The 2020

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

Men's

University Cup The David Johnston University Cup is a national collegiate sports award, presented annually to the champion of a season-ending tournament played by U Sports men's ice hockey teams in Canada. The UQTR Patriotes are the current champions for the 2 ...

Hockey Tournament (58th Annual) was scheduled for March 2020 in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

at the

Scotiabank Centre Scotiabank Centre (formerly known as Halifax Metro Centre) is the largest multi-purpose facility in Atlantic Canada, located in the heart of downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The main entrances to the building are located on Brunswick Str ...

, but was cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

after the first day of competition. The Acadia Axemen, a member of

Atlantic University Sport conference, were the designated host. Scotiabank Centre is 99 kilometres south of the school's campus ( Wolfville). This event marked the third appearance of the tournament in Halifax, which hosted the 2015 and 2016 tournaments. This was the first time that Acadia was the host of the tournament;

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

and Saint Mary's University split hosting rights (respectively) during the previous two-year stint. The tournament format remained unchanged: 8 teams, single elimination and bronze medal games, with 3 conference champions, 3 conference runner-ups, OUA bronze winner and host. On February 13, 2020, U Sports and CBC Sports jointly announced the tournament would be streamed free of charge via the CBC Gem streaming service in Canada. U Sports' previous broadcasting deal with Sportsnet expired following the 2019 U Sports University Cup. The tournament was suspended on the night of March 12, after the first two games had been played, due to a decision by Hockey Canada to suspend all sanctioned hockey across the country. The impact of this decision was to leave the tournament with no on-ice officials and as result left the Tournament Committee with no choice but to suspend the remaining games.2020 U SPORTS Men’s & Women’s Hockey Championships cancelled due to COVID-19 https://usports.ca/en/sports/hockey/m/news/2020/03/2863800770/hockey-advisory U Sports Hockey, as an organization, is not directly under the Hockey Canada umbrella, but they do have a development partnership where Hockey Canada Level 4, 5 and 6 officials officiate U Sports hockey along with the Team Canada Junior vs U Sports All-Star games.

Road to the Cup

AUS playoffs

With Acadia advancing to the AUS Finals, a third place team was required as a replacement 'host' as Acadia would qualify as either the AUS Champion or AUS Runner-up.

OUA playoffs

Note 1: The

Queen's Cup The Queen's Cup was an annual football cup competition in Thailand, run by the Football Association of Thailand. The competition was named after Queen Sirikit. It was first contested in 1970, with Bangkok Bank and Royal Thai Air Force joint win ...

championship game must be held in Ontario (part of the arrangement when the RSEQ hockey league merged with the OUA). When a Quebec-based OUA-East representative is the higher seed and should 'host' the game - the game shall be hosted by the OUA-West team instead, but the OUA-East team shall be the 'home' team and have last change. Note 2: The OUA 'Host' rule mentioned in Note 1 now, as of 2019-20, also applies to the bronze medal game.

Canada West playoffs

University Cup Tournament

The eight teams to advance to the tournament are listed below. The three (3) conference champions must be seeded 1-3 based on the pre-tournament Top 10 Rankings followed by the OUA Runner-up (seed #4). The remaining four seeds are for the AUS Finalist, Canada West Finalist, OUA Third-place and host or host designate if the host has qualified as one of the previously mentioned teams. Their seedings are based on the pre-tournament rankings. More details in the tournament preview
University Cup Preview

Tournament format

The tournament is a traditional 8 team, single elimination ladder with bronze medal game between the two semi-final losers. Games that are tied after regulation play a 10-minute overtime period following the 3rd period. If there is no score after the first overtime, the ice is cleaned and they would play 20 minute periods (with ice cleaned between periods) until there is a winner. The higher seed is the 'Home' team for each game (the home team must wear their 'white' jerseys and will get the last change during stoppages of play). The tournament was suspended late Thursday night, after the first two games had been completed.

References

External links

Tournament Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2020 CIS University Cup U Sports ice hockey Ice hockey competitions in Halifax, Nova Scotia University Cup, 2020 2020 in Nova Scotia