2019 University Cup (Lethbridge, AB)

[UNB Bruins Fan]

X wasn’t nearly as good this year as their semifinal appearance would suggest. They were the 3rd-5th best team in the AUS this year IMO.

 

[TB12]

My friends were losing it because of the actions of Forsberg brothers...at the end of the game.
I have yet to see it...but I have seen this act before from the U of S...there is a common denominater since the mid 1990's...figure it out!
.

Dave Adolph.

 

[AUS Fan]

My 2 cents worth. I'm a bit late because of a short turnaround between games and having people over the house post-game. The UofA- UofS game had all the makings of a great game. UofS did a great job on the 5 min PK. The 2nd goal was a result, IMO, of a goalie who is very comfortable playing the puck and got a bit complacent. The 3rd goal, being last man back under pressure.
I didn't see what, if anything, caused the fracas at the end. I'm guessing the UofA players were chirping??? In any event, it's not good form for your captain to end his career on that note. I'll leave it there.

UNB-SFX was an embarrassment to SFX. Marchand was not sharp, SFX were not ready. To those who want the OUA barred from the UCup, perhaps we should add SFX to the list......

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

2nd time in 3 years the X-Men have been embarrassed in a semi-final game.

 

[AUS Fan]

2nd time in 3 years the X-Men have been embarrassed in a semi-final game.

Yes, We were talking about the UofS game from a few years ago. 8-0, I think?

 

[FreddyFoyle]

2nd time in 3 years the X-Men have been embarrassed in a semi-final game.

When everything is working for them they are really opportunistic and upset teams, like against UNB at last year's UCup. But when it goes south for them it goes really bad. There doesn't seem to be a middle for X.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Dave Adolph.

I don't think that you can lay blame on Dave Adolph. IMO, Forsberg retaliation may have been from chirping?
I agree, not very classy from Forsbergs.
Regardless, when you have a season like the Huskies had and then lose the CanWest final and UCUP semi to the same Bears, it's easy to see why an incident like this may happen.
From a fan perspective, Magee from Alberta seemed very engaged (chirping) with the Husky bench.
Alberta is Lucky, as Lange is playing today. If that was UNB in the AUS, he would be serving a game misconduct!

 

[oilfanEDM]

Usually just a reader here and not a poster but I figured I’d chime in....

Been following the Bears and Canada West for two seasons now, and this is typical of both Forsbergs. They were both kicked out of the second game of the Canada West final in the last 10 minutes for the same reason.

Essentially anytime the Huskies are losing a close game they turn the last bit of the game into a zoo.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I Enjoy reading everyone’s takes

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

When everything is working for them they are really opportunistic and upset teams, like against UNB at last year's UCup. But when it goes south for them it goes really bad. There doesn't seem to be a middle for X.

I think we need to cut X some slack here, they have gone through a ton of drama, 9 suspensions, still managed to beat out Acadia and came back from 2-0 against SMU to qualify for Nationals, winning twice in Halifax against a team that IMO, had way more skill! Beat OUA champ Queens after spotting them a 3 goal lead.
UNB had a ton of confidence, beating them 5-1,7-1 in the AUS finals, so I'm not surprised by the blowout, as UNB played with an extra gear last night. But for X, I don't think there was much in the tank, especially after giving up 3 quick goals.

 

[cishockeyfan]

X has been a TOP 5 program in Canada the past 10 years and maybe since the start of the 2000's. If you don't think so who's ahead of them? Only Alberta n UNB for sure. Maybe Saskatchewan? But X has had more championship success than Sask has.

Despite the blowout I take nothing for granted of them, they show time n time again they can pull a quicky over UNB.

I think UNB is just vastly superior to them this year. And some outside the UNB circles somehow have doubted UNB a bit going into this tourney. Maybe cause officially Alberta was ranked number 1 (debatable in my opinion) maybe cause of the close game with Carleton.

Someone said on these boards yesterday, it's a shame the 2 best programs are playing in one of the semifinals and don't get the chance to play for the national championship, they were refering to Alberta/Saskatchewan. Since when is Saskatchewan the 2nd best Program in Canada??

The two top programs not only for this season but for the past 20 something years are meeting in the championship game for the 4th time today. Doesn't get any better than that. Alberta has had UNBs number in the medal games and UNB has had Alberta number in the other games they've played.

It's going to be a tight game with two highly skilled deep teams that are both not used to playing a team of their own calibre. Could go anyway

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

While I'm obviously excited to see UNB go after another championship Sunday night I'm also excited to see the two best teams in the country finally face each other. UofA was clearly the superior team back in 2015. This time they are evenly match IMHO

This should be their closest matchup since 2008. I would be surprised if this wasn’t a one goal game.

UNB was better in 2009 (6-3 win in Thunder Bay) and 2010 (6-1 win in exhibition at Clare Drake) and a veteran Alberta team probably played the best game I’ve ever saw against UNB in 2015 in a 6-3 gold medal win.

 

[TB12]

I don't think that you can lay blame on Dave Adolph. IMO, Forsberg retaliation may have been from chirping?
I agree, not very classy from Forsbergs.
Regardless, when you have a season like the Huskies had and then lose the CanWest final and UCUP semi to the same Bears, it's easy to see why an incident like this may happen.
From a fan perspective, Magee from Alberta seemed very engaged (chirping) with the Husky bench.
Alberta is Lucky, as Lange is playing today. If that was UNB in the AUS, he would be serving a game misconduct!

I will respectfully disagree. All I’ll say is that Stauffer is 100% correct about Sask doing this stuff since the 90’s and there being one common denominator.

 

[rethinking]

cishockeyfan, I'm afraid you took my post the wrong way. I was really not suggesting that Sask was the second best program in the country but rather that if they were they deserved the opportunity to play in the Championship game. If you look at other posts I suggested that UNB could have been ranked #1 which would have allowed for Sask to prove themselves against UNB. Alberta and UNB results the last decade speak for themselves.

I did not feel that I could argue the same case for St FX this year because of their overall AUS play this season but in other years, the same argument could be made. Can West / Can West and AUS / AUS semi finals really don't raise the same amount of interest. Do you think real CIS fans were surprised by yesterday's semi final results?

 

[Bob Stauffer]

I was surprised UNB bombed X 9-1.
Just because X always seems poised to upset UNB.
But this season SMU was a better team until the playoffs then X.

Eric Thurston coached Alberta 2005-06 thru 10-11 season.
He won 2 National titles and 5 Conference titles, but towards the end IMO Alberta was a clear #2 to UNB.


Ian Herber is 9-1 at the University Cup.
This will be a great game tonight

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Saskatchewan is seeing the St. FX we all know and love today.

 

[dm8895]

I'm sure both Can West and AUS believe they are the strongest league in the country. It would have been great to see how Alb / St FX and UNB / Sask semi finals would have played out.

If Alb and Sask are the top 2 teams in the country, they deserve the opportunity to play in the championship game but these "sacred" seedings won't allow that, especially since some posters were critical of UNB in their first game.

Poor tournament planning doesn't help sell the product to TSN or anyone else.

This didn't age well....

edit: just saw your above post, obviously I misinterpreted as well

 

[Rob]

I've accepted that the current format is here to stay. I just don't get the point of the bronze medal game. Does it really generate more revenue for the tournament?

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Two things that will never happen again in my lifetime:

- The Huskies beating Alberta when it really matters.

- The Huskies scoring a goal on Sawchenko.

Bears will get hosed if they lose Lange because of that fight at the end.

Saskatchewan is getting good at this bronze medal game thing.

Correction - Saskatchewan is getting good at losing in bronze medal games.

 

[cishockeyfan]

cishockeyfan, I'm afraid you took my post the wrong way. I was really not suggesting that Sask was the second best program in the country but rather that if they were they deserved the opportunity to play in the Championship game. If you look at other posts I suggested that UNB could have been ranked #1 which would have allowed for Sask to prove themselves against UNB. Alberta and UNB results the last decade speak for themselves.

I did not feel that I could argue the same case for St FX this year because of their overall AUS play this season but in other years, the same argument could be made. Can West / Can West and AUS / AUS semi finals really don't raise the same amount of interest. Do you think real CIS fans were surprised by yesterday's semi final results?

I see what your saying now, my bad!

 

[FreddyFoyle]

I was surprised UNB bombed X 9-1.
Just because X always seems poised to upset UNB.
But this season SMU was a better team until the playoffs then X.

Eric Thurston coached Alberta 2005-06 thru 10-11 season.
He won 2 National titles and 5 Conference titles, but towards the end IMO Alberta was a clear #2 to UNB.


Ian Herber is 9-1 at the University Cup.
This will be a great game tonight

UNB showed last night that you have to get to Chase Marchand early, and if you do, he gets off his game. Sask showed today that if you let Marchand settle in, he's tough to beat. AUS teams are well aware of this.

When Marchand is ON, the X offence counter-attacks and takes advantage of their opportunities. Shots on goal mean nothing. We've seen this movie so many times before.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I noticed the attendance for each game yesterday was 1000-1100...ouch.

I get wanting to put this tournament in new places, but it’s gotta be hard to not want to go back to proven hosts when you see these kind of numbers.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

UNB showed last night that you have to get to Chase Marchand early, and if you do, he gets off his game. Sask showed today that if you let Marchand settle in, he's tough to beat. AUS teams are well aware of this.

When Marchand is ON, the X offence counter-attacks and takes advantage of their opportunities. Shots on goal mean nothing. We've seen this movie so many times before.

Cooke out with a concussion, must have got hit last night?

 

[dm8895]

I noticed the attendance for each game yesterday was 1000-1100...ouch.

I get wanting to put this tournament in new places, but it’s gotta be hard to not want to go back to proven hosts when you see these kind of numbers.

If your going to charge for the webcasts, some tolerable broadcasters would have gone a long.... i had it on mute almost all weekend, the play by play guy was ok, but I felt like I knew less and less about CIS hockey , every time the colour guy spoke...

 

[Bob Stauffer]

The Bronze Medal game is meaningless.
Alberta smoked UNB 8-2 in Fredericton back in 2003...neither team gave a crap.
X got embarassed by UNB yesterday and needed to redeem themselves.
Saskatchewan had their best season in years but as usual lost to a heartbreaker to Alberta and then got their best D-man, and one of their best forwards suspended for the game today.

 

[Rob]

The Bronze Medal game is meaningless.
Alberta smoked UNB 8-2 in Fredericton back in 2003...neither team gave a crap.
X got embarassed by UNB yesterday and needed to redeem themselves.
Saskatchewan had their best season in years but as usual lost to a heartbreaker to Alberta and then got their best D-man, and one of their best forwards suspended for the game today.

Yes, everyone pretty much agrees it is meaningless. I'm just wondering if it raises the revenue for the tournament? Why else would the organizers have it?