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

[RED ARMY EAST]

Weather conditions

Not gooood, as Fredericton Is to the path of a Nor'easter disturbance, that has already slammed New England. It is to hit late in the afternoon on Tuesday. All teams will get a practice in today, as it is slated hit around 5pm Atlantic time. It could bring 25-35 cm, let's hope not.
Two years ago in Halifax, the city was hit with a major blizzard during the University Cup.
All teams are within a 5-10 minute commute to the Aitken Centre .

 

[AUS Fan]

The only good thing is that the snow should be cleared up by Thursday and the weekend.

 

[Prov1X]

Two years ago in Halifax, the city was hit with a major blizzard during the University Cup.

That was not a fun drive home the next day It was a white knuckled drive the entire way back to Fredericton.

The only thing that the storm might affect is the Gala, and like mentioned, teams are at most 10-15 mins away.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

What's NS supposed to get? Hopefully it doesn't impact anyone coming from away too much.

 

[AUS Fan]

Right now it looks like 5 inches for NS overnight Tuesday. Wed and Thursday look good. Moncton 8-12 inches overall and Freddybeach 8-15 into Wed morning. If the track through the US is any indication, the system appears to be more to the North and West, so perhaps less for Halifax and Moncton and more for Fredericton.

 

[Prov1X]

As per Victor Findlay:

Bad start to the U Cup for the Queen's Gaels. Flight to Fredericton got cancelled. Aren't sure when they'll arrive yet.

 

[AUS Fan]

Start the bus.....


I wonder if York and the CW teams are in the same boat with arrivals cancelled. Or did they arrive Monday?

Am checking to see if they are gonna bus or get another flight.

 

[Drummer]

Rankings & Schedule Update

So, now that we have the rankings, seedings and schedule - time for an update.

The Top 10 Rankings came out on Sunday and lead to the following seedlings by the tournament committee.

SEEDS
The seedsing are as follows:
1. Alberta (Golden Bears) - CW Champions (18-8-2)
2. St. FX (X-Men) - AUS Champions (16-12-2)
3. York (Lions) - OUA Champions (18-6-4)
4. Queen's (Golden Gaels) - OUA-East Champions (18-7-3)
5. New Brunswick (Varsity Reds) - AUS Runner-up (25-2-3))
6. Saskatchewan (Huskies) - CW Runner-up (21-5-2)
7. McGill (Redmen) - OUA Bronze (21-4-3)
8. Acadia (Axemen) - AUS Bronze (20-8-2)

Due to upsets, etc - the teams with 20+ wins are on the bottom half, while no team on the top half has more than 18 (SFX is the lowest with 16).

SCHEDULE

UNB has elected to play on Thursday night in the hope of winning and getting an extra day of rest. They will need that rest if they get that far as their Semi-final is at noon on Saturday (Thursday winners play Semi-Final #1 while Friday winners play Semi-Final #2).

# Higher seed is Home Team. UNB will use their regular home bench even in games where they are the Visitor.

Wed. Mar. 15 - Gala (Richard J. Currie Center)

Thu. Mar. 16 - Game 1 (1pm AST) #1-ALB vs #8-ACD
Thu. Mar. 16 - Game 2 (7pm AST) #4-QNS vs #5-UNB

Fri. Mar. 17 - Game 3 (1pm AST) #3-YRK vs #6-USK
Fri. Mar. 17 - Game 4 (7pm AST) #2-SFX vs #7-McG

Sat. Mar. 18 - Semi #1 (noon AST) Thursday Winners
Sat. Mar. 18 - Semi #2 (4pm AST) Friday Winners

Sun. Mar. 19 - Bronze (9:30am AST)
Sun. Mar. 19 - Gold (1pm AST)

Observations
- in 4 previous UCup tournaments in Fredericton, no CW team has advanced to the final
- in 6 previous UCup tournament in NB (4 in Fredericton and 2 in Moncton), the only CW team to advance to the final is Alberta (2008-Champions)
- in the 8 previous Atlantic tournaments, the only CW team to advance to the final is Alberta (2008-Champion & 2016-Champion)
- AUS Teams have advanced to the finals 10 times in 8 tournaments which includes 3 all-AUS finals; 2004-UNB/SFX, 2007-UNB/UdeM & 2016-UNB/SFX. The only Atlantic tournament not to have an AUS team competing in the final was 2012-McG/UWO.
- For the 8 Atlantic tournaments, the AUS has won gold 4 times, CW with 2 and OUA-East 2 while OUA-West has been shutout.

2003 - SFX vs UQTR
2004 - SFX vs UNB
2007 - UNB vs UdeM
2008 - UNB vs ALB
2011 - UNB vs McG
2012 - McG vs UWO
2015 - UNB vs ALB
2016 - UNB vs SFX

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Sounds like Queen's is bussing it the whole way. That's gotta be brutal...how far is it from Kingston to Fredericton?

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

14 hours by car

 

[Prov1X]

Sounds like Queen's is bussing it the whole way. That's gotta be brutal...how far is it from Kingston to Fredericton?

Kingston to Freddy would be ~12 hours or a little more by bus. I am not exactly sure when all the teams were coming in, was told that the western teams were arriving Sunday night. Now there were also a couple of teams (or perhaps just one) flying into Halifax and then bussing up from there. I am surprised that Queen's waited until today. I thought that all teams would be here by Monday.

York Lions are here

No. 3 seed @yorkulions @YULionsMHockey on the ice now at the AUC. #UCup

Coupe U Cup‏ @coupeUcup 13h13 hours ago
More
Coupe U Cup Retweeted Golden Bears Hockey
No. 1 seed arrives in #Fredericton. Welcome to Atlantic Canada's Riverfront Capital! #UCup

 

[AUS Fan]

Sounds like Queen's is bussing it the whole way. That's gotta be brutal...how far is it from Kingston to Fredericton?

Gibby, Baile and their captain are in Freddybeach. Rest of team is bussing. About 12 hours or so.

 

[Prov1X]

Today:
11:00am Alberta Practice
12:15pm York Practice
1:30pm Saskatchewan Practice
2:45pm UNB Practice
5:00pm Queens Practice (will miss)

Tomorrow:
8:20am Saskatchewan Practice
9:20am York Practice
10:20am Acadia Practice
11:20am Alberta Practice
1:10pm UNB Practice
2:10pm Queens Practice
3:20pm StFX Practice
4:20pm McGill Practice

 

[FreddyFoyle]

Start the bus.....


I wonder if York and the CW teams are in the same boat with arrivals cancelled. Or did they arrive Monday?

Am checking to see if they are gonna bus or get another flight.

York is here. They practiced this afternoon.

I heard McGill is busing as far as Riviere-du-Loup today, then finish the trip to Fredericton tomorrow.

I also heard Queen's might be looking at flying into Moncton. If I was them, I would just start busing ....

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Alberta arrived Monday, practiced on schedule today at 11am. That I know for sure.
They'll be ready to slay the Axe!

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Today:
11:00am Alberta Practice
12:15pm York Practice
1:30pm Saskatchewan Practice
2:45pm UNB Practice
5:00pm Queens Practice (will miss)

Tomorrow:
8:20am Saskatchewan Practice
9:20am York Practice
10:20am Acadia Practice
11:20am Alberta Practice
1:10pm UNB Practice
2:10pm Queens Practice
3:20pm StFX Practice
4:20pm McGill Practice

No Tuesday practice for X and Acadia? I assume they practiced at home and hit the bus today?

 

[AUS Fan]

No Tuesday practice for X and Acadia? I assume they practiced at home and hit the bus today?

Yes.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Acadia

Acadia has gone west over the years to recruit. As far back, as the 2 National championships that the school won back in the mid 90's.
This version of the Axemen, include 7 former WHL grads, including star forward Boston Leier, McNalty,Fioretti,Makin, Braid, all star defenseman Pufahl and goaltender Brandon Glover.
I'm sure many of these players have crossed paths with current Golden Bear players, as the Bears recruit almost exclusively from the Western Hockey League.
Should be a good tilt to kick off Nationals.

 

[AUS Fan]

I'm sure it will be Old Home Week when the teams gather tonight at the Awards. That's when most of the old ties are renewed. I've seen it in the past and it is nice to see the guys acknowledge old Junior teammates/opponents.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Anyone know if there are any tickets left for the awards tonight...and if so, how to go about getting one?

 

[AUS Fan]

Team allotment of thirty (30) Gala Awards tickets at no charge. Additional tickets ($30.00) will be available to purchase by contacting Shyanne Keith ([email protected]; 506-453-5001)

 

[AUS Fan]

Tough times for both McGill and Queens. McGill is stuck in Riviere du Loup with roads closed and Queens are in (or have left) Quebec City. McGill are going to practice in "the Loup" before continuing.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

They are sold out. If anyone has a spare I might be interested in buying it.

 

[AUS Fan]

Check with the snowbound teams. You may have a choice of 60 seats.

 

[FreddyFoyle]

Several people I chatted with after today's coaches' press conference wondered why McGill and Queen's put themselves in such a travel bind weather wise.

The general consensus was that everyone knew for days that a storm was coming, so why didn't those two teams leave for Fredericton earlier?

So sympathy at their plight, while at the same time shaking their heads as the other teams made sure they got here ahead of the storm.

Everyone else wants to win, so not a lot of pity available ...