National hockey tournament returns to Elmira

Some of the best university hockey players in the country are heading to Elmira. CTV’s Colton Wiens explains why.

The best university women’s hockey teams are in Elmira, Ont. as the University of Waterloo hosts the U Sports Women’s National Hockey Championship.

This is the second year in a row that the tournament has been at the Woolwich Memorial Centre.

“Obviously, University of Waterloo going on such a run last year, we were able to fill this rink, and quite an exciting barn for some women’s hockey last year and we expect the same thing this year,” Matthew Davies, U Sports’ chief sport officer, said.

Teams from throughout the country gathered in Waterloo Region as the tournament got underway on Thursday.

“We’re excited. It’s been a turnaround year for the team,” Carey Bailey, father of a University of Manitoba player, said. “I’ve only been here for 20 minutes, but so far, so good. It’ll be a lot better when we win today.”

“We got here early this morning. Took a redeye out of Calgary,” Brad Keller, father of a University of Manitoba player, said

“[I’m] pretty excited. The is the first time our daughter has made it to nationals. So, we’re really excited for her,” Kolya Pelowich, father of a Concordia University player, said. “We arrived at about 2:00 p.m. We drove from Stouffville and arrived, came right to the rink.”

Last year, Waterloo fell to Bishop’s University in front of a sold-out crowd in the gold medal game. The Warriors said knowing they would host again, they focused on improving the experience for fans.

“A different challenge with being March Break, so, we’ve adjusted that to really embrace the community and the opportunities for families. We’re doing lots of community skates this week. Again, trying to provide families and parents something to do,” Roly Webster, University of Waterloo’s director of athletics and recreation, said. “But expect we’ll get the same from this community, which is, they’re passionate about hockey, they embrace women’s hockey.”

Webster said ticket sales are similar to last year’s event. U Sports typically moves its national championships to a new venue each year, but said they saw the chance to build momentum in the community by staying in Elmira.

“Nationwide, our support for our women’s sports and U Sports has been increasing annually. One of the benefits of hosting in the Region of Waterloo two years in a row is obviously the interest and the attention and the awareness of the fantastic athletes that we have on the ice this year. [It] only serves to bring more fans out,” Davies said.

Half the teams are returning from last year: the University of British Columbia, the University of New Brunswick, the University of Waterloo and Concordia University are all back again. While University of Guelph, University of Ottawa, Université de Montréal and University of Manitoba make up the rest of the competitors.

“Our female student athletes in this country are getting the recognition they deserve. It’s profiled by pro-opportunities for sure. But I’ve seen it for a long time - this is really good hockey. And these are elite student athletes. So, we’re just leveraging, I think, the opportunity that’s after graduation that highlights the elite level that is played here this weekend,” Webster said.

The tournament jumps right into elimination play with the quarterfinals getting underway on Thursday and Friday.

“Oh, we’re so excited. Let’s go. We’re taking it all baby,” Tamara Pelowich, mother of a Concordia player said.

“At the beginning of the year, everyone counted us out. But you never count us out,” Keller said.

Concordia ended up beating Manitoba in the first quarterfinal matchup on Thursday 3-1. The Guelph Gryphons play Waterloo in an all-local matchup in quarterfinal game number two at 7 p.m. on Thursday. While UBC plays Montreal at 3 p.m. in the quarterfinal on Friday, followed by Ottawa against UNB at 7 p.m. Friday.

Anyone wanting to come to the games can purchase tickets online or at the venue. The semifinal matchups will go on Saturday, and then the bronze medal game and the gold medal championship final game will be on Sunday.