| 2024 U Sports University Cup | |
| Venues: | Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto, Ontario |
| Winners: | UNB Reds |
| Count: | 10 |
| Second: | UQTR Patriotes |
| Third: | McGill Redbirds |
| Dates: | March 14–17, 2024 |
| Games: | 8 |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Tv: | Damian Smith, Curtis Coleman, Matthew Smith, Griffin Butler, David Brosseau, Dylan Baker |
| Award Title: | MVP |
| Award: | Brady Gilmour |
| Prev Season: | 2023 |
| Next Season: | 2025 |
The 2024 U Sports University Cup was the 62nd edition of the U Sports men's ice hockey championship, held between March 14 and 17 in Toronto, Ontario, to determine a national champion for the 2023–24 U Sports men's ice hockey season.
The UNB Reds defeated the UQTR Patriotes 4–0 to claim their 10th National Championship.[1] [2] This marked UNB's second title defence they also won back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017. Similarly, this was UNB's second consecutive shutout posted in the finals (defeated Alberta 3–0 in 2023) and their fourth shutout in a final overall (2011, 2013, 2023 and 2024).
UNB became the first ever U Sports team to concede no goals at the U Cup[3] and completed the first undefeated season in Canadian collegiate hockey since 1962, going 43–0 (30–0, 5–0, 3–0 plus 5–0 in exhibition play). McMaster Marlins are the only other undefeated championship team, going 12–0–0 on their way to a U Cup title (10–0, 2–0).[4]
The tournament was played at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in the former Maple Leaf Gardens and was hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).[2] This was the first time that TMU hosted the tournament, but was the 15th time that the championship was played in Toronto.[5]
The finals were played 27 years to the day of the last University Cup finals played at Maple Leaf Gardens: Guelph Gryphons (OUA Queen's Cup Champions) won 4–3 over the UNB Varsity Reds (AUAA Champions) on March 17, 1997.
Source:[6]
Source:[7] Note 1: The Queen's Cup 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. This rule was applied this season as UQTR had a better record than TMU thus, TMU would host the game but UQTR would be the 'home' team.
Note 2: The OUA 'Host' rule mentioned in Note 1 now, as of 2019–20, also applies to the bronze medal game. This rule was also applied this season as McGill had a better record than Brock thus, Brock hosted the game but McGill was the 'home' team.
Note 3: Laurier defeated 7th place Nipissing 5–4 in the OUA West Play-In Game to qualify for the playoffs.
Source:[8]
The eight teams advancing to the tournament are listed below. The three (3) conference champions must be seeded 1–3 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 respectively. Their seedings are based on the pre-tournament rankings. Since TMU would advance as the OUA Runner-up, the loser from the OUA Bronze Medal game (Brock) would represent the host.
| Seed | Team | Qualified | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UNB Reds | AUS Champion | 2023 | 2023 | 9 | ||
| 2 | UQTR Patriotes | OUA Champion | 2023 | 2022 | 5 | ||
| 3 | UBC Thunderbirds | CW Champion | 2022 | None | 0 | ||
| 4 | TMU Bold | OUA Finalist (Host) | 2022 | None | 0 | ||
| 5 | Calgary Dinos | CW Finalist | 2023 | None | 0 | ||
| 6 | McGill Redbirds | OUA Bronze | 2018 | 2012 | 1 | ||
| 7 | Moncton Aigles Bleus | AUS Finalist | 2012 | 1995 | 4 | ||
| 8 | Brock Badgers | OUA Semifinalist | 2022 | None | 0 |
The Major W.J. 'Danny' McLeod Award for U Sports University Cup MVP was awarded to UNB forward Brady Gilmour whom finished the tournament tied for first in points with 7 (1G + 6A) along with Simon Lafrance (2G + 5A) of UQTR. His lone goal was the game winner in the Championship Final.
Tournament all-star team were:[11]
Forward: Brady Gilmour (UNB Reds)
Forward: Simon Lafrance (UQTR Patriotes)
Forward: Austen Keating (UNB Reds)
Defenceman: Kale McCallum (UNB Reds)
Defenceman: Scott Walford (McGill Redbirds)
Goaltender: Samuel Richard (UNB Reds)
All games were broadcast live in English on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, the CBC Sports YouTube channel and the CBC Gem streaming service.[12] [13] It was broadcast in French on Radio-Canada and Ici TOU.TV, while the finals also aired on TVA Sports.
The McGill Fight Band came to support the McGill Redbirds at their three games, providing musical performances in the arena.[14] [15]