# 2023 U Sports University Cup

The 2023 U Sports Men's Hockey Championship was the 61st edition of the U Sports men's ice hockey championship, a postseason tournament to determine the national champion of the 2023 U Sports men's ice hockey season. The tournament started on March 16 and ended with the bronze-medal and championship games being played on March 19 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
The third-seeded UNB Reds defeated the fifth-seeded Alberta Golden Bears by a score of 3–0 to win the program's ninth national championship. In the win, UNB Reds's Coach MacDougall ties Tom Watt for the most championship game appearances, with 11, and ties Clare Drake for the most tournament games coached, with 42 and extends his record for most tournament wins with 34 and tournament appearances with 16.
This is the third shutout in the past 12 years. The previous two shutouts were in 2011 (4–0 UNB over McGill) and 2013 (2–0 UNB over St. Mary's). Prior to that, in 2003, UQTR shutout St. FX 3–0 followed by a 30 year gap to 1973 when Toronto shutout St. Mary's 5–0.

## Host

The tournament was held at the Eastlink Centre, on the grounds of University of Prince Edward Island. UPEI was originally scheduled to host the 2021 U Sports University Cup, but that tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This was the second time that UPEI hosted the tournament, having first hosted in the school's inaugural year in 1970.

## Qualification
### AUS playoffs

| Quarter-finals (Best of 3) | Quarter-finals (Best of 3) | Quarter-finals (Best of 3) | Semi-finals (Best of 5) | Semi-finals (Best of 5) | Semi-finals (Best of 5) | Finals (Best of 3) | Finals (Best of 3) | Finals (Best of 3) |
| | | | 1 | UNB Reds | 3 | | | |
| 3 | UPEI Panthers | 1 | 6 | Moncton Aigles Bleus | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Moncton Aigles Bleus | 2 | | | | 1 | UNB Reds | 2 |
| | | | | | | 2 | Saint Mary's Huskies | 1 |
| | | | 2 | Saint Mary's Huskies | 3 | | | |
| 4 | St. Francis Xavier X-Men | 0 | 5 | Acadia Axemen | 1 | | | |
| 5 | Acadia Axemen | 2 | | | | | | |
With UPEI eliminated in the first round and not advancing to the AUS Finals, a third place team was not required as a replacement 'host' so there was no third-place series.

### OUA playoffs

| Division Quarter-finals (Best of 3) OUA Top 12 | Division Quarter-finals (Best of 3) OUA Top 12 | Division Quarter-finals (Best of 3) OUA Top 12 | Division Semi-finals (Best of 3) OUA Quarter-Finals | Division Semi-finals (Best of 3) OUA Quarter-Finals | Division Semi-finals (Best of 3) OUA Quarter-Finals | Division Finals (Best of 3) OUA Semi-Finals | Division Finals (Best of 3) OUA Semi-Finals | Division Finals (Best of 3) OUA Semi-Finals | Queen's Cup (Single Game) OUA Championship | Queen's Cup (Single Game) OUA Championship | Queen's Cup (Single Game) OUA Championship |
| | | | 1E | UQTR Patriotes | 2 | | | | | | |
| 4E | Carleton Ravens | 2 | 4E | Carleton Ravens | 0 | | | | | | |
| 5E | Ontario Tech Ridgebacks | 0 | | | | 1E | UQTR Patriotes | 2 | | | |
| | | | | | | 2E | Concordia Stingers | 1 | | | |
| | | | 2E | Concordia Stingers | 2 | | | | | | |
| 3E | McGill Redbirds | 2 | 3E | McGill Redbirds | 0 | | | | | | |
| 6E | Ottawa Gee-Gees | 0 | | | | | | | 1E | UQTR Patriotes | 3 OT3 |
| | | | | | | | | | 2W | Windsor Lancers | 2 |
| | | | 1W | Lakehead Thunderwolves | 2 | | | |
| 4W | TMU Bold | 1 | 5W | Toronto Varsity Blues | 1 | | | |
| 5W | Toronto Varsity Blues | 2 | | | | 1W | Lakehead Thunderwolves | 1 | Third place – Best of 1 | Third place – Best of 1 | Third place – Best of 1 |
| | | | | | | 2W | Windsor Lancers | 2 |
| | | | 2W | Windsor Lancers | 2 | | | | 2E | Concordia Stingers | 4 |
| 3W | Brock Badgers | 2 | 3W | Brock Badgers | 0 | | | | 1W | Lakehead Thunderwolves | 0 |
| 6W | Laurier Golden Hawks | 1 | | | | | | | | | |
Note 1: The Queen's Cup championship game must be held in Ontario (part of the arrangement when the RSEQ hockey league merged with the OUA). When a Quebec-based OUA-East representative is the higher seed and should 'host' the game – the game shall be hosted by the OUA-West team instead, but the OUA-East team shall be the 'home' team and have last change. In this case – Windsor hosted UQTR for the Queen's Cup with UQTR as the 'home' team.
Note 2: The OUA 'Host' rule mentioned in Note 1 now, as of 2019–20, also applies to the bronze medal game. In this case Lakehead was the higher seed and the 'natural' host.
Note 3: OUA Playoffs re-seed teams in each round such that the highest advancing seed plays the lowest advancing seed within their divisional bracket.

### Canada West playoffs

| Quarter-finals (Best of 3) | Quarter-finals (Best of 3) | Quarter-finals (Best of 3) | Semi-finals (Best of 3) | Semi-finals (Best of 3) | Semi-finals (Best of 3) | Finals (Best of 3) | Finals (Best of 3) | Finals (Best of 3) |
| | | | 1 | Calgary Dinos | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Mount Royal Cougars | 1 | 5 | Saskatchewan Huskies | 1 | | | |
| 5 | Saskatchewan Huskies | 2 | | | | 1 | Calgary Dinos | 2 |
| | | | | | | 2 | Alberta Golden Bears | 1 |
| | | | 2 | Alberta Golden Bears | 2 | | | |
| 3 | UBC Thunderbirds | 2 | 4 | UBC Thunderbirds | 1 | | | |
| 6 | Regina Cougars | 0 | | | | | | |
This was Calgary's first Canada West title since 1996.

## Participating teams

| Seed | Team | Qualified | Record | Last App | Last Win | Total |
| 1 | Calgary Dinos | CW Champion | 25–3–0 | 2011 | None | 0 |
| 2 | UQTR Patriotes | OUA Champion | 21–4–1 | 2022 | 2022 | 5 |
| 3 | UNB Reds | AUS Champion | 24–4–2 | 2022 | 2019 | 8 |
| 4 | Windsor Lancers | OUA Finalist | 18–6–3 | 2015 | None | 0 |
| 5 | Alberta Golden Bears | CW Finalist | 20–5–3 | 2022 | 2018 | 16 |
| 6 | Concordia Stingers | OUA Bronze | 19–7–0 | 2018 | None | 0 |
| 7 | Saint Mary's Huskies | AUS Finalist | 20–9–1 | 2020 | 2010 | 1 |
| 8 | UPEI Panthers | AUS Quarterfinalist (Host) | 17–10–3 | 1991 | None | 0 |

## Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Calgary Dinos | 2 | | | | | | |
| 8 | UPEI Panthers | 4 | | | | | | |
| 8 | UPEI Panthers | 4 | 8 | UPEI Panthers | 1 | | | |
| Thursday Mar. 16th | Thursday Mar. 16th | Thursday Mar. 16th | 8 | UPEI Panthers | 1 | | | |
| Thursday Mar. 16th | Thursday Mar. 16th | Thursday Mar. 16th | 5 | Alberta Golden Bears | 4 | | | |
| 4 | Windsor Lancers | 0 | 5 | Alberta Golden Bears | 4 | | | |
| 5 | Alberta Golden Bears | 7 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Alberta Golden Bears | 7 | | | | 5 | Alberta Golden Bears | 0 |
| | | | | | | 3 | UNB Reds | 3 |
| 2 | UQTR Patriotes | 4 | | | | | | | 3 | UNB Reds | 3 |
| 7 | Saint Mary’s Huskies | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Saint Mary’s Huskies | 1 | 2 | UQTR Patriotes | 3 | 3rd place game | 3rd place game | 3rd place game |
| Friday Mar. 17th | Friday Mar. 17th | Friday Mar. 17th | 2 | UQTR Patriotes | 3 |
| Friday Mar. 17th | Friday Mar. 17th | Friday Mar. 17th | 3 | UNB Reds | 6 |
| 3 | UNB Reds | 2 | 3 | UNB Reds | 6 | 8 | UPEI Panthers | 2 |
| 6 | Concordia Stingers | 1 | | | | 2 | UQTR Patriotes | 3 |

## Results
### Championship final

* Game MVPs: Cody Morgan (UNB) & Dawson Davidson (ALB)

## Awards

Samuel Richard, a goaltender from the UNB Reds, was selected as the Major W.J. 'Danny' McLeod Award for U Sports University Cup MVP. Richard played all three games for UNB and finished the tournament with a GAA of 1.33 and Save Percentage of 0.920 as well as a shutout in the championship final.
Tournament all-star team were: Forward: Matt Fonteyne (Alberta Golden Bears) Forward: Jason Willms (UNB Reds) Forward: Michael Petizian (UNB Reds) Defenceman: Ross MacDougall (UNB Reds) Defenceman: Justin Bergeron (UQTR Patriotes )