Issue 25, Vol 145, Hockey Insert, The Brunswickan

FACING OFF AGAINST THE NATION’S BEST The Brunswickan presents: Special 2012 University Cup insert

2 • Mar. 21, 2012 • Issue 25 • Volume 145

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Past Champions

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Mar. 21, 2012 • Issue 25 • Volume 145 • 3

Kyle Bailey reflects on his time as a Varsity Red Bronté James The Brunswickan With five years and two CIS hockey championships under his belt, UNB Varsity Reds men’s hockey captain Kyle Bailey is hoping to finish his final year with a third CIS title.

“UNB has been a big part of my life the past five years, and it’s been an honour to play here. I just want to make sure we go out the right way and win,” Bailey says.

Having played since he was five years old, Bailey says playing hockey is the natural progression of things in a small Canadian town.

With a small rink man-made by the fathers of the neighbourhood, and minutes from his house, he says kids in the neighbourhood spent much of their time there.

“We didn’t play any organized hockey; we just sort of skated around and I guess that’s just sort of the natural progression.

You learn how to skate, into playing hockey,” Bailey says.

Following in his brother’s footsteps, Bailey moved through all the stages of hockey: Mites, Novice, Pee-Wee, Bantam, Midget, and is in his final year of university-level hockey.

Not following the traditional route of emulating an NHL player, Bailey says his family has the biggest impact on his decision to play hockey.

“I’ve got an older brother who is two years older than me so I always kind of followed in his footsteps, but my dad worked shift work, so after kindergarten, when I was five or so, he used to take me public skating and stuff like that,” Bailey says.

“So my dad and my brother are probably the two biggest influences on me.”

In Junior hockey, Bailey had the opportunity to play alongside players such as Brandon Dubinsky of the New York Rangers, Brayden Coburn of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Jannik Hansen of the Vancouver Canucks.

Rather than following particular NHL teams, Bailey keeps tabs on particular players because of his friendships with them.

“Some guys I try to keep in touch with and watch how they’re doing because they were a part of my life for a few years, so it’s kind of cool to see them succeeding at the next level,” Bailey says.

Although he is captain of the top-ranked university hockey team in Canada, Bailey says he has faults like every other player. Having many scoring opportunities, he believes he doesn’t score as much as he should.

“I seem to produce offensively pretty good, but I get a lot of chances to score and a lot of chances on nets. I guess I wish I had a little better scoring touch around the net, but I can’t complain,” Bailey says.

With fewer goals in his favour than he would like, Bailey still believes he has a strong work ethic, which he attributes to his mother and father. He believes no matter how the game is going, whether it is in UNB’s favour or not, one thing that can always be controlled is how hard each player works.

“That’s something I try to do before every game; make sure that no matter how things go, no matter how the game unfolds, make sure you’re working as hard as you can and trying to provide as much leadership as you can for your teammates.”

Playing on a team that is known for its championship titles, Bailey says there is an expectation that they are supposed to win. With a strong sense of tradition and excellence, he says it’s easy to stay motivated.

“You might wake up not feeling the greatest, or whatever the circumstances on that particular day, but you’ve got to find a way to be motivated because it means a lot to the university and it means a lot to the people that are part of the program,” Bailey says.

“So, it’s really not that difficult. I mean, you’re going to have your bad days, but it’s not that tough to get motivated for the games I find.”

With a sense of responsibility to win, Bailey says it is important for the team to have dynamic warm-ups and with it have some comic relief. He says the team tries to have fun more than anything and loosen up before the game.

“We do it as a group about an hour before the game, so it’s pretty entertaining,” Bailey says.

Going into his fifth year at UNB, and three championship games on his resumé, two of which he took home the gold, Bailey says he has a strong understanding of how difficult it is to win the AUS title. He says it is a huge accomplishment and it is something the team is very proud of.

While most would say the highlight of their time playing hockey at UNB is CIS championships, Bailey’s most memorable moment was beating St. Francis Xavier in the AUS final last year. Having lost to StFX in the semifinals and facing them in the finals, Bailey swears the stress of it all took years off his life.

“I was pretty incredible, it was an incredible atmosphere and there was just so much that went into that series,” Bailey says.

“You are just on edge for about a week or week and a half as the series is going on. I was really proud of the guys for being able to come together and it was just a hurdle mentally that we had to overcome to beat that team.”

Bailey attributes UNB’s success to coaching

by Gardiner MacDougall. While most think of the ability to recruit meaning he recruits good hockey players, Bailey says it’s his ability to recruit players with as much character as skill level.

“There are some people with very impressive hockey resumés who want to play here but he gets tipped off that they’re not a great person, or have had trouble with their team and he just sort of dropped them and doesn’t recruit any further,” Bailey says.

“I’ve been really fortunate over the past five years to play with some awesome people, have the honour to be captain of them for the past three years, which is a double-honou r because they’re such awesome people that anyone could do the job I have. They’ll be friends for life, all of them.”

A s capta i n of t he tea m, Ba i ley believes the biggest part of his job is leading by example. He believes his actions speak louder than words, and if you’re doing things right, there isn’t much else you can do.

Leading by example is not something Bailey

does just on the ice, but on land as well. Having just won a Community Service Award for his leadership in the V-Reds Prospect Program, created

by Gardiner MacD oug a l l a n d Roger Shann o n , B a i le y s a y s it is a huge honour.

“I almost feel embarrassed about get t i ng t he award because there are so many guys on our team that I think do amazing things in the community with underprivileged people,” Bailey says.

“It’s a huge honour but I feel as though I should be accepting the honour on behalf of several people.”

Bailey says this has been an amazing experience that allowed him to meet people who are not only involved in the hockey program, but in the community as well.

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of the kids and families on a personal level. It’s amazing looking out on the ice and knowing all the kids by their first and last names, and you know their fathers in the stands.”

Bailey says at one point he would have taken every hockey opportunity available. Si nce he c a me to u n iversit y h is p r o s p e c t s h a ve changed.

“I had no doubt, 100 per cent I am going to go try and play.

Now that I am going to be finishing up a Masters program, I realized there are other things in life that I’ve got to consider other than just me playing hockey. I look at it as going into this summer with all my options open,” Bailey says.

Admitting he didn’t put a lot of stock into being recruited to UNB his first year, Bailey says that seeing all those who want to play for UNB, he realizes what an honour it is to play for the Varsity Reds hockey team.

“We’ll see what life has in store for me. I don’t know what I’m gonna do without this place, but I’ll figure something out,” Bailey says.

“It’s probably been the most memorable five years of my life and I will cherish it forever, that’s for sure.”

Sandy Chase / The Brunswickan

UNB Varsity Reds

brunswickansports UQTR Patriotes

AUS champions

OUA finalists

Regular Season: 20-5-3

Regular Season: 19-7-2

Conference titles: 12

Conference titles: 8

CIS titles: 4

CIS titles: 4

4 • Mar. 21, 2012 • Issue 25 • Volume 145

Western Ontario Mustangs OUA finalists Regular Season: 21-4-3 by christopher cameron Every CIS coach wants their team to not only make the playoffs, but to peak in the playoffs. If the AUS playoffs are any indication, Gardiner MacDougall has actually achieved this.

Battling through an injury-filled season, the Varsity Reds finished with their worst regular season record since 2007, but still finished first in the AUS. They would receive a first-round bye, eventually winning both the best-of-five semifinal and final in three straight games.

“You try to find little things to separate you from your opponents and down the stretch at 6-0-1, I think it was a great way to finish and then going into the AUS playoffs to go 6-0 with the spread is probably unprecedented in recent times,” said MacDougall, head coach of the UNB men’s hockey team.

“Now the next goal is to be the most improved team at this tournament.”

Entering the University Cup ranked no. 1, UNB is in the same pool as the no. 4 ranked Western Ontario Mustangs and no. 6 ranked UQTR Patriotes. The Varsity Reds took on UQTR in an exhibition game prior to the regular season in Woodstock, winning 3-2.

Although they may not be overly familiar with these squads, MacDougall believes they will be able to adapt their skills to shut down both teams.

“We know any team here is a top talent and our focus is to have our team prepared,” MacDougall said. “Obviously there are some aspects of each team that we know we need to deal with. We’ve met them (Western) many times in the national championship in the past and we know they will be a tough opponent and we’ll do our best to match them.”

Last season, the CIS champion Varsity Reds prepared for the University Cup by practicing minor details prior to the tournament such as taking TV timeouts in the AUS final against StFX. This season those same practices were not put in place, but MacDougall is still comfortable with his team’s preparation.

“We had a plan, but we didn’t get to game five (against UdeM),” he said with regards to practicing the TV timeouts. “We’ve tried to do everything else to prepare. We’ve tried to replicate the schedule (training) and different things in practice.”

MacDougall also believes that goaltender Travis Fullerton has been an integral part to the team’s late-season success.

“He’s battled some adversity this year with injuries and he’s never had any injuries in his career, but this year he had two,” he said. “He’s such a proven competitor at the high level. The bigger the moment, the better he seems to play.”

“That’s a key attribute to any player, but certainly in his position it is a vital attribute. He finds a way to make the big saves when it counts.”

Although it will be tough to repeat as CIS champions, there is potential for captain Kyle Bailey and defenseman Luke Gallant to win their third national title in five seasons with UNB. MacDougall believes this says something about the consistency of the program even with turnover of players throughout the years.

“I think when you recruit players, you want to give them the best experience possible as a student-athlete and certainly the players that come here to the hockey program and turn into good students along the way,” MacDougall said. “What Kyle and Luke have brought to our program as fifth-year guys has been important.”

“They are two other players that the bigger the moment, the better they play. They’ve got a lot of mental resolve to them and a lot of passion and leadership. There are always players like them throughout the years that help put us in the best spot possible.”

Conference titles: 3 CIS titles: 1 by christopher cameron A year ago the University of Western Ontario Mustangs had their dreams of winning the University Cup slashed by the UNB Varsity Reds in a 4-0 loss. This year they hope to be more prepared.

“We addressed some of the weaknesses we thought we had compared to some of the other top teams in the country through our recruiting process,” said head coach Clarke Singer. “We added a little more sandpaper to our game and that’s something I thought we could use a little bit more of in the big games like at a national championship.”

“When you play really good teams, you have parts of your game that are exposed and you want to try to look at those parts of your game and make sure they don’t get exposed the next year.”

There will be six or seven new players in the starting lineup that were not at the national championship last season. Singer will rely on his veterans to put his team in the best position to win.

“This will be that group’s (veterans) third national championship in four years and those are our leaders and obviously when you get to a national stage like we will (be on) out there, they have to be our best players,” he said.

“If they aren’t our best players we’re going to have some difficulty winning.”

He continued, saying that his team’s character has been vital to getting them where they are now.

“One of the things that happened this year was that because we were one of the teams to represent the conference last year at the national championship, everyone wanted to play their best hockey against us,” Singer said. “I think we’re very fortunate in a way because we always have to be on our game to win, so we’ve got to make sure we’re at our best and the team has responded well to that.”

When it came to discussing how his team has adjusted since making hockey nationals, he said they have continued to refine things they had worked on all season, which includes special teams, defence and making sure his team is ready for UQTR and UNB. “You make small adjustments to your game based on who you’re playing, but we aren’t making any major changes to what we do.”

When looking at who will be vital to his team’s success, Singer says Josh Unice is the key piece to the puzzle.

“Whether you’re in the NHL, QMJHL playoffs, or at a University Cup it always starts in net,” he said. “He has played very very well for us, but he’s going to have to step up and continue to be one of our best players if we’re going to have an opportunity to win the University Cup.” He will also look to Adam Nemeth, Geoff Killing and Scott Aarssen on the blue line and Kevin Baker, Kevin Turkiewicz, Yashar Farmanara and Jason Furlong to lead up front.

Singer says it is special for his team to be involved in the 50th anniversary of the CIS. “This makes the opportunity to compete for the University Cup and come out to UNB and play in a national championship that much more gratifying and more important than normal,” he said. “We thoroughly enjoyed our time last year and we tried to relay that to our first-year players who have not had that opportunity.”

He wrapped up saying that learning from past national experience is important to success.

“The one key thing I’ve learned to be honest with you, when I’ve looked back at coaching at seven University Cups, is it’s not three or four guys that win the title for a team. It is more important that your team is playing well and every single player is making contributions.”

by nick murray The University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières is this year’s wild card entry. Les Patriotes have hovered on and off the CIS Top 10 rankings all season, making it as high as sixth.

Although they’re the lowest seed in the tournament, they are one of the strongest on paper. They scored the most goals per game of any team in the CIS this season. They also have the second-best powerplay percentage of all teams in the tournament, with a 21 per cent success rate, behind Saskatchewan at 26 per cent.

They are a young team with 11 freshmen but they have no shortage of veterans leading them. Seven players are returning from the 2010 team that made it to the CIS championship.

Most notable is Felix Petit, who finished the regular season seventh in the country in goals and fourth in CIS points with 42.

Head coach Jacques Laporte said from the very start of the year, their goal was none other than to make it back to the national championship stage after missing out last year.

“Our seven guys that were in the tournament two years ago were anxious to get back to it this year,” Laporte said. “Despite our young team, our main objective was to make it to the CIS tournament.”

“Fredericton is home to many good memories for Les Patriotes.

We won the national title there in 2003 and UNB has always been a first-class organization.”

Two other players Laporte said to look out for in this tournament are defensemen Pierre-Luc Lessard who was sixth in the country in scoring with 26 points, and fifth-year veteran Jean-Sebastien, who - besides finishing second on the team in goals - maintained a 4.0 GPA in his Masters of arts program.

Despite finishing the season second in the OUA East standings, they struggled in the playoffs. In the quarterfinals against the seventh-place Ryerson Rams, they were stunned in the first game of the series, losing 9-2 on the road in Toronto.

However, they rebounded and took the series winning the next two games at home. The semi-finals were just as tough as the fifthseeded Carleton Ravens forced a third game with a win at home.

UQTR then took that series with a 3-2 win in double overtime.

In the finals, Les Patriotes were hopeful to win against top-seeded McGill, having beat them twice already this season. However, Laporte said an undisciplined squad was one of the main factors in why they got swept.

“McGill has a devastating powerplay. Not throughout the season, but it never ended well for us when we played them,” Laporte said.

“We have to play extremely disciplined hockey when we face them because they will capitalize with the man advantage.”

UQTR’s penalty woes were a problem for them this season.

They were the country’s second most penalized team, and in the OUA East final, McGill had a 40 per cent success rate against them.

Even though they are the lowest seed in the tournament, Laporte said his team isn’t intimidated by having to start off the tournament against the top team in the country.

“You have to remember that we’re also one of the top six teams in the country,” Laporte said. “If we just focus on their success and their stats, then we’re coming into this worried and uneasy.

You have to de-dramatize them a little bit and come out and play the way that got us here. Season stats don’t mean anything in a tournament like this. Sometimes you take a bad penalty, a player gets hurt or your goalie gives up a bad goal, but those don’t show up on the stats sheet.”

“We have to respect them though because they’ve earned that, but we can’t come into this game on our knees in front of them.

We’ve earned our way into this tournament, we have our place and we’ll make the most of it.”

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Mar. 21, 2012 • Issue 25 • Volume 145 • 5

Saskatchewan Huskies Canada West Champions Regular Season: 19-6-3 Conference titles: 14 CIS titles: 1

McGill Redmen UdeMAiglesBleu

OUA champions Regular Season: 22-4-2

AUS finalists

Conference titles: 16

Regular Season: 18-9-1

CIS titles: 0

Conference titles: 11

by k. bryannah james Four is a bittersweet number for the McGill Redmen.

Four is the number of goals that separated the Redmen from the championship title last year, when the Varsity Reds claimed the Cavendish University Cup. It’s also the number they won by this year during the Queen’s Cup, when they beat the University of Western Ontario Mustangs, 4-1. As well, four is the number of Queen’s Cups they’ve won in the last five seasons.

Now, a year later, the Redmen are back for another CIS championship, and ready to play.

“You know, winning the Queen’s Cup was great for our program.

It’s certainly a great trophy to win. It’s got a lot of history and tradition to it, but more importantly, it gives us some momentum coming into the tournament [CIS],” said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes.

“It gives us a confidence-boost and it sort of indicates that we’re peaking at the right time, which you want to be peaking at this time of the season.”

Last year, McGill suffered a 4-0 loss against the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds in the national final, but as Nobes said, it was a learning experience. “[It] was a real good experience for us and it was part of our development. And despite the fact we didn’t win, we learned a lot of valuable lessons, and gained experience.”

Some of the experience the Redmen gained can be found in selfreflection from the previous game and applying it in the games this weekend. On top of that, McGill only has six new rookies on their roster, and the veterans on the team have the experience of nationals under their belts.

“With a lot of returning players, certainly there was a lot of growth there, so this year, we focused on the process through the season.

But the lessons that you learned the year before make you better. So that’s kind of what we took from it all.”

The new rookies on the team have also helped contribute to the team’s success so far this season.

“Three of them will be in the lineup [this weekend], and we expect them to be instrumental, and they have been so far in our team’s success.”

The year has seen some high-quality performance from the program, and as Nobes said, it’s collective.

“Collectively, we’re playing well. We’ve had 15 different goal scorers in seven different playoff games. It’s very much a team this year and we’ve had good team wins through the course of the playoffs.”

But like any team, as the season gets underway, unforeseen circumstances and obstacles can come up. For McGill, it’s been a series of injuries throughout the roster.

Nobes sees the positivity that can come from these injuries, as it helps push players who have to step-up their game when someone else is injured.

“It’s good for the team and it’s good for the program because it gives the younger players, or the guys who may not have had an opportunity to play as much, opportunity to play and to step-up and to contribute.”

Nobes, who is no stranger to McGill hockey, as he’s a Redmen alumnus, is in his second year as head coach for the team, and is heading to his second national championship.

“To feel the same sort of pride that a lot of our alumni feel for the program now, and to feel it as a coach, it’s been a great experience.”

“In hockey you learn from everybody and that’s part of growing as a coach, and as a person, is learning from everybody you come in contact with,” Nobes said. “I’m sure there’s lots of stuff that I do that’s been influenced by different people that have coached me over the years.”

But the success of the team isn’t just physical, it’s mental, and the Redmen have a plethora of athletes who contribute not only on the ice, but in their studies.

“The thing that I’m always proud of, of my group is that they’re all elite students. They’re just such great citizens and elite students and, to have the success on the ice that we have, certainly as an alum makes me proud and makes our alumni proud.”

by k.bryannah james After losing in the semifinals in Canada West last year, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies missed nationals by hairs’ breath.

However, the tables have turned this season as the Huskies beat both of last year’s contenders, the University of Calgary Dinos and the University of Alberta Golden Bears, and will be the only team to represent Canada West this week at nationals.

University of Saskatchewan men’s hockey coach Dave Adolph, has high expectations for his team, that hasn’t been to nationals in the last three years.

“None of our players have been to a national championship,” Adolph said. “So they were really excited [to qualify].”

But alongside qualifying comes the presence and pressure as the only team from Canada West.

“That’s a lot of pressure. You know, for the longest time the CIS national championship has always had a University of Alberta rep or that significant rep.”

“I think we’re a bit of an underdog this year and there’s a lot of pressure on us to represent for sure.”

Beside the watchful eyes of fans from across the country and their appearance on the national stage for the first time in years, the Huskies are just pups in both age and height, in comparison to some of their competitors in this tournament.

“One of the knocks on our team is that we’re not big enough, we’re not strong enough, we don’t have any superstars,” Adolph said.

“Our defence is all in their first and second years, so they’re all young guys just trying to make it, you know, figure out the CIS game.”

But there are multiple positives to this team, one of which includes two strong goaltenders who see equal playing time and will continue to see that at nationals.

What the Huskies may have lost in physicality, they’ve made up for in - as Adolph says - a unique blend.

“Some years you have it, some years you don’t.”

But this year, like any good team, the Huskies have all their players working together as one unit, something Adolph attributes to the science of recruiting.

“If you find kids who were leaders, not only maybe on the ice but in the dressing room, those guys stand the best chance because they understand how important chemistry is.”

The Huskies have a unique story to them, as most have been recruited from Major Junior teams, they’re all Saskatchewan natives, playing not only for their university, but their home province.

As Adolph says, it’s all about the salesmanship of recruitment, and that has only benefited the Huskies.

“You have to be a leader I think, more than anything,” Adolph says. “You have to show that you have passion in what you do, and I think we all do. I think every good coach in the CIS does that.”

“It’s a trust thing. You know, I think if you have enough kids that trust you and you trust them, it works really well.”

Some of the team’s key players who have stemmed and benefited from their status as a Huskie include their team captain, Kyle Ross.

Ross, who is ranked in the top five in regular season goals in CanWest, with a plus/minus of 14 and earning 16 goals and 17 assists for 33 points, has held the position of captain for the last three years, after transferring from the University of Regina to the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan.

“He is a very, very strong character, hard working, very dedicated to both his studies and his game. Not a big guy, but plays, you know all coaches look for kids who play with passion and a real love for the game and he has that.”

Alongside Ross is second-year forward Derek Hulak, who has 11 goals and 33 assists for 44 points, with a plus/minus of 22-14. “[He] led Canada West in scoring and maybe lead the CIS in scoring. He’s a good player.”

Next year will mark the start of the two years that Saskatchewan will host CIS nationals, something the team will be getting a taste for early, as they get their feet wet this year.

“You have to make sure that you have some legitimacy in your hockey program. You can’t just host because you made a great bid.

You have to back it up with a strong program.”

CIS titles: 4 by nick murray Coming into the tournament on a three-game skid after being swept by the Varsity Reds in the AUS final, the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus are optimistic for a tournament win, as they’re no stranger to crucial momentum swings.

Having lost their first game to Saint Mary’s on the road in the AUS semifinals, the Aigles Bleus rebounded and did what no team (other than UNB) could do during the entire AUS playoff.

Win on the road.

Moncton returns to the national championships after a three-year hiatus. The last time they were in the tournament was in 2008, when they hosted it. However, they’re tied for third in all-time University Cup championships with four (tied with UNB and UQTR).

Their last championship was in 1995 over University of Guelph.

Despite falling short of the AUS title, head coach Serge Bourgeois said he’s confident his team can rebound and refocus, and he’s more than happy with the season they’ve had.

“I’m extremely proud with what we’ve accomplished this year,” Bourgeois said. “We missed the playoffs last year and there were a lot of people that didn’t have confidence in us. But we recruited some key guys with good attitudes and made a few little changes in the off-season.”

One freshman that stood out this year was defenseman Samuel Groulx, who was fifth in points among AUS freshmen defencemen with 10, and tied for fifth among all AUS defencemen with a plus/ minus rating of 18.

The Aigles Bleus also suffered a key injury in early November, losing star player Christian Gaudet for 18 games. He came back on January 13th and scored a goal and an assist in a 6-3 win versus Acadia, but hasn’t played since a loss to Dalhousie the following night.

“When he got hurt he was leading the league in scoring,” Bourgeois said. “A lot of players had to up their game because he’s such a big part of our team.”

“He had significant ice time and played both on our power play and penalty kill, and took our key faceoffs so we had to find guys to fill those spots and to play roles that they weren’t used to playing. I’m very happy with those guys that stepped up in Christian’s absence.”

Bourgeois said he doesn’t think Gaudet will be 100 per cent for the tournament, but said the former QMJHL champion is a smart player and even if he’s not at full strength, he can still make a significant impact for his team.

Gaudet joined the Aigles Bleus this season after four years in the pros across the AHL, ECHL and the Central Hockey League. His last season playing pros was with the Allen Americans in their inaugural season where he was ninth on the team in points, on route to a conference championship.

Coming into the tournament as the fifth seed, Moncton will be playing McGill to kick off the weekend. Despite not having played McGill yet this year, coach Bourgeois is confident they will find success in sticking to their game plan, which got them here.

“We know McGill is a good team and that their powerplay is great,” Bourgeois said, “but last week we really focused on our game and our systems [in practice] and polishing all the small details in our game.”

“I think we’re the best prepared team in this tournament,” he added.

“The last three games we played were against the best team in the country and that’s the ideal way to enter this tournament. We’ve had a week to prepare and fine-tune our game, and I don’t think there’s any better practice than playing against the best right before a national championship.”

“We knew where we would be after beating Saint Mary’s, and the AUS championship is one that we really wanted to win, but we’re very proud of where we are. I think it did us good to play against UNB and it brought out the things that we needed to work on for this weekend, and come Thursday, we hope to be ready.”

The last time Moncton won at the Aitken Centre in official play was on Jan. 16, 2009, when they beat the Varsity Reds 3-2 in overtime.

Bourgeois said the arena itself isn’t the source of their troubles, but rather the team that calls the AUC home.

brunswickansports

6 • Mar. 21, 2012 • Issue 25 • Volume 145

UNB steps up game in second straight year as host Christopher Cameron Editor-in-Chief All eyes will be on the Aitken Centre beginning Thursday as the Varsity Reds host the University Cup for the second straight season.

Although hosting these events are great for the athletic department and the athletes themselves, UNB athletic director John Richard believes they are a significant value to the community as well, as this is the fourth men’s hockey championship UNB has hosted since 2003.

“We see tremendous value in hosting them both from the aspect of helping to promote the CIS brand, but also bringing in such high-profile events to the city and the region,” he said. “With this one, the CIS spotlight is on this campus as it’s the last championship of the year and it’s a pretty high-profile event with national television showing some of the games.”

This season’s championship falls on the 50th anniversar y of the CIS, which makes the event more significant. R ichard believes they have upped the experience for fans from last year to go along with the CIS festivities, such as bringing in the Hockey Hall of Fame and putting together a special program for the event.

“We struggled with the tournament program last year. I mean you always struggle with ‘what value does it provide’,” Richard said. “It’s a shame to have our volunteers and

staff put so much time into a project and then you go out after a game and they’re all on the ground, under the seats.”

This year they took the program in another direction. It is 80 plus pages long, more than double the size of last year’s, and a lot of the program is the history of the different hockey programs that will be participating in the tournament.

The Varsity Reds will also be welcoming Major Danny McLeod, who is the “father of CIS hockey” according to Richard.

“The trophy for the MVP of the tournament is named after him so it will be special to have him present his own trophy, something that you don’t get to see happen very often.”

UNB may have improved the experience relative to last season, but still didn’t reach its goal of selling out the event, although it is closer than it was at this point last season.

“We really wanted to improve on last year where we really didn’t sell out the building and were still selling game day tickets at the last minute,” Richard said. “That being said, we have a lot of engaged community members and fans of CIS hockey that will be there for the afternoon games, which don’t involve the host team. There will still be an incredible amount of people in the rink supporting those games.”

“Hopefully by Thursday we will be sold out, but I don’t know if we’ll get there or not.”

the panel

CIS’ unexpected beginning Christopher Cameron Editor-In-Chief Major Danny McLeod had been on roughly 17 years of war footing before he found his way into university sport.

“I came from the barbed wire in Germany where the Allies less Russia were lined up to prevent a sweep by Russia through northwest Europe,” he said. “After that I got back to RMC in order to set up an athletic fitness department, which was no trouble for me, but I didn’t have a degree in physical education like most people in those positions back then.”

In his first day at RMC, he was put to work instantly and was told he was required at a sports meeting at Queen’s University, to which he asked “where’s Queen’s?”

Regardless of whether he knew where Q ueen’s was, McL eod made the trip and after being introduced to all the others at the meeting, was nominated as the executive director of the CIS (then CIAU).

“I said hold the phone here, I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t know who’s involved,” he said.

“They told me that was the best way to learn.”

About two months later at a meeting at McGill between members of the individual associations across Canada, the CIAU was officially formed. It did not come easily though.

“After two or three hours of debate at one of the meetings we didn’t seem

to be moving so I just got up and said ‘I thought the army was bad at making up it’s mind,’ so I’m going to move now that we form the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union with or without McGill, Queen’s, Toronto, and Western,” McLeod said. “Dean Matthews from UBC stood up and said ‘I second the motion’.”

“Harry Griffiths from McGill jumped up and said ‘can we leave out the McGill, Queen’s and Toronto bit and make an amendment to the motion?’”

McLeod argued that they had been discussing it long enough and nothing was going to change and said they either want to create the national body or not. It was passed unanimously.

They were eventually given the green light to set up a constitution after more meetings. The national body was then made up of the, then, five associations with McLeod in the position of the executive director.

This year the CIS is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. Although what we see today is a “well-oiled machine,” deciding things such as the length of the term an athlete can play at the university level, athletic scholarships, amongst other things, were decided upon through multiple meetings across the country.

“Everybody wanted to achieve what

we were trying to do; it was more a question of trying to find money in order to carry out our desires and wishes, and [money] still is a big deal.”

Since the beginning of the CIS, McLeod said the calibre of play has remained relatively the same.

“I follow it pretty close and I’m impressed with how things have improved like hosting and the general sportsmanship, not to mention the high level of play that is still there.”

One major difference between today and soon after the CIS became an established sport body, is that there was no issue in finding funds.

“Money was not the issue in those days,” McLeod said. “It was just time away from school, traveling from Winnipeg to Vancouver or to Saskatchewan or Alberta. That’s how all sport was done. Way back, it (travel) was all done by train, so athletes had to take more time off school then they do now.”

Finally, he said that in today’s CIS national championships, teams are on a much more even ground then they used to be.

“Teams are on a pretty even ground now on national championships,” McLeod said. “There is nobody blown away and it’s very competitive, down to the wire.”

“There are stretches where teams do extremely well, but I’ve attended national competitions in the past few years and any team could take the championships.”

Who is going to win the University Cup?

voice your opinion

Josh Fleck

K. Bryannah James

Sports Writer

Sports Editor

It appears all of the teams have suffered through injury and obstacles in order to get here, but there can only be one victor at the end of the day. By the end of Sunday, I think the CIS national champion will be the University of Saskatchewan Husk-

ies. No pun intended, but as the underdogs of the tournament, and with a younger team, they’re coming in as unknowns to the rest of the qualifiers. It may be difficult for them to get their paws wet against teams who’ve played each other once or twice over the season, but with the youth and strong goaltending, especially with what we saw in the triple overtime victory they secured to get here, these guys may end up taking the title.

Christopher Cameron EIC

Two months ago I would have said that anyone but UNB would take the University Cup. That all changed when Travis Fullerton came back to the lineup and showed why he is one of, if not the most underrated players at UNB and potentially the AUS. It also helps that the Varsity Reds powerplay decided to come together in the final

All roads to the finals of the University Cup go through the UNB Varsity Reds. Not taking anything away from the rest of the field, as UQTR, the Unversity of Saskatchewan, UdeM, Western, and McGill all pose a threat to the Reds, its just

every cliché you can think of when referring to champion teams can be applied to the Varsity Reds. They have the experience. Kyle Bailey and Luke Gallant have a shot at their third championship rings, and the majority of the team is returning from last year’s title run team. They have been here before, and you had better believe that coach Gardiner MacDougall will have his team ready to rock and roll as soon as the opening puck drops.

Nick Murray Sports Writer

seven games of the season as well as in the playoffs.

All that being said, McGill will not be a pushover like they were last year.

UNB will have to fight for their title.

My sleeper is the Saskatchewan. This team ensured that the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Calgary Dinos would not be returning to Fredericton to improve on last year. That says a lot about that young squad.

Watch for them to put up a fight.

UNB will repeat as champs. I think the home ice advantage will help. They’ll have their own dressing room with their own facilities. They haven’t lost a playoff game at home since last year’s AUS final against St.FX. They were 2nd in goals per game this year behind only UQTR, and their powerplay has been on fire during playoffs. One team to watch out for however is Moncton.

Though they haven’t won at the AUC in a while, you can imagine they’ll be gunning for the V-Reds to beat them on their home ice, just as UNB did to them in 2007.

They’ve been the no. 1 ranked team in the country for the better part of the year and also coming into this tournament as the no. 1 seed gives them a significantly easier path to the finals.

Looking at experience, many of the guys on the team have championship experience, which is crucial when again, every game is a must win.

I think that what it all comes down to is the comfort of playing at home. During the AUS finals,

brunswickansports

Mar. 21, 2012 • Issue 25 • Volume 145 • 7

From NCAA to AUS: Jeff Lee’s story Heather Uhl Staff Reporter Graduating left winger Jeff Lee of the Varsity Reds men’s hockey team took a long road to get to UNB. Raised in Calgary, Alberta, Lee grew up in a hockey family.

“Growing up, my brother played and my dad played as well. My family - his cousins - a few of them played in the NHL,” Lee said. “It’s a big hockey family.”

At the age of five, Lee began playing competitive hockey or, as Lee pointed out, “hockey as competitive as five-year-olds can be.” Early in his career he started out as a defenceman, mostly because he could skate backwards.

“I started out early as a defenceman, and I kinda think that they just threw me back there as a defenceman because, at that early age, I was one of the only kids who knew how to skate backwards,” Lee said.

“Then they switched me to forward because I’d always be rushing the puck. I’d always want to score.

So they were like ‘alright, let’s get this guy up on forward.’”

As time went on so did Lee’s hockey experience. At the age of 16 Lee played some Junior hockey.

Two years later he played in Alaska in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), having briefly attended the University of Alaska.

When a new coach came in, Lee left NCAA to play two years for the Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League.

When V-Reds head coach Gardiner MacDougall contacted him, he wasn’t really paying attention. At the time Lee felt he had two options: to play for either Calgary or Edmonton.

“To be honest, I’d never really even heard of UNB, except I knew they had won the year before. So he [coach MacDougall] told me

they won the year before and they were hosting two championships,” Lee said.

“I remember at the time I was going to try out for the rookie camp for the Edmonton Oilers so I was kind of focused on there, and wasn’t too interested in CIS or really thinking about it. But Gardiner kept phoning and phoning and eventually convinced me to come out here on a recruitment trip.”

On the trip, between the fans and the city itself, Lee decided if he ever came back to play CIS hockey, it would be at UNB. After the rookie camp for the Oilers, Lee was sent back to the American Hockey League to play for Springfield Falcons. After a few exhibition games, he was almost sent to the ECHL but instead came to UNB. “I wanted to get my education first before playing at that level,” Lee said.

“So I phoned Gardiner and I came back right before the season started.

But then I found out I wasn’t eligible to play.”

Having left university, Lee wasn’t allowed to play immediately. Instead, he had to pass six courses in two months to be allowed to play after Christmas.

He passed his classes, and was even able to play two games before Christmas.

Of course, in Lee’s first game with the team, the Varsity Reds came close to losing only to pull out a win later in the game. The V-Reds were undefeated at the time.

“But I just remember at Christmas time, I was just ‘I got to get in this lineup’ and they’re undefeated and they’re winning every game. I didn’t know if there was going to be a spot for me,” Lee said.

“I remember playing that f irst game and they’re undefeated and it was my first game in lineup and we

Jeff Lee had an unexpected journey to the UNB Varsity Reds. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan were losing. We went down and I was like ‘oh man, first time they put me into the lineup and we’re losing going into third period against Moncton.’ But we came back and won.”

Then, in Lee’s second year at UNB, the V-Reds brought home the CIS title - an event which Lee said was memorable.

“That was a big reason why I came out here. I knew we had a team

Tournament Schedule March 22-25 Thursday, March 22: 1:00 p.m. Pool B #1: McGill vs. Moncton 7:00 p.m. Pool A #1: UNB vs. UQTR

Friday, March 23: 1:00 p.m. Pool B #2: Loser Pool B #1 vs. Saskatchewan 7:00 p.m. Pool A #2: Loser Pool A #1 vs. Western

Saturday, March 24: 11:30 p.m. Pool B #3: Winner Pool B #1 vs. Saskatchewan 4:30 p.m. Pool A #3: Winner Pool A #1 vs. Western

Sunday, March 25: 8:00 p.m. University Cup Final Photo credits from pages 4-5: Josh Schaefer Photography/Huskie Athletics, Andrew Meade/The Brunswickan and Sandy Chase/The Brunswickan

that was going to be in the national championship and a team I thought was going to win,” Lee said. “I just knew that because they had done it in the year previous and I knew that they had just a good a team or better coming up.”

“That’s why I came out. I wanted to be part of that.”

Lee is ready for his second CIS tournament coming up this week,

hopefully bringing back another crown to cap off his three years with the Varsity Reds.

In the future, after he graduates this year with a business degree, Lee hopes to play some more hockey.

“There’s a league in Texas where my brother plays. I think I could go play there,” Lee said.