MONCTON (CIS) Coming off one of the best seasons in Canadian Interuniversity Sport mens hockey history, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds hope to pick up where they left off a year ago this week at the Moncton Coliseum as they look to repeat as University Cup champions.
Championship web site: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/m_hockey/2008
The Cavendish University Cup tournament, hosted for the second straight year by Universit de Moncton, gets under way Thursday, March 20. The gold-medal final is slated for Sunday, March 23 at 8 p.m. Atlantic Time (7 p.m. Eastern), live on Rogers Sportsnet. Saturday's two pool-play duels will also air live on Rogers Sportsnet, at 2 p.m. (AT) and 8 p.m. (AT).
Joining top-seeded UNB for the six-team national championship will be the No.2-Alberta Golden Bears (Canada West champions), No.3-McGill Redmen (OUA champions), No.4-Saskatchewan Huskies (Canada West finalists), No.5-Brock Badgers (OUA finalists) and No.6-Moncton Aigles Bleus (championship hosts).
UNB, Saskatchewan and Brock will battle in Pool A for a berth in Sundays final, while Alberta, McGill and Moncton make up Pool B.
Opening day match-ups will see defending champion UNB begin its title defence against Brock at 2 p.m. (AT), and Alberta square off against host Moncton at 7 p.m. (AT).
The V-Reds, who captured the second University Cup title in school history in 2007 with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over the hometown Aigles Bleus, have been nearly unstoppable thus far this season.
UNB (26-1-0-1 / 5-0 playoffs) set AUS single-season records in conference play for most wins (26) and points (53), the best regular-schedule tallies in CIS hockey since Alberta finished the 2003-04 campaign with 26 wins and two ties for 54 points in 28 outings.
The V-Reds held the previous Atlantic conference marks of 24 victories and 49 points since 1997-98, the year they went on to claim their first CIS banner.
After sweeping their semi-final series against cross-town rival St. Thomas, the defending champions survived a scare in the best-of-three AUS final, notching a pair of 3-2 overtime victories. Forward Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, Alta.) scored the series clincher on a penalty shot in double overtime.
Ive always believed a scare is more valuable than good advice and we had two scares in that series, stated UNB eight-year head coach Gardiner MacDougall.
The 2007-08 V-Reds finished first in the nation in conference play with 136 goals scored and tied for first with UQTR with 59 goals allowed. They are led by the dynamic duo of fourth-year forward Rob Hennigar (Jordan, Ont.) and super rookie Hunter Tremblay (Timmins, Ont.), who placed first and third in CIS scoring.
Hennigar, named the AUS player of the year, won the national scoring race by seven points with 15 goals and a CIS-high 43 assists for 58 points. Tremblay, who joined UNB following three straight 30-goal campaigns with the OHLs Barrie Colts, tied for the team lead with 16 goals and finished with 50 points in his university debut, one behind Saint Marys Marc Rancourt, en route to AUS rookie-of-the-year honours.
The V-Reds will be challenged in Pool A by a perennial powerhouse, the Saskatchewan Huskies (17-5-0-6 / 2-2 playoffs), and a new kid on the block, the Brock Badgers (17-8-0-3 / 4-3 playoffs).
The Huskies, who claimed their lone CIS title in Moncton in 1983 with current head coach Dave Adolph patrolling the blue line, are set to make their eighth University Cup appearance in 11 years and their 13th in school history, which ranks fifth on the all-time list.
Saskatchewan is coming off a difficult Canada West best-of-three final where they were swept 8-3 and 5-0 by Alberta.
UNB and Saskatchewan met a year ago in the University Cup tournament opener with the V-Reds rallying from an early deficit for a<