2023/24 OUA Thread

[northvanman]

No schedule posted on the OUA site yet, but McGill and Nipissing both have schedules posted on their respective team sites.

Last year the OUA East included 9 teams who played a total of 27 games. The West included 10 teams who played a total of 28 games. A check of the OUA hockey landing page shows last year's standings but with Nipissing now in the West. Looking at Nipissing's schedule it does seem that this move has happened as the majority of their games are against OUA West teams. So it seems that the league will move forward with an 11 team West division and an 8 team East division.

Based on both schedules, divisional opponents are played two or three times each. Division crossover games are back but the schedule is unbalanced - McGill plays every OUA West team at least once (York twice); Nipissing plays each OUA East team once. Looks like each division is back to 28 games.

It is interesting that the league continues to flip flop on the crossover games. No doubt the pandemic influenced not having them, but the last season the league had full division crossovers was 2016/17. After that season it was dropped down to 4 crossovers per team per season until the end of the 19/20 season - I recall this was the result of some coaches wanting to reduce the amount of travel.

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[MiamiHockeyII]

No schedule posted on the OUA site yet, but McGill and Nipissing both have schedules posted on their respective team sites.

Last year the OUA East included 9 teams who played a total of 27 games. The West included 10 teams who played a total of 28 games. A check of the OUA hockey landing page shows last year's standings but with Nipissing now in the West. Looking at Nipissing's schedule it does seem that this move has happened as the majority of their games are against OUA West teams. So it seems that the league will move forward with an 11 team West division and an 8 team East division.

Based on both schedules, divisional opponents are played two or three times each. Division crossover games are back but the schedule is unbalanced - McGill plays every OUA West team at least once (York twice); Nipissing plays each OUA East team once. Looks like each division is back to 28 games.

It is interesting that the league continues to flip flop on the crossover games. No doubt the pandemic influenced not having them, but the last season the league had full division crossovers was 2016/17. After that season it was dropped down to 4 crossovers per team per season until the end of the 19/20 season - I recall this was the result of some coaches wanting to reduce the amount of travel.

Makes so much sense for Nipissing.

From a travel perspective, they are closer to Windsor (6.5 hrs) than UQTR (7.5 hrs), closer to Western (5 hrs) than McGill/Concordia (6 hrs), AND the route is much safer to the West teams along 4-lane Hwy 11, versus having to take 2-lane Hwy 17 to Ottawa / Kingston / Quebec.

From a hockey perspective, they avoid the gauntlet of dominant OUA East teams (UQTR / McGill / Concordia / Carleton). The OUA West might be a touch deeper, but there is no path out of the OUA East for Nipissing to the University Cup, if that is their aspiration.

 

[Lakeheadfan95]

No schedule posted on the OUA site yet, but McGill and Nipissing both have schedules posted on their respective team sites.

Last year the OUA East included 9 teams who played a total of 27 games. The West included 10 teams who played a total of 28 games. A check of the OUA hockey landing page shows last year's standings but with Nipissing now in the West. Looking at Nipissing's schedule it does seem that this move has happened as the majority of their games are against OUA West teams. So it seems that the league will move forward with an 11 team West division and an 8 team East division.

Based on both schedules, divisional opponents are played two or three times each. Division crossover games are back but the schedule is unbalanced - McGill plays every OUA West team at least once (York twice); Nipissing plays each OUA East team once. Looks like each division is back to 28 games.

It is interesting that the league continues to flip flop on the crossover games. No doubt the pandemic influenced not having them, but the last season the league had full division crossovers was 2016/17. After that season it was dropped down to 4 crossovers per team per season until the end of the 19/20 season - I recall this was the result of some coaches wanting to reduce the amount of travel.

Looking at their schedule we're finally getting east vs west games

 

[northvanman]

Makes so much sense for Nipissing.

From a travel perspective, they are closer to Windsor (6.5 hrs) than UQTR (7.5 hrs), closer to Western (5 hrs) than McGill/Concordia (6 hrs), AND the route is much safer to the West teams along 4-lane Hwy 11, versus having to take 2-lane Hwy 17 to Ottawa / Kingston / Quebec.

From a hockey perspective, they avoid the gauntlet of dominant OUA East teams (UQTR / McGill / Concordia / Carleton). The OUA West might be a touch deeper, but there is no path out of the OUA East for Nipissing to the University Cup, if that is their aspiration.

Agree - North Bay is in a geographically isolated location relative to all the cities the team needs to travel to and they are all long trips, so making these trips as easy as possible makes sense.

I remember that in their first incarnation, Laurentian played in the OUA West, though that may have been as much about balancing the divisions.

Interstingly, since the league has opted for different sized geographic divisions, a case could easily be made for Ontario Tech to be grouped with the West division teams too (and I'd bet OT would prefer this)...though I see the merits in not shinking the East division down too much.

 

[hockeyinsiderusports]

Josh Dixon has accepted a Head Coach position at the University of Guelph.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Josh Dixon has accepted a Head Coach position at the University of Guelph.

I didn’t even realize Shawn Camp retired a couple months ago.

 

[northvanman]

2023/24 schedule was posted on the OUA's website this morning

 

[Lakeheadfan95]

No more 3 game roadies for lakehead thank god

 

[Lakeheadfan95]

Also frosty mug is Lakehead taking Lauriers spot

 

[AdamMcg83]

The 23-24 standings page still has Nipissing in the east, but the schedule sure looks like they're a West team.

The OUA schedule press release also notes that there will be a 6-7 play-in game in the west, but not in the east - which would also lead me to believe Nipissing has, indeed, switched divisions, giving the west 11 teams and the east 8.

 

[northvanman]

Would be really intersting to be a fly on the wall during the negotiations of these schedules. One oddity this year is that Guelph at Nipissing is the season opener on Sept 23 - almost certainly the earliest OUA season opener in modern times and prior to a whole slew of pre-season games to come. This is clearly a "fitting it in" game once you look at both of their schedules. Guelph then makes a mid-week return to North Bay on Nov 29. Seems insane not to make one trip and play a weekend doubleheader. I would imagine the schedulers could have moved any number of Guelph's more local weekend games to mid-week to create the space, but in looking at Nipissing's schedule, there really isn't a spot for a home weekend doubleheader, unless they could move 1-game trips to Thunder Bay or Oshawa to mid-week (which to me makes more sense). Guessing there was lots of discussion about this and that Guelph is not happy about it.

 

[Lakeheadfan95]

Would be really intersting to be a fly on the wall during the negotiations of these schedules. One oddity this year is that Guelph at Nipissing is the season opener on Sept 23 - almost certainly the earliest OUA season opener in modern times and prior to a whole slew of pre-season games to come. This is clearly a "fitting it in" game once you look at both of their schedules. Guelph then makes a mid-week return to North Bay on Nov 29. Seems insane not to make one trip and play a weekend doubleheader. I wouldgwouldgo imagine the schedulers could have moved any number of Guelph's more local weekend games to mid-week to create the space, but in looking at Nipissing's schedule, there really isn't a spot for a home weekend doubleheader, unless they could move 1-game trips to Thunder Bay or Oshawa to mid-week (which to me makes more sense). Guessing there was lots of discussion about this and that Guelph is not

Lakehead shares The building figure skating club is usually during the week or North stars are playing plus Lakehead knows they won't draw on a Wednesday and this is still a business to the city

 

[AdamMcg83]

Would be really intersting to be a fly on the wall during the negotiations of these schedules. One oddity this year is that Guelph at Nipissing is the season opener on Sept 23 - almost certainly the earliest OUA season opener in modern times and prior to a whole slew of pre-season games to come. This is clearly a "fitting it in" game once you look at both of their schedules. Guelph then makes a mid-week return to North Bay on Nov 29. Seems insane not to make one trip and play a weekend doubleheader. I would imagine the schedulers could have moved any number of Guelph's more local weekend games to mid-week to create the space, but in looking at Nipissing's schedule, there really isn't a spot for a home weekend doubleheader, unless they could move 1-game trips to Thunder Bay or Oshawa to mid-week (which to me makes more sense). Guessing there was lots of discussion about this and that Guelph is not happy about it.

We might be reading too much into that early start for NIP-GUE: that is Nipissing's homecoming weekend, so I'd bet that they just petitioned the OUA to let them host a game that would draw big.

 

[MiamiHockeyII]

According to the York Lions website, York is moving to the East Division for 23-24:

LIONS MAKE MOVE TO OUA EAST, HOST RMC TO OPEN 2023-24 CAMPAIGN - York University Athletics

The York University Lions men's hockey team moves to the OUA East in 2023-24 and hosts the RMC Paladins in the season opener Oct. 4.

yorkulions.ca

Strikes me as an odd move, given their proximity to Toronto, Guelph, Waterloo, and Laurier. It does save them an annual trek to Thunder Bay, though.

 

[Lakeheadfan95]

Works for me take a competitive team like York and replace it with a perennial bottom feeder in nippising

 

[northvanman]

I agree - York's move is a head scratcher.

They may save a trip to Thunder Bay this year, but if the scheduling format stays the same, they'll make that trip every other year. Meanwhile, they have five long road trips this coming season. (Windsor, North Bay, Ottawa, Montreal - twice, including one that then goes to Trois-Rivieres) -all by bus - at least T-Bay is by air

 

[Hollywood3]

I agree - York's move is a head scratcher.

They may save a trip to Thunder Bay this year, but if the scheduling format stays the same, they'll make that trip every other year. Meanwhile, they have five long road trips this coming season. (Windsor, North Bay, Ottawa, Montreal - twice, including one that then goes to Trois-Rivieres) -all by bus - at least T-Bay is by air

Definition of "long trip" out east is quite a bit different.

 

[hockeyinsiderusports]

York wanted out of western conference

 

[AUS Fan]

Definition of "long trip" out east is quite a bit different.

I'm guessing CW teams fly a lot between cities? Other than the Alberta teams obviously and the BC teams.

 

[MiamiHockeyII]

I agree - York's move is a head scratcher.

They may save a trip to Thunder Bay this year, but if the scheduling format stays the same, they'll make that trip every other year. Meanwhile, they have five long road trips this coming season. (Windsor, North Bay, Ottawa, Montreal - twice, including one that then goes to Trois-Rivieres) -all by bus - at least T-Bay is by air

It's a trip to Thunder Bay every 4 years. This used to be the way for East vs. West ... instead of playing Windsor AND Lakehead ONCE each per year, East teams would play EITHER Windsor OR Lakehead in a 2 game series each season, alternating home vs. away with each team.
Flying a team to Thunder Bay is a MUCH bigger cost than bussing a team to UQTR, so I see a financial element here. York will save 3/4 of that Thunder Bay cost over a 4 year period. York also avoids having Nipissing in their division, so really every East trip is just up the 401, which is not arduous for York.

 

[northvanman]

It's a trip to Thunder Bay every 4 years. This used to be the way for East vs. West ... instead of playing Windsor AND Lakehead ONCE each per year, East teams would play EITHER Windsor OR Lakehead in a 2 game series each season, alternating home vs. away with each team.
Flying a team to Thunder Bay is a MUCH bigger cost than bussing a team to UQTR, so I see a financial element here. York will save 3/4 of that Thunder Bay cost over a 4 year period. York also avoids having Nipissing in their division, so really every East trip is just up the 401, which is not arduous for York.

I remember that in the old set-up. But that's not how it is going into 23/24 based on the schedule. Every East team plays every West team once. If an East team plays Windsor at home, they travel to Lakehead, or vice versa. Based on this and barring any changes after this year, it sure looks like York is going to Thunder Bay next year and two years after that. Same thing with traveling to North Bay - every second year (and they are going this year).

With all that said, if there is going to be one team other than Nipissing moving to the East, geographically York makes the most sense, being in the north of Toronto. And to the point above, if York wanted out of the West (I can't imagine why), then there's the answer.

 

[Hollywood3]

I'm guessing CW teams fly a lot between cities? Other than the Alberta teams obviously and the BC teams.

Manitoba flies a lot. UBC and TWU are a longer flight than Toronto.

 

[MiamiHockeyII]

I remember that in the old set-up. But that's not how it is going into 23/24 based on the schedule. Every East team plays every West team once. If an East team plays Windsor at home, they travel to Lakehead, or vice versa. Based on this and barring any changes after this year, it sure looks like York is going to Thunder Bay next year and two years after that. Same thing with traveling to North Bay - every second year (and they are going this year).

With all that said, if there is going to be one team other than Nipissing moving to the East, geographically York makes the most sense, being in the north of Toronto. And to the point above, if York wanted out of the West (I can't imagine why), then there's the answer.

I imagine this set up will last for a season, then the ADs will realize that flying to Lakehead for one game is idiotic, and revert to the system where they alternate between Windsor and Lakehead.

 

[Hollywood3]

I imagine this set up will last for a season, then the ADs will realize that flying to Lakehead for one game is idiotic, and revert to the system where they alternate between Windsor and Lakehead.

What do they do with basketball etc.?

 

[thook]

Sad news, former Lakehead Thunderwolves player Mike Hammond has passed away.

RIP MIKE HAMMOND - Nottingham Panthers

www.panthers.co.uk