UNB Reds beat StFX for sixth CIS men's hockey championship

By Victor Findlay

HALIFAX – UNB’s 2016 CIS national championship marks the sixth title in team history since the University Cup’s inception in 1963, and asserts the team's dominance as one of the premier CIS hockey programs since their debut in 1897.

Gardiner MacDougall is the man at the helm, and his five championships in 16 years of coaching UNB certify him as one of the best coaches in the country at his level. After a runner-up finish at the 2004 CIS University Cup to StFX in a double-overtime thriller, MacDougall won national titles in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and now 2016.

“It feels like the first one,” MacDougall said Sunday after his Varsity Reds beat the X-Men 3-1. “We don’t get to where we are today without losing the AUS Final (to StFX), because sometimes you need adversity to go another step.”

As is the case with every great organization in hockey, there is more to the picture than the players and coaches seen on the bench. UNB is renowned for having one of the best scouting staffs in the country, which is responsible for their incredible assembly of the nation’s best student athletes.

“We have so many special people, and most of them are volunteers”, says MacDougall, “We’ll have a team picture in Fredericton, and there’ll be close to 50 people in that photo.”

But beyond the coaches, scouts, and recruiters, there is one special staff member that was the minds and hearts of the players during their latest University Cup title run.

“Our trainer Joe Glenn was stricken with cancer in October,” says MacDougall. “It’s his first week back, he’s a veteran. This is his sixth national championship.”

Glenn has been with the Varsity Reds for 19 seasons as their trainer, and was at one time a trainer for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Glenn is doing well after his final week of chemo therapy, McDougall said Sunday night, and looks to return to the bench for the Varsity Reds next season.

UNB’s terrific coaching staff has influenced a history of highly talented players wanting to play for MacDougall’s team. Jordan Murray was the anchor on defence all season and credits much of his success at the CIS to MacDougall’s methods.

“[MacDougall] only gets good people to come to UNB,” says Murray. “He always makes sure we have good attitudes, we’re never down, and always upbeat at practice.”

But UNB’s success doesn’t just come on the ice. Nearly 100 players have received CIS All-Canadian Academic recognition while under MacDougall, and the program has in turn become one of the most academic in the country since MacDougall took the coaching reins in 2000.

MacDougall says his secret to success is "about getting character people. They buy in academically. Our motto here is being the best. Best being better every single time, that should be on the ice, in the classroom, and in the weight room.”

Perhaps what is even more impressive is MacDougall’s five conference championships on top of the nationals in an AUS conference that is as strong as ever, as signified with their Atlantic podium sweep at this year’s University Cup. MacDougall’s 465 wins in the AUS remain unrivaled, and it will take years for another coach to surpass his record.

The Varsity Reds will be guaranteed a shot at the national title the next two years as the tournament will be hosted in Fredericton, but for now, UNB will take a moment to appreciate its tremendous accomplishment… until class is back in session.