By Ilyas Hussein
“Ramenez la coupe à la maison” by French hip-hop artist Vegedream blared from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes men’s hockey team dressing room after their double overtime win in the Queen’s Cup final on March 9 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC).
The newly-crowned champions belted out the song’s lyrics “Allez les Bleus! Allez!” in celebration of their third consecutive Ontario University Athletics (OUA) title.
In the other dressing room, the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s hockey team sat in complete silence—stunned from the “heartbreaking” defeat in the program’s first-ever Queen’s Cup final just moments prior.
“You never want to feel this way again,” said third-year Bold defenceman Ryan Wells following the loss. “It sucks. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
However, TMU’s season isn’t over yet.
As hosts of the 2024 U Sports men’s hockey national tournament that will run from March 14 to 17, they have a chance to redeem their loss in the Queen’s Cup final by hoisting the David Johnston University Cup (U Cup) and becoming national champions. This is the first time the university will hold the men’s hockey national tournament. Despite automatically qualifying for the event by being the host, the Bold earned the fourth seed as OUA silver medalists and will face off against the Calgary Dinos in the quarter-finals.
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) Reds, the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds, McGill Redbirds, Moncton Aigles Bleus and Brock Badgers round out the tournament field alongside TMU, UQTR and Calgary.
“We got to do everything we can to never feel like this again“
The tournament will open with UNB taking on Brock at the MAC at 1 p.m. on March 14, followed by the Bold and Dinos matchup six hours later. The next two quarter-final matchups will take place on March 15. The semi-finals will be held on March 16 while the gold and bronze medal games will be played on March 17.
Despite the loss in the OUA final, Bold head coach Johnny Duco and his players are chomping at the bit to get started in the tournament they knew was coming their way since November 2022.
“Initially they were devastated, but here we are a couple of days removed and only [a few] days from playing game one at the national tournament,” said Duco about the locker room atmosphere following the defeat to UQTR. “They’re excited for it.”
TMU third-year forward and team captain Chris Playfair was among the devastated players following their loss to UQTR. Playfair sat in his stall in his full TMU gear as his teammates changed into their regular street clothes. Coming out of the locker room, he visibly held back tears while still in his equipment. However, as he “flipped the switch” and his attention turned to the national tournament, Playfair had a smile on his face a few days later.
“In these situations, you just don’t really have a choice. We know there’s a lot at stake,” he said. “We have a lot of excitement.”
Heading into the season, the Bold had two objectives—take home the Queen’s Cup and win the national championship. With the former in the rearview mirror, the squad wants to take full advantage of what is in front of them.
“The real prize is the U Cup,” said Duco. “Anything can happen in a one-game series, so we’re looking to have the best week of our year right here.”
The Bold also don’t want to squander the chance to play with a raucous home crowd behind them at a national tournament—something they’ve never had before.
“Having it at home ice is such an incredible opportunity, and it’s going to be awesome to play in front of our home fans,” said Playfair. “Aside from being at home, just any chance you get to prove you’re the best team in the country you get up for those opportunities. We know they don’t come around every year.”
The Dinos also finished as the silver medalists in their respective conference—Canada West—after losing a best-of-three series to UBC. They were the top seed at the 2023 edition of the national tournament, but lost to the host, the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers, in the quarter-finals. This time they will face the host again, but as the fifth seed, which Duco thinks might alleviate some pressure from his opponents.
“It’s going to be tight. It’s going to be hard-fought. It’s going to be physical…We want to use the energy of the crowd. We want to play our game, play to the advantages that we have with being the home team,” said Duco about the quarter-final matchup against the Dinos. “But in no stretch of the imagination are we thinking this is going to be an easy game.”
“Having it at home ice is such an incredible opportunity, and it’s going to be awesome to play in front of our home fans”
Coming into the tournament, UNB is heralded as the favourite to capture gold. The Reds went undefeated throughout both the regular season and playoffs this year and have won four national titles in the past six full seasons.
Although TMU won’t face off against them in the quarter-final, they are on a crash course to meet each other in the semi-final should both advance to the next round.
“They’ve got the most talented roster in the country,” said Duco. “But talent doesn’t always win hockey games, I think the culture they’ve set that…everybody contributes…I think it’s so special to watch because they’re super talented on paper, but they get them playing the right way.”
UBC captured their first-ever Canada West hockey championship in 53 years to secure themselves a top-three seed at the event. They will take on OUA bronze medalists McGill in their quarter-final matchup on the other side of the bracket. The winner of that game will face the victor of UQTR and Atlantic University Sport runner-up Moncton.
The tournament will also be the last showcase for 10 graduating players from TMU as the core that took the squad to its first-ever national tournament in 2022 has its last dance.
“Two years ago, we beat UNB in that tournament when they were coming in as a top team,” said Playfair. “We know what it takes to beat those teams, so it’s just going to be about executing it and bringing the right game.”
The Bold will use their loss in the Queen’s Cup final as fuel to the fire in their quest to raise the program’s first-ever banner at the MAC.
“We got to do everything we can to never feel like this again,” said Wells. “It’s probably one of the hardest things you have to go through.”
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