We continue our search for the best hashtag with a trip out east to the teams in Atlantic University Sport. I have to say after the OUA had some good creative hashtags and even some bad but at least original hashtags the 11 AUS hashtags were overall pretty disappointing. I know I said I liked the simplicity of #GoMacGo for the Marauders but I didn’t like it this much.

To read the OUA rankings, click this link.

The Bottom of the Barrel

11.  Cape Breton Capers
#GoCapersGo

I hate to do this to Cape Breton University as it is already one of the least known universities in the AUS without representation in top-level hockey or football. Their hashtag suffers two significant issues though. The first is originality; as you are going to see as we go down this list, many AUS teams love to use the “Go something Go” hashtag format. The second problem is THEY DON’T EVEN USE IT. Unless I missed one, I had to go back to November 2019 to find #GoCapersGo and for the 2nd smallest university in AUS, not to use a hashtag to help build support is disappointing.

10. Moncton Aigles Bleus
#GoAiglesGo

My biggest problem with this hashtag is that I feel they could do so much more with it. Aigles Bleus is French for Blue Eagles, and the Moncton Blue Eagles is a great name. Even the fact that they are the only team in AUS with a French name makes them stand out, but #GoAiglesGo is the best they could come up with? Moncton will move up the list when they put it a little bit more of an effort.

These May Feel The Same But Trust Me They Sort Of Aren’t

9. Saint Mary’s Huskies
#GoHuskies

I don’t understand what Saint Mary’s is going for here. It is not as if they seemingly don’t have a hashtag like Cape Breton, and that’s why they don’t use one. They do; it is right in their bio. They don’t use it though, the last tweet I found from the @SMUHuskies Twitter using #GoHuskies was from November 2018, which is weird because their Men’s Hockey specific twitter uses it constantly. It just feels like a wasted hashtag, especially since they do use it in their bio

8. UPEI Panthers
#GoPanthersGo

The UPEI Panthers are another school that feels like it could be doing more than what it is. A Panther is another excellent moniker for a team, and UPEI does nothing with it. That is the Panthers’ biggest problem because they are another school that played it safe with their hashtag rather than trying something a little bit outside the box.

7. Acadia Axemen/Axewomen
#GoAcadiaGo

Acadia Athletics is yet an ANOTHER school with a Go Team Go hashtag, the slight change they make is bright, but once again, it misses the mark. The decision to go with #GoAcadiaGo is clever on two levels. First, it allows for gender neutrality rather than having a male hashtag. Also, it is at least a pseudo attempt at creating community by focusing on the fact that they are Acadia. Maybe I’m overthinking this but separating these three hashtags comes down to minutiae. Acadia Athletics also has #AcadiaProud, a decent submission for things like Senior Nights and celebratory events but is phrased too awkwardly for regular use.

Go Team Go, But Good

6. UNB Reds
#GoRedsGo

The UNB Reds get better marks for a few reasons, the first being consistency as #GoRedsGo is seemingly on every single tweet that @UNBAthletics puts out. The second being simplicity, with a name like Reds that is a simple team name that could on its own provoke a lot of imagery, so it could be so easy to overthink the hashtag. This hashtag works because it doesn’t try to overdo anything.

5. St FX X-Men/X-Women:
#GoXGo

St FX somehow managed to be the only school to do a good original version of the Go Team Go hashtag. St Fx’s Athletics is another school that has a trickier job for finding a hashtag as they have to respect the fact they aren’t just the X-Men, but they are also the X-Women. It works by using the Go Team Go format to highlight the X and still make it gender-neutral to respect both of their decorated male and female athletics programs.

The Best of the Bunch

4. St Thomas Tommies
#TommiesNation

St Thomas sits in the 4th spot, but not for lack of effort on their part. You have to appreciate St Thomas University, one of the smallest in the country, going for a Nation hashtag. This is almost like the AUS version of what I said for RMC in our OUA review; they are a small group, so if something like #TommiesNation helps bring them closer together, then the hashtag has done its job.

3. Mount Allison Mounties
#MountiePride

Those of you who read the OUA review know my general dislike of Pride hashtags. There are two reasons why this time it works, though. The softness of the end of the word Mountie vowel means that unlike the other “Pride” hashtags, this one is easier to say and more harmonious. The second is the history of this hashtag as it is on its 8th season as the hashtag of Mount Allison Athletics and is popular enough to have a mention on the Mounties Wikipedia page. I have to respect the fact that students care enough to put it on the Wikipedia page.

2. Dalhousie Tigers
#FearTheRoar

I know that the Tigers also use #TigerPride and even (shudders) #GoTigers, but I will do them a solid and review #FearTheRoar mostly because it is one of the best hashtags in the AUS. It makes Dalhousie the only school in the AUS to use a “cocky” style hashtag, considering the recent success of their marquee Men’s Basketball Program (six AUS titles in the last seven seasons), that confidence is at least to some degree earned.

1. Memorial University Sea-hawks  
#WeFlyTogether

This set of hashtags was a slog to review, but Memorial University saves the day with easily the most creative AUS hashtag. Not just for the birds fly implication but also for the fact it demonstrates building fans in the university community that a U Sports hashtag should be focused on achieving.