as the weaker Conference and prone to upsets during their play-offs...often see's there teams seeded 3-4 at Nationals...which means Canada West #2, and AUS #2 end up dropping to being seeded 5-6.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Apparently suffered a heart attack in the intermission between the first and second overtime of game one in the semi finals. Had to be resuscitated with a defibrillator. I had no idea until I saw he did the puck drop at the first game of the series again SMU and checked out why. Fortunately everything in the story indicates he's going to be OK and plans on returning next year.

Stratford Beacon Story

Pretty scary to think that something like that can happen to a 24 year old athlete.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

If X and McGill both win you could see them playing in the 2/7 game and Alberta/Acadia play in the 1/8 game while UNB gets Queens/York loser in the 4/5 game.

 

[AdamMcg83]

Here's a thought - if McGill, UNB, and St Mary's all advance, you'd think that UNB-McGill would be 1-8, and Alberta-SMU would be 2-7. But, couldn't we also see Alberta leap UNB for the #1 seed? It wouldn't change the matchups, but objectively, you can make a much better case for Alberta over UNB than you could for SMU over McGill - especially because Alberta just won the conference in a road sweep.

We'd still see the same first-round matchups, but the overall seeding would be impacted for semis/finals matchups.

 

[cishockeyfan]

Here's a thought - if McGill, UNB, and St Mary's all advance, you'd think that UNB-McGill would be 1-8, and Alberta-SMU would be 2-7. But, couldn't we also see Alberta leap UNB for the #1 seed? It wouldn't change the matchups, but objectively, you can make a much better case for Alberta over UNB than you could for SMU over McGill - especially because Alberta just won the conference in a road sweep.

We'd still see the same first-round matchups, but the overall seeding would be impacted for semis/finals matchups.

If UNB comes back to win the AUS final 2-1, there is no possible way Alberta suddenly leapfrogs UNB into number #1 spot. UNB has been 1st all season alberta was never in first llace in their own conference. Both of them winning their conference championchip 2 games to 1 would not vault Alberta to Number 1 ranked suddenly.

However if UNB loses the AUS final to X , Alberta most likely get the number 1 seed. But than you could also make a case that maybe X earns that spot especially if they sweep.

 

[AdamMcg83]

If UNB comes back to win the AUS final 2-1, there is no possible way Alberta suddenly leapfrogs UNB into number #1 spot. UNB has been 1st all season alberta was never in first llace in their own conference. Both of them winning their conference championchip 2 games to 1 would not vault Alberta to Number 1 ranked suddenly.

However if UNB loses the AUS final to X , Alberta most likely get the number 1 seed. But than you could also make a case that maybe X earns that spot especially if they sweep.

First thing - you're right. was thinking Alberta swept, my bad.

My point, though, is that Alberta jumping UNB to #1 is no more far-fetched than SMU jumping McGill. In fact, I'd argue that the gap between SMU and McGill is much wider than the gap between Alberta and UNB.

SMU finished a game over .500, and appeared in the top 10 once (this week, at #10). McGill appeared in the top-10 14 times in 18 weeks, and spent 8 weeks inside the top 4.

With St FX and Acadia each leading their series, this will probably a non-issue, one way or another. I just think that, if the committee has the ability to move teams around one spot to avoid conference matchups, the 1-2 swap might be more appropriate than the 7-8 swap.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

But if you flipped Alberta and UNB just to make the seedings make a bit more sense I am sure UNB would complain. That difference is the difference between having last change/being the home team in a possible Championship game against #2. The chances of it mattering is probably not great, but more likely than the 7/8 flip mattering.

 

[AdamMcg83]

That's a fair point - the difference between 1 and 2, while more narrow than the difference between 7 and 8, is also possibly more impactful.

All of this, of course, leads to the inevitable question: who the hell cares if two teams from the same conference play eachother in round 1???

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Even more ridiculous would be if Windsor and X win...then we might see Alberta/most likely Acadia in the 1/8 game and X/Windsor in the 2/7 game.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

With X and Acadia winning this is how I see the seedings shake out...

1 - Alberta vs. 8 - Acadia
4 - York/Queen's loser vs. 5 - UNB

2 - St. FX vs. 7 - McGill/Windsor
3 - York/Queen's Winner vs. 6 - Saskatchewan

So we will have UNB/Saskatchewan/McGill - 3 of the country's top 4 or 5 teams all year - in the bottom half of the bracket. You could even include Acadia as they were ranked in the top 5 in 7 polls this year.

To follow up on the earlier point about conference runner-ups getting the more favourable match-up...you can argue that both UNB and Saskatchewan will have easier match-ups than St. FX (if McGill wins) and Alberta.

 

[AUS Fan]

Congrats to Acadia with the win tonight. They were the better team. Their PP scored; ours did not. Also congrats to Peds and the X-Men.

My Gold Medal game has UNB as one of the finalists.

 

[Drummer]

But if you flipped Alberta and UNB just to make the seedings make a bit more sense I am sure UNB would complain. That difference is the difference between having last change/being the home team in a possible Championship game against #2. The chances of it mattering is probably not great, but more likely than the 7/8 flip mattering.

To add to this - the top 4 teams in the ranking become the top 4 seeds and you can't flip/exchange them once set by the Top Ten committee prior to the tournament (mandated by USPORTS in the tournament regulations), only seeds 5-8 can be moved to avoid inter-conference match-ups in round 1.

Even more ridiculous would be if Windsor and X win...then we might see Alberta/most likely Acadia in the 1/8 game and X/Windsor in the 2/7 game.

I don't think it will matter who wins the OUA Bronze game or if they are ranked 7th or 8th. To avoid SFX/ACD in R1 - the OUA bronze team will be seeded 7th and ACD will be 8th regardless.

All of this, of course, leads to the inevitable question: who the hell cares if two teams from the same conference play each other in round 1???

The tournament committee cares. They've played each other 4-6 times in a season, no need to see it again in Round 1.

From the stats side - the approach is - two teams, from the same conference, shouldn't meet until the finals and only having 'gone through' opponents from the other conference's to get there.

If USK is 5th, they would be in the top half with ALB which sets up a CW rematch in the Semi's (which means UNB at 6th could meet SFX in the lower half Semi's). Interesting prospect and it would guarantee a team from each conference in the finals, but having UNB 5th and USK 6th sets up CW/AUS semis and a chance for a conference to show it's over all strength by having two teams in the finals.

 

[Drummer]

With X and Acadia winning this is how I see the seedings shake out...

1 - Alberta vs. 8 - Acadia
4 - York/Queen's loser vs. 5 - UNB

2 - St. FX vs. 7 - McGill/Windsor
3 - York/Queen's Winner vs. 6 - Saskatchewan

Agree - this is likely what we'll get. USK could be 5th which changes this a bit, but I could also see the Tournament Committee swap UNB/USK to make UNB 5th regardless to split ALB-USK and UNB-SFX placing them on different sides.

To follow up on the earlier point about conference runner-ups getting the more favourable match-up...you can argue that both UNB and Saskatchewan will have easier match-ups than St. FX (if McGill wins) and Alberta.

Possibly. It's not the CW or AUS's fault that the OUA is weak. Also, it's not their fault that USPORTs mandates Conf. Champions have to be 1-4. If this was really about perceived strength - you wouldn't have such a rule.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

To me X sweeping UNB is quite impressive and should merit consideration to be moved to #1

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

They need to stop treating the OUA as essentially two conferences (East and West) and making it mandatory the OUA runner-up gets the 4th spot.

Don't the other sports rank their teams at national tournaments based on their overall resume and not necessarily how the conference playoffs played out? For example, in men's BBall Carleton is ranked 2nd even though they lost in the conference final...in women's BBall Cape Breton is 6th I think even though they won the AUS. Maybe hockey should do the same?

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

To me X sweeping UNB is quite impressive and should merit consideration to be moved to #1

You could definitely make the case, but I don't think it will happen. Alberta had a much better regular season and were ranked higher the last 2/3 of the season, plus beating Saskatchewan in a road series is obviously nothing to scoff at. What X did is impressive (and obviously couldn't do anything more given their 7-0 playoff record), but I still don't think it is quite enough to leap Alberta.

 

[Drummer]

I Know its all about Dollars now but I still like the purest form 4 conference champion 4 team semis and final method the best. But it unfortunately doesnt work anymore cause they want a host team to draw larger crowds.

This would make the 'sting' of losing the Conf. Championships a lot worse and a big motivator to achieve in the following season. The Conf. Championships are diminished to some degree as a result of both teams going to UCup.

UNB has been the biggest benefactor of the expanded format. They have won 3 as non-conference champion
- 2007 (AUS Runner-up to UdeM)
- 2009 (AUS Runner-up to SMU)
- 2016 (AUS Runner-up to SFX)

Alberta has won two(2) as a wild-card/CW Runner-up (1999 & 2000).

UNB & ALB are the only teams to take advantage of the wild-card birth since the expanded format start in 1997. All other champions (14 out of 19) were Conference Champions which reinforces the idea that you only need the top 4. A low seed has made it to the finals on occasion, but it's generally the result of an upset earlier in the tournament and they can't do it again in the final.

 

[Drummer]

Here's an interesting stat.

Ranked All Season
Since the format expanded in 1997, the UCup Champion has been ranked the entire season leading up to the tournament. This implies that if you are not ranked in week-1, you are not likely to win (remove Acadia, Queen's, York, McGill & Windsor).

13 of 19 Champions were ranked #1 at least once the season they won (remove USask & Alberta, but Alberta will likely be #1 in the last poll this weekend). So, the loser has been that season's 'feel good' story in a lot of cases, but not good enough to win.

So, that would leave SFX and UNB (and Alberta once the last poll comes out) as top contendors as a finalist.

On the flip side - the loser has been ranked the entire season 9 of 19 times and 4 of them have been ranked #1 at least once in the season.

Non-All-Rank
The last champion to win and not be ranked in week-1 was Lethbridge in 1994 (they made it into week-2 and all remaining weeks leading up to the tournament).

Cinderella
The last 'Cinderella' was UdeM in 1995. They were ranked 10th in week 1, but didn't make it back on until week 10 as well as week 11 & 12 (out of 12 in total). They basically didn't appear until they won their first round of the AUAA playoffs. The dominate #1 for the season was Acadia, but they were upset by UdeM in the AUAA finals.

Could Queen's be this year's surprise champion?

 

[Rob]

So I'm assuming UNB will be playing Thursday night.

Would Alberta prefer to play the very first game on Thursday afternoon or wait until Friday night because of the affect the time zone change has?