Championships Uteck Bowl

Welcome to Monday Morning Quarterback, a weekly look at all the best U SPORTS stories from the week across Canada West, the OUA, RSEQ and the AUS.

Football:

Carabins and Dinos advance to Vanier Cup

The football national semifinals took place this weekend, with the Canada West champion Calgary Dinos taking down the OUA champion McMaster Marauders 30-17 in the Mitchell Bowl and the RSEQ champion Montreal Carabins beating the AUS champion Acadia Axemen 38-0 in the Uteck Bowl.

In the Mitchell Bowl, Calgary’s Adam Sinagra completed 19 of 29 passes for 261 yards and a touchdown, while McMaster’s Andreas Dueck completed 23 of 46 attempts for 297 yards and a touchdown with an interception.The Dinos’ Jalen Philpot was named the game’s offensive MVP after recording 130 yards on seven receptions. A full recap of the Mitchell Bowl can be found here.

In the Uteck Bowl, the Axemen held the Carabins to a 7-0 lead at the half, but Montreal then took over after that to score 24 unopposed third-quarter points and then tack on another touchdown in the fourth. The Carabins got a big spark from quarterback Dimitri Morand, who posted 10 completions on 16 attempts for 141 yards and a touchdown after replacing starter Frédéric Paquette-Perrault. Running back Reda Malki also posted 160 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries and was named the game’s offensive MVP. A full recap of the Uteck Bowl can be found here.

The Carabins and Dinos will now face off in the 55th Vanier Cup presented by Promutuel Insurance next Saturday at Laval’s Stade Telus in Quebec City. That game will take place at 1 p.m. Eastern, and will be broadcast on CBC and TVA Sports, as well as CBC’s digital platforms.

Men’s hockey:

No. 3 Ravens beat No. 4 Gee-Gees to retain Colonel By Classic flag

In OUA men’s hockey action, the No. 3 Carleton Ravens and No. 4 Ottawa Gee-Gees battled it out in the fourth-annual Colonel By Classic at The Arena at TD Place Friday. Carleton picked up a 4-2 winin front of the 2,681 in attendance to retain the Colonel By flag for the second straight year.

The Gee-Gees opened the scoring in the second period when Cody Drover set up Kevin Domingue on a two-on-zero breakaway, and they added a second soon after when Daniel Hardy converted off a rebound. But Carleton responded early in the third period, with Alex Boivin firing the puck home after it bounced out from behind the net, and Jared Steege then tied it up for the Ravens at the 5:45 mark of the third.

Kody McDonald then put Carleton into the lead at the 10:42 point of the third. After that, Alexandre Boivin then added an insurance empty-netter for the Ravens with 37 seconds left in the game. Carleton outshot Ottawa 27-22 on the night, and Justin Nichols made 20 saves for the Ravens.

On Saturday, the Gee-Gees won 5-1 at home against the Nipissing Lakers, while the Ravens won 4-2 against the RMC Paladins. Elsewhere in U SPORTS men’s hockey, the No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears beat the Regina Rams 4-2 Friday and 9-0 Saturday in Canada West play, while the No. 2 UNB Reds topped the Moncton Aigles Bleues 4-1 Friday in AUS play.

Also in Canada West play, the No. 5 Saskatchewan Huskies picked up a pair of home wins over the Manitoba Bisons this weekend, winning 4-1 and 6-3 respectively Friday and Saturday. And in other OUA action, the No. 6 University of Toronto Varsity Blues beat the York Lions 3-2 in a school-day game Thursday afternoon. On Saturday, York hosted the Guelph Gryphons in a Dahlgren's Diabeauties game (part of a program set up by Lions’ sophomore forward Kaleb Dahlgren), with admission free and donations instead taken for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Guelph wound up winning that game 6-3.

Women’s hockey:

No. 10 Lakers and Voyageurs take down No. 2 Varsity Blues

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues went into this week ranked second in the country thanks to a 7-0-0 record, but they suffered a pair of defeats on the road this weekend in OUA play. On Friday, the Varsity Blues fell 2-1 to the No. 10 Nipissing Lakers, and on Saturday, they lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Laurentian Voyageurs.

On Friday, the Varsity Blues’ Laura Ellis opened the scoring at 16:04 of the first period, but the Lakers tied the game at 10:28 of the third thanks to a goal from Britney Zack. Then, Jetta Derenoski added a Nipissing goal less than a minute later to it make 2-1. Danika Ranger finished with 22 saves for the Lakers.

On Saturday, Toronto again scored first, with Gabrielle De Serres notching the game’s first goal at 9:48 of the second period. However, Karissa Hoskin responded for Laurentian less than three minutes later to tie the game up. The game then went to a shootout, with Adriana Noble scoring for Toronto on the first shot but Stephanie Ayres and Cristine Chao missing, and Gabrielle Jex missing for Laurentian, but Morgan McCann and Regan Toltesi then scoring for the Voyageurs.

Other notable Top 10 women’s hockey action this weekend included the No. 1 Concordia Stingers beating the Ottawa Gee-Gees 4-2 Saturday in RSEQ play, the No. 3 Saint Mary’s Huskies edging the UNB Reds 4-0 in AUS play Saturday, and the No. 4 Montreal Carabins falling 4-1 to the No. 7 McGill Martlets Saturday in RSEQ play. Also, in OUA play, the No. 5 Guelph Gryphons lost 4-3 in overtime to the Queen’s Gaels Friday and fell 5-4 in overtime to the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks Saturday (the Ridgebacks’ first win of the season).

Men’s volleyball:

No. 2 Rouge et Or fall to No. 7 Carabins

There was a significant men’s volleyball upset this weekend in RSEQ play, with the No. 2 Laval Rouge et Or falling in three sets (25-19, 25-15 and 25-22) on the road against the No. 7 Montreal Carabins Friday. Olivier Riopel led Montreal with 11 kills, two service aces and five digs, while Frederic Xiong and Youssef Baati each added seven further kills. The Carabins then added a four-set win over the Sherbrooke Vert et Or Sunday.

Elsewhere in U SPORTS men’s volleyball, the No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans posted a pair of three-set road wins over the Manitoba Bisons this weekend in Canada West play. Also in Canada West play, the No. 3 Brandon Bobcats posted a pair of three-set home wins over the Mount Royal Cougars. And in OUA play, the No. 4 McMaster Marauders posted two three-set wins this weekend, beating the York Lions 3-0 on the road and taking down the No. 9 University of Toronto Varsity Blues 3-0 at home.

Women’s volleyball:

No. 10 Mustangs beat No. 8 Warriors

In OUA women’s volleyball, the No. 10 Western Mustangs beat the No. 8 Waterloo Warriors in four sets (22-25, 25-10, 25-22, 25-20) Sunday. Kate Ferguson led Western with 14 kills, while Melissa Langegger    added another 12 kills and Kristina Curcin added 10 kills.

Elsewhere in U SPORTS women’s volleyball, the No. 1 Ryerson Rams beat the RMC Paladins in four sets in OUA play Friday. In Canada West play, the No. 2 Trinity Western Spartans posted a pair of three-set road wins against the Manitoba Bisons Friday and Saturday, and in AUS play, the No. 3 Dalhousie Tigers posted a three-set win over the Moncton Aigles Bleus Friday, a three-set win over the UNB Reds Saturday, and a five-set win over the Acadia Axewomen Sunday.

Social media posts of the week:

In women’s hockey, Hayley Wickenheiser was amongst the inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame this weekend. Wickenheiser played for the Calgary Dinos from 2010-12, amongst her many other hockey achievements:

Also in women’s hockey, former Manitoba Bison Brigette Lacquette was featured on Rogers Hometown Hockey Sunday. Lacquette played for the Bisons in 2010-11 and has been a regular figure on the Canadian senior women’s national team since 2015. In 2018, she became the first-ever First Nations player to make the Canadian Olympic women’s hockey team.

In men’s soccer, the second annual Canadian Premier League-U SPORTS draft was held this week, and the Cape Breton Capers had quite the showing. Cape Breton saw Cory Bent, Marcus Campanile, Isaiah Johnston and Charlie Waters picked 1st, 2nd, 10th and 13th overall respectively:

In women’s basketball, Edmonton hosted the FIBA Women’s Olympic Pre-Qualifying Americas Tournament this weekend, and the Canadian senior women’s team went 3-0 there. That team is coached by Saskatchewan Huskies’ coach Lisa Thomaidis.

In men’s basketball, Victoria was announced as one of the four hosts of Olympic qualifying tournaments in June:

And in track and field, the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai wrapped up Friday, and former Thompson Rivers WolfPack basketball star Greg Stewart earned silver in the F46 shot put and set a personal best in the process:

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Andrew has been covering university sports in Canada since 2005 at outlets such as The Queen's Journal, The CIS Blog, and Yahoo Canada, where he also served as the editor of the Canadian football blog 55-Yard Line. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Queen's University with a major in history, and currently works as a staff writer and editor for Awful Announcing and The Comeback.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @AndrewBucholtz