Losers in the Canada West Finals, the Golden Bears look to the 2016 University Cup in Halifax

Last weekend the University of Alberta Golden Bears were swept by the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the Canada West final played in Saskatoon. The series marked the first time in 16 years Alberta had to play a road playoff game (hat tip to @MattGutsch for pointing that out to me on Twitter).

However, despite their defeat in their league final, the Golden Bears will still be afforded an opportunity to compete for their third consecutive CIS title when University Cup opens in Halifax on March 17th, 2016. The Bears qualified by defeating the Mount Royal University Huskies in their semi final series.

The University Cup in Halifax will feature the following teams:

• Western Mustangs
• UQTR Patriotes
• University of Saskatchewan Huskies
• St. Francis Xavier X-Men
• Saint Mary’s Huskies
• University of Alberta Golden Bears
• Carleton or Guelph (the OUA bronze medal game is March 12th)
• UNB Varsity Reds

It is still to be announced when Alberta will kick off the tournament, but one would imagine that defending their title will be top of mind. The Bears have an opportunity to bring home a CIS record 16th national title. All the games will be available to watch via the CIS website.

Some interesting storylines going into the tournament:

• If Carleton manages to defeat Guelph in the OUA bronze medal game, the top 8 teams from the final national rankings will be represented in the University Cup. The Golden Bears finished ranked 4th.
• The UNB Varsity Reds enter the tournament as the #1 ranked team
• Also if Carleton manages to defeat Guelph, the University Cup will feature the top 2 scorers in the nation. Guillaume Asselin (27G, 20A, 47 Pts in 28 GP) of UQTR edged Brett Welychka (14G, 32A, 46 Pts in 28 GP) of Carleton by a single point to take the honours.
• UNB (23-3-2) and UQTR (24-3-1) enter the championship series with extremely impressive OUA regular season records. Saskatchewan finished the season with a 22-6 record which was ahead of the Golden Bears 19-7-2 mark in the Canada West.
• Alberta enters the tournament with the best Powerplay in the nation during the regular season with an efficiency of 30.5%. The Bears also fired the most rubber of any team in Canadian University Hockey with 1149 shots in 28 games (a ridiculous average of over 41 shots per game).

Alberta shouldn’t be counted out to win again but are definitely not the favourites. However, they feature a veteran club of seniors like Levko Koper, Kruise Reddick, Jordan Hickmott, Jordan Rowley and others who are looking to add a third championship to their resumes as they end their careers as Golden Bears. Experience will not be an issue and Alberta will need to leverage the lessons learned in past University Cup battles to close the gap with the more heavily favoured teams.

The keys for the Bears will be twofold:

1. Convert the fantastic number of shots they create into actual goals. It has been an issue all season and the U of A will need to commit to getting to the dirty areas to create offence.
2. Conversely, the Bears will need to keep the puck out of their net. Luke Siemens will need to improve his 27th ranked (nationally) 0.906 save percentage in the regular season and the 0.905 he has put up so far in the playoffs.

It shows the commitment to excellence that the University of Alberta Golden Bears team is known for when a 19-7-2 regular season combines with a loss in the Canada West final to give the impression of a “bad” season. However, Alberta can blow that impression out of the water with another national title.

Go Bears!