2022 U Sports University Cup
The 2022 U Sports Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament (60th Annual) was held March 31 – April 3, 2022, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, to determine a national champion for the 2021–22 U Sports men's ice hockey season.[1][2] The OUA Champion UQTR Patriotes defeated the Canada West Champion, and top-seeded, Alberta Golden Bears by a score of 5–4 in double overtime.[3]
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 31 – April 3, 2022 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Venue(s) | Andrew H. McCain Arena, Wolfville, Nova Scotia |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | UQTR Patriotes (5th title) |
| Runner-up | Alberta Golden Bears |
| Third place | St. Francis Xavier X-Men |
| Fourth place | Ryerson Rams |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 8 |
| MVP | Alexis Gravel |
← 2021 2023 → | |
Host
The tournament was played at Andrew H. McCain Arena on the campus of Acadia University.[2] It was the first full tournament hosted by Acadia following the partially-played, cancelled championship in 2020.[4] This is scheduled to be the first U Sports men's ice hockey championship played since 2019 following two years of cancelled tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.[5][6] The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Scotiabank Centre, but was moved to the Acadia University campus due to scheduling conflicts following a postponement of this tournament by two weeks.[7][8]
Participating teams
| Seed | Team | Qualified | Record | Last | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alberta Golden Bears | Canada West Champion | 16–3–1 | 2018 | 16 |
| 2 | UNB Reds | AUS Champion | 21–3–0 | 2019 | 8 |
| 3 | UQTR Patriotes | OUA Champion | 10–3–2 | 2003 | 4 |
| 4 | Brock Badgers | OUA Finalist | 7–5–2 | None | 0 |
| 5 | St. Francis Xavier X-Men | AUS Finalist | 17–5–1 | 2004 | 1 |
| 6 | UBC Thunderbirds | Canada West Finalist | 14–15–1 | None | 0 |
| 7 | Ryerson Rams | OUA Bronze | 11–4–0 | None | 0 |
| 8 | Acadia Axemen | Lost play-in game (Host) | 7–14–1 | 1996 | 2 |
Championship bracket
| Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals: April 2 | Gold Medal Game: April 3 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Alberta Golden Bears | 7 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Acadia Axemen | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Alberta Golden Bears | 7 | ||||||||||||
| Thursday Mar. 31st | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | St. Francis Xavier X-Men | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Brock Badgers | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | St. Francis Xavier X-Men | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Alberta Golden Bears | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | UQTR Patriotes | 5 (2OT) | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UNB Reds | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Ryerson Rams | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | UQTR Patriotes | 7 | Bronze Medal Game | |||||||||||
| Friday Apr. 1st | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | Ryerson Rams | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | UQTR Patriotes | 2 (2OT) | 5 | St. Francis Xavier X-Men | 3 (OT) | |||||||||
| 6 | UBC Thunderbirds | 1 | 7 | Ryerson Rams | 2 | |||||||||
Tournament All-Stars
Alexis Gravel, a goaltender from the UQTR Patriotes, was selected as the Major W.J. 'Danny' McLeod Award for U Sports University Cup MVP. Gravel played all three games for UQTR (two of which went into overtime) and finished the tournament with a GAA of 1.86 and Save Percentage of .950 as well as Player of the Game honours in UQTR's first game vs UBC.
Joining Gravel on the tournament all-star team were[3]:
Defenseman: Clayton Kirichenko (Alberta Golden Bears)
Defenseman: Santino Centorame, (StFX)
Forward: Simon Lafrance (UQTR Patriotes)
Forward: Eric Florchuk (Alberta Golden Bears)
Forward: Félix Lauzon (UQTR Patriotes)
References
- "U Sports prepares for 2021-22 National Championship Season; awards four new Volleyball Championship hosts". usports.ca. U Sports. June 28, 2021.
- "U Sports Calendar". usports.ca. U Sports. June 17, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
- "2022 U SPORTS Cavendish Farms University Cup Gold Medal Game: UQTR Patriotes mount stunning double-overtime comeback, capture David Johnston University Cup". usports.ca. U Sports. April 4, 2022.
- "Men's Ice Hockey National Championships History". U Sports. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
- "U Sports hockey championships cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreak". Sportsnet. March 12, 2020.
- "U Sports unable to offer national championships in winter 2021". usports.ca. U Sports. October 15, 2020.
- "Acadia confirmed as host of 2022 University Cup men's hockey championship in Halifax". SaltWire Network. June 28, 2021.
- "U Sports 2022 University Cup comes to Wolfville". Acadia Athletics. February 10, 2022.
- "U Sports Playing Regulations: Men's Ice Hockey" (PDF). U Sports. September 2021.
- "Seeding and schedule announced for 2022 Cavendish Farms University Cup". U Sports. March 27, 2022.