The Manitoba Bisons men's ice hockey team is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team representing the

Manitoba Bisons The Manitoba Bisons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The football team plays at Princess Auto Stadium, the soccer team plays at the outdoor soccer field on campus, track and field te ...

athletics program of

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

. The team is a member of the

Canada West Universities Athletic Association Canada West (formally the Canada West Universities Athletic Association or CWUAA) is a regional membership association for universities in Western Canada which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs ...

conference and compete in

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

. The Bisons play their home games at the Wayne Fleming Arena in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

History

Manitoba iced its first varsity ice hockey team in 1908, roughly around the same time that other schools in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

were laying the foundation for college hockey in the region. For the first few years, the team played out of the provincial senior league, winning the Pattison Cup in 1910. The club issued a challenge for the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the senior ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. It was most recently won by the Wentworth Gryphins ...

, the national amateur championship, but administrative delays and financial problems eventually forced the team to withdraw their bid. The Bisons continued with senior hockey for a few years before withdrawing from the provincial league in 1912. After

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, Manitoba began to sponsor a junior and senior team. The junior squad played out of the Winnipeg and District Junior Hockey League and won the

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three Junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tou ...

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

as national junior champions. The program continued until 1937. Meanwhile, the senior club became founding members of the Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WCIAU) in 1919. Unfortunately, due to travel expenses, the league was reduced to just a few games between Manitoba and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

after the first year. The team played intermittently over the next 20 years but still managed to capture the 1928 Allan Cup, becoming the only university to win both a senior and junior national championship. Due to budgetary issues, travel costs and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Manitoba played only two seasons of varsity hockey from 1937 to 1956. When the program finally found some stability in the late 50s, they remained with the WCIAU until 1961. A year later, the league was rebranded as the Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Association for the inception of a national collegiate tournament in 1963 and Manitoba resurfaced. The Bisons made their first appearance for the

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and won two lopsided games to capture a third different national title for the program. Unfortunately, success was fleeting for Manitoba and the team was unable to secure a second WCIAA championship. In 1972, citing travel expenses as the primary reason, the WCIAA was split into two separate leagues. Manitoba found itself in the Great Plains Athletic Association (soon to be called Great Plains Athletic Conference) and found it road back to the tournament had become much easier. Over the succeeding 13 years, the Bisons won the league title four times, however, they were only able to win one out of eight University Cup games and never advanced out of the opening round. Manitoba's final GPAC title came in 1985, the final year of conference play. That summer, the league was reduced to just three teams. With their automatic qualifier in jeopardy, the remaining programs were all absorbed into

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. As of 2024, Manitoba has yet to win a single Canada West championship, however, they have managed to secure two bids to the national tournament. In both

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

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, the Bisons finished second in their Round-robin pools.

Season-by-season results

Senior, junior and collegiate play

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points'' † Manitoba cancelled its final four games due to poor ice conditions and travel problems.

Collegiate only

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points'' Totals include games since 1962–63.
Note: Games not counted towards University Cup appearances are not included.

References

External links