International success, last-second wins highlight best U Sports moments of 2023
CBC
In a year that featured the return of the FISU World University Games, last-minute title-clinching goals and underdog teams winning championships, 2023 was a memorable year for U Sports.
As the year comes to a close, we take a look back at 10 standout stories from Canadian university sports in 2023.
WATCH | Top U Sports moments of the year:
Gold medals in men's and women's hockey at the World University Games had eluded Canada since both teams won in Trentino, Italy in 2013.
Yet, at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, NY, Canada won both competitions, securing golds on the ice that hosted USA Hockey's "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Built of U Sports all-stars on both sides, Canada's men's team featured seven NHL Draft Picks and was the buzz of the tournament from the opening day. Led by head coach Gardiner MacDougall, who would later go on to lead the University of New Brunswick Reds to the University Cup title, Canada outscored opponents 37-5 in the group stage before beating Kazakhstan and the USA in the semifinal and final.
By topping the preliminary stage, Games organizers gave the Canadian team locker room five, the same room that housed Team USA at the 1980 Games.
"You can't really draw it up any better, Canada and USA at Herb Brooks Arena; it's unique and really special," Team Canada's Matt Struthers said, gold medal around his neck. "It's something you dream of as a kid, and to win like that is super special."
Meanwhile, the Canadian women had a golden path that saw them eliminate the Americans from playoff contention in front of a sold-out crowd before eventually beating Japan in the gold medal game. Along the way, however, they had the eye of Marie-Philip Poulin, who reached out to team captain Emmy Fecteau throughout the tournament.
"She congratulated me, said good luck and that I should enjoy it and wanted to make sure I was okay with the role," Fecteau said. "She also wrote to the leadership group, and she asked how we were doing, and told us good luck, and it was really nice of her."
After the tournament and end of the U Sports season, several of the Canadian players also turned pro, while Canada's Audrey-Anne Veillette was selected by Ottawa in the inaugural PWHL Draft, but did not secure a contract.
While the Canadian team winning gold was one of the most significant stories of the year in U Sports, no player had a story similar to Tyler Hylland's.
A standout player with the Concordia University Stingers, Hylland was added to the roster a week before the Games as an injury replacement, just weeks after his mother had passed away.
"Before she passed, we had spoken about potentially getting this [Team Canada] opportunity, and she was super excited for me. I know she would have been at every single game," Hylland said ahead of the gold medal game. "I want to do it for her and my whole family that needs something to change the mood -- I just want to make them proud."
When a teenaged Chloe Primerano made her debut on the Canadian women’s hockey team last season, Jocelyne Larocque was often the steady force beside her on the blue line.
The Vancouver Canucks announced Friday that they have traded captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild.
Canada's Kevin Drury battled his way to a gold medal that left him in tears at a World Cup ski cross event on Friday in Val Thorens, France.
Soccer fans have accused FIFA of a "monumental betrayal" after latest prices for World Cup tickets began to circulate on Thursday.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is “disappointed” that the main arena slated to host ice hockey at February’s Olympics isn’t yet completed with less than two months to go before the Games are scheduled to be played.
A two-year suspension from competitive swimming has forced Penny Oleksiak to answer questions about drug use, train by herself in public pools and defend her legacy as Canada’s most decorated female Olympian.
Hockey, one of the premier events at the Winter Olympics and one that is welcoming NHL players back for the first time in more than a decade, will take place on ice shorter than NHL-regulation size.
Summer McIntosh capped swimming’s U.S. Open with the event record in the women’s 200-metre butterfly on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Some bronze medals are worth their weight in gold. Valerie Grenier's third-place finish in women's giant slalom at the Mont-Tremblant World Cup certainly fits that category.
The men’s World Cup draw in Washington D.C. was going well for Canada until Pot 4.
The draw for the 2026 World Cup takes place Friday at 12 p.m. ET at the Kennedy Center in Washington, for the purpose of dividing the 48-team field into 12 groups of four. Once the tournament starts, 32 teams will advance from those preliminary groups to the single-elimination knockout rounds.
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., buzzed with activity and speculation on Thursday in advance of Friday’s all-important draw for the 2026 men’s World Cup.
By the time the management group for the Canadian men’s national hockey team emerges from marathon meetings on Tuesday, as much as 80 per cent of the roster going to Italy next February should be written in pen.