Roster turnover poses challenge, opportunity for 2023 U Sports hockey semifinalists

Forbes MacPherson didn't quite have his players' names down when he first walked into the locker room this season.

Head coach of the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers, MacPherson led the team to the U Sports Men's Hockey National Championship semifinal last season. Yet, the Panthers entered the 2023-24 season with a vastly different group.

Only five players remained from the team that ended 2022-23 — 18 new rookies were getting up to speed. 

"Learning names, that's been the toughest part. There's a lot of new faces, and names to learn, and new nicknames, so we've had some fun with it," MacPherson told CBC Sports, having helped the Panthers to a 1-1-0 record to open the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) season. 

"We were having a chuckle through the first few exhibition games. I'd be on the bench calling the wrong names or numbers of guys, but we've figured it out at this point for the start of the regular season."

As University Cup hosts last season, the Panthers had an automatic berth in the national tournament. They had spent the previous three seasons building a roster to contend for a 2023 national title.

After pushing past the U Sports quarterfinal and No. 1 Calgary Dinos in front of a sold-out home crowd, UPEI fell to the University of Alberta Golden Bears in the semifinal before losing the bronze medal game with the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.

Since UQTR snapped their centre-ice photo with the bronze medals, only 13 players who played in that game remained on the two teams to start 2023: 10 for the Patriotes and three for the Panthers.

WATCH | UQTR wins 2023 U Sports bronze-medal game over UPEI:

U Sports Men’s Hockey National Championships: Bronze - UPEI vs. UQTR

2 years ago

Duration 2:40:49

Watch the UPEI Panthers take on the UQTR Patriotes in the bronze medal game of the U Sports Men’s Hockey National Championships in Charlottetown.

UQTR, the two-time defending Ontario University Athletics (OUA) champions, had 11 rookies to start 2023-24. 

With the cyclical nature of university sports, players often play through their full eligibility, or other opportunities arise, leading to a four to five-year cycle, where programs will have a heavy veteran presence and national championship dreams or a largely unfamiliar locker room.

For the Patriotes, it's been a similar story, albeit with higher levels of success. Since 2019-20, the program has been the standard in Ontario, and has consistently been one of the best in the country. 

Coming out of the cancelled COVID-19 season of 2020-21, the Patriotes won the 2022 and 2023 OUA championships, as well as the 2022 University Cup and the 2023 U Sports bronze medal. At the same time, a trio of their student-athletes won gold with Team Canada at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games.

"The recipe and standards we've put in through the last four years will be the same. We have a winning culture and we try to do whatever we can in order to grow as a group and keep that standard,"  UQTR fifth-year Simon LaFrance told CBC Sports.

Europe trip critical to chemistry

When LaFrance entered the program, he did so alongside 12 other rookie student-athletes, and the program developed into the nation's most successful during his first four years. Now, he's hoping to help lead the team in the transition to a new era, while chasing more glory with the current group. 

To start the season, the Patriotes played an exhibition series in Europe, taking on several teams from the top-flight of the French professional system. While UQTR lost each of their four games against Marseille, Grenoble, Gap, and Briançon, the annual trip offered a valuable learning experience ahead of the OUA season.

"Going to Europe helped us a lot to get to know the new players and build some team chemistry, it is tough because I am five years older than some of the rookies, so it was an important trip," he said.

While the opening weekend did not go according to plan for UQTR, with losses to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton University Ravens, the standards within the program will continue to push the student-athletes throughout the season.

Meanwhile, the first weekend of the AUS season showed that the Panthers could still be in contention in what has commonly been the most challenging conference of U Sports men's hockey.

"The new group has been a lot of fun, they're very energetic, and everybody is really embracing this opportunity," MacPherson said after UPEI's 4-2 win over the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus and 1-0 loss to the UNB Reds. "There's still a lot to learn, and we're not trying to drill them too hard on specifics, but rather using building blocks to introduce kind of how we want to play."

"It's my last year here, and to get to nationals again would be great, especially with my brother [Felix LaFrance] in his second season," Lafrance said of the 2024 tournament set to be hosted at Toronto Metropolitan University. "We are really trying to put in everything we can to get this group back to that level."

Around the U Sports world:

• The Laurier University Golden Hawks continued their undefeated run in OUA football, and are one of four undefeated teams in the country alongside Western University, University de Montreal, and St. Francis Xavier University.

• The women's hockey season began in the AUS with St. FX and Moncton winning their two opening games, while the season continued in Canada West with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies becoming the final team with a perfect 4-0-0 record featuring pairs of wins against MacEwan University and Manitoba.

• A third-party investigation into "concerning allegations" surrounding the TMU men's soccer team closed, with the school saying "Based on the findings, the men's soccer season will proceed as scheduled."

• The Guelph University Gryphons became the fourth U Sports women's hockey program to lose their long-time head coach as Rachel Flanagan joined PWHL Toronto, leaving veteran assistant coach and former Gryphon Katie Mora to take up head coaching reins for the season.