Inside Fitness ranks UNB in Top CIS Hockey School
UNB named one of the top six sports schools in Canada by a leading fitness magazine.
A leading Canadian fitness magazine has ranked UNB Canada's best hockey school and one of the top six sport schools in the country.
Inside Fitness listed the UNB Varsity Reds first among five other schools, which included Laval, Guelph, McMaster, Toronto and Queens. UNB is the only university in Atlantic Canada to make it into the rankings.
The magazine cited UNB's "illustrious hockey culture that extends all the way back to the 19th century" as being chief among the reasons for the ranking, and gives a great deal of that credit to head coach Gardiner MacDougall. MacDougall was named Coach of the Year by the CIS in 2015 and is the winningest coach in UNB history with 106 wins. He has guided the UNB team to eight consecutive AUS pennants, six AUS titles, nine National Championship appearances and a remarkable 15 consecutive AUS "Final Four" appearances.
Inside Fitness also quote assistant captain and CIS Top 8 Academic All-Canadian Adrian Robertson, who said about MacDougall "our head coach has done a great job building a strong reputation for the program, which allows us to attract quality players from across Canada. More importantly, though, is that he brings in good people, which makes it easier for them to buy into what the program is about and allows for a very tight group that will work hard for each other."
UNB's sports success stretches beyond men's hockey with a men's soccer team that is consistently ranked among the best in the country and a men's basketball program that is shaping up to be a contender on the national scene. This year, volleyballer Paige Paulsen was awarded the Thérèse Quigley Student-Athlete Community Service Award by the CIS for her excellence in academics, athletics and community involvement. The Varsity Reds boast the highest percentage of student-athletes who are Academic All-Canadians as well (nearly 42% of all student-athletes maintain an average above 80%).
You can read the full story on the Inside Fitness website: http://www.insidefitnessmag.com/the-6-best-sports-schools-in-the-country/
With files from Inside Fitness Magazine.