TORONTO, ON – There’s a calming essence in how the UNB Reds skate off the ice after a U SPORTS semifinal and, for the most part, any game that doesn’t end in the University Cup title.
While the team and coaching staff share the occasional smile on advancing through a playoff round and winning a conference championship, there’s little relaxation or satisfaction until they’ve secured another mark on the crowded banners hanging at the Aitken University Centre.
However, after dismantling the 2024 U CUP host TMU Bold 7-0 in the national semifinal on Saturday, head coach Gardiner MacDougall and players Brady Gilmour, Mike Petizian, and Colton Kamerrer shared a rare hint of levity.
“I think you could call that a capital ‘S-O-L-I-D’ win, and I guess you could call it separation Saturday,” MacDougall said. “We know we’ll have a better opponent for tomorrow… so now we get to prepare for tomorrow, and we’re primetime in Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens on a Sunday night.”
With the dominant victory, their 46th straight in all competitions, the Reds clinched a spot in Sunday’s U SPORTS championship final against either the UQTR Patriotes or McGill Redbirds as they look for the program’s 10th U CUP title and 9th under MacDougall.
Although the Reds set an expectation of winning and a culture of excellence from the start of the season, the 2023-24 campaign quickly shifted into setting new standards for the program, crushing team records, and shaping what could go down as the best team in U SPORTS men’s hockey history.
“You can go back to 2007 when we won the national championship in Moncton,” MacDougall said, reflecting on the 2007 title won in the U CUP’s former six-team format. “We set a new standard for UNB hockey in our second-game performance [that year], and this group upped that performance today.”
In 2007, UNB beat Moncton 3-2 in the final but showcased their level in a 6-0 dominant win over the UQTR Patriotes in the second group stage game.
While the Reds seemingly secured the win swiftly in the first two rounds of the U CUP, without much challenge from Brock and TMU, and not having surrendered a goal since the AUS Final, the focus on consistent improvement is eminent right up until the final days of the season.
100 practice milestone paying dividends
Having played their opening game of the 2024 U CUP on Thursday, UNB reached a milestone on Friday, having their 100th practice of the season. The intense one-hour session saw them still driving for more, even having proved themselves better than any other U SPORTS team through the season.
“That’s a pretty significant club that you envy to be in, the 100-practice club,” MacDougall said. “There are usually some positive results if you can get 100 practices under your belt. I say full credit to this group. They find ways to get better, and each adds value to their contribution to the team.”
With a significant returning group from last year’s winning team and eight players from the team that felt the quarterfinal heartbreak of 2022, the Reds have both sides of the experience heading into Sunday’s critical matchup.
Differing experiences powering championship motive
Although the strong returning contingent knows how to deal with the approach and pressures of being a game away from the pinnacle and a historic achievement, it’s a new experience for rookie Colton Kammerer, who sat in the stands watching his former Hamilton Bulldogs compete in the 2022 Memorial Cup, and his UNB Reds win last season.
A second-year student at UNB, Kammerer scored his first U CUP goal on Saturday, having sat out of the 2022-23 tournament with a knee injury, only returning to the ice in practice sessions, as his Reds made their run to the 2023 national banner on Prince Edward Island.
“Sitting with some of our team staff and watching from up top, you kind of see the game differently,” said Kammerer, who won an OHL championship with the Bulldogs. “You can see and learn successful teams’ playoff habits.”
Those habits and the reminiscent emotions of winning the trophy last season in front of a raucous Eastlink Centre crowd will undoubtedly flow through the UNB’s minds heading into Sunday’s matchup, with a chance to mark themselves as the greatest U SPORTS team ever.
Still, though, it’s a process for the preeminent force of Canadian university hockey, and with a team mantra of “J-G-S,” or “Just Getting Started,” there’s little satisfaction the group will feel until they’ve secured a chance to lift the David Johnston University Cup at Maple Leaf Gardens.
“I don’t think this group has ever been satisfied,” Gilmour said. This group, in particular, is a really competitive group, whether it’s ping-pong, spike ball, or anything. It’s tight-knit, and I think that carries over onto the ice.”