Hockey fan's dream this week

It figures to be a week to remember for hockey fans in the city.

The major event on the calendar, of course, is the Cavendish Farms University Cup presented by Home Depot beginning Thursday at the Aitken University Centre.

But there's also the provincial boys AAA high school hockey championship featuring eight teams beginning Friday at the Lady Beaverbrook Rink.

And the Fredericton Darcy Simon Canadiens look to wrap up the provincial midget AAA hockey championship tonight when they host the Moncton Flyers in the fifth game of the first to eight points final series. Game time is 7:15 at Willie O'Ree Place.

The six best university men's hockey teams in the country including the No. 1 seed and hometown favourites, University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds, will participate in the Cavendish Cup touurnament, a two-divisional format culminating in Sunday's national final beginning at 8 o'clock.

It's the second time the tournament has come here. The first go-around was in the two-year period between 2002-04. The host V-Reds had a legitimate chance to win both times, blowing a three-goal lead to eventual champion Trois Rivieres, Que. Patriotes in their round-robin matchup in 2003 before losing to Alberta Golden Bears in the bronze medal game.

The other Atlantic school in the tournament that first year were the St. Francis Xavier X-Men, who lost to Trois Rivieres in the gold-medal game.

The following season, UNB upset the top-ranked Bears in overtime to advance to the final against the AUS champion X-Men. The two teams were tied 2-2 at the end of regulation play. It was the same score after the first overtime.

It wasn't until Blake Robson, who had been sent off for a rare penalty in overtime, stepped out of the penalty box, picked up a loose puck at centre and went in all alone to beat UNB goaltender Reg Bourcier on the blocker side, giving the X-Men their first national title and disappointing the 3,600 hometown fans who had been cheering on the V-Reds.

That was seven years ago.

Oddly enough, the same two schools are representing the AUS in this year's tournament. UNB is in as the conference chammpion, but the V-Reds needed five games and overtime in the fifth game at home last Friday to knock off the X-Men for that distinction.

As a result, UNB is in as the No. 1 seed overall, and headlines Pool A that also includes the Western Ontario Mustangs, the OUA West champion and No. 4 seed. The Mustangs lost 6-2 to Ontario East champion McGill Redmen in the Queen's Cup. The other team are the Calgary Dinos at No. 6. The Dinos surprised the Saskatchewan Huskies to earn their way here, but lost in straight games to Alberta in the Canada West final.

The Redmen out of Montreal is the No. 2 seed is heads the list of teams in Pool B also including the No. 3 seed Golden Bears, who have won 13 nationals including their most recent 4-3 over UNB in the 2008 tournament in Moncton. The other team is St. Francis Xavier, who knocked off defending national champion Saint Mary's Huskies in five games in their conference semifinal to punch their ticket to this tournament.

Over and above the five games plus (there were three overtime games, all at the Aitken Centre), it took for UNB to knock off the X-Men, there's the little matter of last season when St. FX knocked out UNB in three straight games in the semifinal round after the V-Reds won 27 of 28 games last season. UNB was also the defending national champion, having defeated Western 4-2 in the final at the 2009 University Cup in Thunder Bay, Ont.

So by beating SMU earlier this month, the X-Men have the distinction of knocking off the defending national champion each of the past two years.

No lack of intrigue to be sure.

Before the teams get down to action, the annual CIS Awards ceremonies will be held Wednesday night beginning at 7 o'clock at the Playhouse. Up for major awards from the Atlantic conference are Saint Mary's defenceman Andrew Hotham for player of the year, St. FX centreman Jason Bast as top rookie, Saint Mary's Trevor Stienburg as top coach, Saint Mary's winger Cam Fergus for sportsmanship and Acadia goaltender Kristofer Westblom for leadership and community involvemnt.

The games begin Thursday with X-Men playing McGill at 2 o'clock. Later that night at 7, UNB takes to the ice against Calgary.

The X-McGill loser plays Alberta in Pool B action Friday at 2 with the UNB-Calgary loser taking on Western in the Pool A matchup Friday night also at 7 p.m.

Saturday's games at 2:30 feature the X-McGill winner taking on Alberta and later at 7:30 the UNB-Calgary winner playing against Western. Pool champions advance to Sunday's national final beginning at 8 o'clock.

The final three games will be broadcast nationally on Rogers Sportsnet. SSN Webcasting and CHSR-FM 97.9 will also provide coverage for each of the seven games.