With the USPORTS men’s basketball national championships wrapped up in Halifax, Brock Sports is turning its attention to Fredericton, where the men’s hockey team is set to play in the University Cup National Championship.
The Badgers basketball team finished its national championship run with a decisive 94-57 win over the Acadia Axemen in the consolation final Sunday, March 11. That came after a heartbreaking 78-76 loss to the eventual national champion Calgary Dinos in the quarter-finals and then an 81-65 win over the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds in the consolation semifinals.
The consolation title gave Brock a fifth-place finish in their first trip to the USPORTS National Championship since 2008.
While the basketball team is headed west to go home, the men’s hockey team is packing up to head east to Fredericton, where the USPORTS U Cup National Championships will be hosted this week by the University of New Brunswick.
Brock lost the OUA Queen’s Cup provincial championship game 5-1 to the McGill Redmen in front of a sold-out crowd at home Saturday night, but just getting to that game guaranteed them their first trip to the nationals in 10 years.
After a media conference Wednesday, March 14, the tournament gets underway Thursday at 1 p.m. ADT (noon EST) with the Badgers, who drew the fourth seed, playing the fifth-seeded St. Francis Xavier in the quarter-finals.
Unlike the basketball championships, there’s no consolation side of the U Cup hockey championships, so a Brock win would move them into the semifinal round Saturday while a loss would send them home.
The bronze and gold medal games are scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ADT, respectively. The quarter-finals are all available to be streamed online at sportscanada.tv/usports while the semifinals and championship game will be broadcast on Sportsnet.