David Johnston 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 UNB Reds are the current champions for the 2018–2019 season. The Alberta Golden Bears have won the most championships with 16. The 2020 championship tournament was cancelled after two semi-final games had been played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originally called the CIAU University Cup in 1962, with minor changes through the decades when Canada’s national university sports organization changed its own name, the cup’s name was changed on March 13, 2018, to honour David Johnston, a few months after he served as Governor General of Canada.

History

The trophy was presented to U Sports, then known as the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union, for presentation to a national champion starting with the 1962–63 season, by Queen's University and the Royal Military College of Canada. These two schools, located in Kingston, Ontario, had been the participants in the first organized interuniversity hockey game, played in Kingston in 1885. The cup is meant to recognize the overall contribution made to the game of hockey by outstanding university players.
The CIAU changed its name to Canadian Interuniversity Sport in 2001, and in October 2016 to U Sports.
On March 13, 2018, U Sports renamed the cup the David Johnston University Cup in honour of David Johnston, former Governor General of Canada.
The original University Cup is located at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and does not travel publicly. A replica was created with a less ornate cup in 2006. Between 2006 and 2015, the trophy has been modified after several repairs - the metal bowl is now of simpler design, and mounts more flush to the main wooden portion. The two handles that used to be attached to the bowl, and frequently broke off, were removed. An additional black wooden ring was added to the bottom of the trophy in order to incorporate more school shields, as an engraved metal shield, with diagonal stripes in the winning school's colours, is added to the trophy every year.
With the completion of the 2018–19 championship, 27 different teams have played in the national championship final. In all, 17 different teams have won the national championship.
The Alberta Golden Bears hold the record of 16 championship wins, as well as the record of 22 championship final appearances. The Toronto Varsity Blues hold the record of 5 consecutive championship trophy wins, from 1969 through 1973. In the last seven years from 2013 through 2019, only the Alberta Golden Bears or the UNB Reds have won the championship. The winningest coach is Tom Watt, who at the helm as the Toronto Varsity Blues won nine University Cup championships between 1966 and 1977. Second is current UNB Reds coach Gardiner MacDougall with seven UCup wins between 2007 and 2019, while Clare Drake is third behind the bench as the Alberta Golden Bears won six University Cup championships between 1964 and 1986.

Tournament Formats

Pre 1998

A varying number of tournament formats had been used prior to 1998. Towards the end of this era, the common format was a 4-team single elimination event between the four conference champions: AUS, CW and OUA East & West, with the Top 10 ranking determining the opponents in the semi-finals. In most cases, the semi-finals were on Saturday with the championship game on Sunday. Games were hosted at Varsity Arena in Toronto. In some events, the finals were at Maple Leaf Gardens

1998 to 2014

Starting in 1998, the CIS changed the format of the University Cup tournament to a six-team/two-pool tournament that would be hosted by a CIS member institution/team rather than in Toronto at Varsity Arena. The host would automatically be included in the tournament leaving five spots for regional representatives. The three conference champions and OUA Queen's Cup Runner-up would automatically be included with the fifth spot as a rotating 'wild-card' team. The University of Saskatchewan Huskies won the bid to host the first three tournaments; 1998, 1999 and 2000.
The wild-card selection was initially chosen based on a static rotation through each conference starting with the AUS in 1998 followed by the OUA and CW, repeating on a tri-year cycle. Due to the random nature of the host bidding process, some tournaments saw more local teams then expected when the host advanced as a conference champion. It was possible for CW or AUS hosts to have 3 teams from their conference or 4 teams in the case of an OUA host who was also a champion. To reduce the local bias, the rotation selection rule was changed prior to the 2009 season - the wild-card would now only come from a non-host conference while maintaining the rotation. In 2009 the OUA was the host conference and should have also been the original wild-card conference, instead the AUS provided the wild-card. This rule remained in affect until the format changed in 2015 to 8-teams.

2015 to present day

Starting in 2015, the U Sports Hockey championship tournament expanded from six to eight teams and moved from a two-pool format to a single-elimination competition.
The eight teams competing include the four regional conference champions: AUS, Canada West, OUA West & OUA East. The remaining four teams are: the host, the Canada West runner-up, the AUS runner-up and the OUA 3rd place finisher. The 'natural' conference champions would be seeded 1-3; AUS, CW and OUA Queen's Cup Champion. The OUA Queen's Cup Finalist is always seed #4. The remaining teams would be seeded 5-8, all based on the pre-tournament Top 10 Ranking Poll.
A joint bid from St. Francis Xavier University and Saint Mary's University was selected to host the first two events using this format; 2015 and 2016. USPORTS evaluated these two events and continues to promote this tournament format.

Champions

University Cup Final appearances

These tables rank appearances in the final championship game.

By team

†: Sir George Williams University merged with Loyola College in 1974 to create Concordia University.
‡: St. Dunstan's University merged with Prince of Wales College in 1969 to form the University of Prince Edward Island.

By team's province

The only province missing from this list, Newfoundland and Labrador, has only one U Sports member, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Memorial dropped their varsity men's hockey team after the 1981-82 season.

Tournament location

By city

By province

ProvinceHostedMost Recent
Ontario222010
New Brunswick112018
Alberta102019
Saskatchewan62014
Quebec41984
Nova Scotia32020
Manitoba11965
Prince Edward Island11970
Total for 8 Provinces582020

British Columbia is the only province to have a team play in the championship final, but to never host the championships.

Major W.J. ‘Danny’ McLeod award

In addition to the University Cup, the Major W.J. ‘Danny’ McLeod award is presented at the end of each year’s championship, to the University Cup’s Most Valuable Player.
Major McLeod was the overall athletic director at the Royal Military College of Canada, was the coach of RMC's ice hockey team, and simultaneously coached two Kingston teams in the Ontario Hockey Association - the Kingston Frontenacs and the Kingston Aces. McLeod was instrumental in establishing the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union in 1961, operating the CIAU from his office at RMC as the first CIAU Secretary-Treasurer. He helped create the national university ice hockey championship tournament, which was hosted by RMC for its first two years.
The Major W.J. ‘Danny’ McLeod award winners:
YearPlayerPositionTeam
1963Bill MahoneyForwardMcMaster Marlins
1964Dave DiesDefencemanSir George Williams Georgians
1965No MVP selected
1966Tom PurserGoaltenderSt. Francis Xavier X-Men
1967Unavailable
1968Ron CebrykForwardAlberta Golden Bears
1969John WrightForwardToronto Varsity Blues
1970Chuck GoddardGoaltenderSaint Mary's Huskies
1971Ron HindsonForwardSaint Mary's Huskies
1972John WrightForwardToronto Varsity Blues
1973Gord DaviesForwardToronto Varsity Blues
1974Bernie WolfeGoaltenderSir George Williams Georgians
1975Dale HenwoodGoaltenderAlberta Golden Bears
1976Kent RuhnkeForwardToronto Varsity Blues
1977Rocci PagnelloDefencemanToronto Varsity Blues
1978Kevin PrimeauForwardAlberta Golden Bears
1979David HindmarchForwardAlberta Golden Bears
1980Chris HellandForwardAlberta Golden Bears
1981Benoit FortierGoaltenderMoncton Aigles Bleus
1982Alain GrenierForwardMoncton Aigles Bleus
1983Willie DesjardinsForwardSaskatchewan Huskies
1984André HidiForwardToronto Varsity Blues
1985Don McLarenForwardYork Yeomen
1986Dennis CranstonForwardAlberta Golden Bears
1987Marc GervaisForwardUQTR Patriotes
1988Brian GrayForwardYork Yeomen
1989Mark ApplewhaiteGoaltenderYork Yeomen
1990Rob DopsonGoaltenderWilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks
1991Denis DesbiensGoaltenderUQTR Patriotes
1992Garth PremakDefencemanAlberta Golden Bears
1993George DupontForwardAcadia Axemen
1994Trevor EllermanForwardLethbridge Pronghorns
1995Dominic RhéaumeForwardMoncton Aigles Bleus
1996Greg ClancyForwardAcadia Axemen
1997Matt MullinGoaltenderGuelph Gryphons
1999Cam DanylukForwardAlberta Golden Bears
2000Kevin MarshForwardAlberta Golden Bears
2001Alexandre TremblayForwardUQTR Patriotes
2003Éric DesjardinsGoaltenderUQTR Patriotes
2004Mike MoleGoaltenderSt. Francis Xavier X-Men
2005Ben ThomsonForwardAlberta Golden Bears
2006Harlan AndersonDefencemanAlberta Golden Bears
2007Yvan BusqueForwardMoncton Aigles Bleus
2008Ian McDonaldForwardAlberta Golden Bears
2009Lachlan MacIntoshForwardUNB Varsity Reds
2010Andrew HothamDefencemanSaint Mary's Huskies
2011Luke GallantDefencemanUNB Varsity Reds
2012Francis Verreault-PaulForwardMcGill Redmen
2013Tyler CarrollForwardUNB Varsity Reds
2014Derek HulakForwardSaskatchewan Huskies
2015Kruise ReddickForwardAlberta Golden Bears
2016Philippe HalleyForwardUNB Varsity Reds
2017Philippe MailletForwardUNB Varsity Reds
2018Stephane LegaultForwardAlberta Golden Bears
2019Alex DubeauGoaltenderUNB Reds
2020Not Awarded--