1998 AUAA Championship and CIAU Appearance

Regular Season

UNB finished the first half of the season with a 14-1-0 record, tops in the country. Ranked #1 from the first week - they only dropped to #2 once (17 weeks at #1). A mental lapse in Mount Allison results in a shutout win for the Mounties and dashed UNB's chance to eclipse 50 points in a season, but 49 points was still a UNB record and 24-3-1 was an AUAA record.

UNB never lost a home game during the season, 14 league games, 1 exhibition game and 5 playoff games. When added to the previous season - a home winning record of 28 straight wins.

Rk MacADAM DIV      GP  W   L  T    F   A   p
  1 UNB             28 24   3  1  167  68  49
    STU (1)         28 14  11  3  141 135  32
    Moncton*        28 11  14  3   96 139  25 | 4-1-0
    UPEI*           28 11  16  1  134 145  25 | 1-4-0
    Mt. A.          28  3  23  2   84 171   8

 Rk KELLY DIV       GP  W   L  T    F   A   p
 10 St. FX          28 18   8  2  129 102  39
  7 Acadia          28 17  10  1  133  93  35
    DAL             28 11  16  1  109 117  23
    SMU (1)         28  8  16  4   91 114  21

() = number of points awarded to OT losses

Playoffs

MacAdam Div. Semi-Final, AUAA Quarter Final

Round One - UNB vs UPEI, Win Series 2-1
UNB meet UPEI in the first round. The season series was in UNB's favour - 5-0-0. UNB had out scored UPEI 35-13 and with a such a strong home record - UNB looked to be the favorites in the series. UNB won the openning game 9-4, but lost the second game two nights later in Charlottetown 4-2. UNB bounced back at home in game three with a 5-4 victory and a 2-1 series win.

MacAdam Div. Finals, AUAA Semi-Finals

Round Two - UNB vs STU, Win Series 2-0
STU had advanced past UdeM in their first round match to setup a UNB/STU MacAdam Division final for the second time in two years. The previous year UNB had won the best of three series two straight 4-2 and 5-4 OT1. The first game was at the Aitken Centre where UNB won by the same score of 4-2. Game two was at the LBR and saw UNB win with the same score of 5-4 and win the series 2-0 and advance against Acadia for the second time in two years.

AUAA Finals

Round Three - UNB vs Acadia, Win Series 2-1
The previous year Acadia had home ice advantage (to no avail), but this year the MacAdam Division Champion would have home ice advantage (home is rotated each year) - something UNB would need. UNB lost the first game in Acadia 1-2, they would need to win both games at home, something they had done all year, to win the series.
UNB would win the first game 3-2 in overtime on a power play goal by Scott Cherry. Acadia player Mike O'Leary, received a double minor for slashing and checking-from-behind at 16:58 of the third. UNB didn't capatilize until their first shift of OT. This setup the third and deciding game on Sunday. UNB would win 3-2 on a last minute goal by Jason Campeau with 28 seconds left. This would mark UNB's second AUAA title in as many years - a first for the hockey team.

(Photo Credit - The Brunswickan)

With the new format of the CIAU finals, both UNB and Acadia would advance to the tournament, but UNB would advance as the AUAA Champion.

CIAU Finals - U. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon - Saskatchewan

The CIAU Finals had moved from Toronto to Saskatoon over the Summer. The University of Saskatchewan would be the hosts for the the next 3 years. Along with a venue change, there would also be a format change. Six teams would be invited, two more then previous years, and they would play in two 3 team pools. Each pool would be a round robin tournament with the best team advancing into the final from each pool. This would also extend the final by 2 days, but create an improved atmosphere.

The three traditonal conference winners would be invited along with, the OUA Runner-up, the host school U. of Saskatchewan and one wild-card. The wildcard would be chosen once from each conference over the three years of the tournament with the first year's choice coming from the AUAA.

The pools were divided up to equally represent the 3 conferences with each team having an East, Central and West team. Pool 'A' would include #1 UNB, #4 Alberta and #5 Windsor. Pool 'B' would include #2 USask, #3 UQTR and #6 Acadia.

(more on the Tournament Results)

UNB vs Windsor - CIAU Pool 'A' Game 1, Won 3-2 OT1

UNB Squeezed by Windsor in the first game. Despite 15 Lancer shots on Ken Carroll in the first, UNB had a one goal lead at the end of the period on a goal by Bill Lang. There was no scoring in the second. UNB took a two goal lead on a powerplay goal by Jeff Andrews. The Lancers would score two of their own 5 and 10 minutes later to tie the game with 5 minutes left.
Jason Campeau setup Ryan Burgoyne at 5:54 of OT to win the game for UNB and setup a 'must win' match against Alberta, a team looking for revenge for last year's overtime loss at Nationals to UNB.

UNB vs Alberta - CIAU Pool 'A' Game 3, Won 5-2

Alberta was certainly gunning for UNB in the first and took a 2 goal lead on 8 shots. Things changed for Alberta when they lost their team captain Todd Hjertaas early in the second period for 'checking from behind'. UNB would cut the lead by one on a late second period goal by Chris Zanutto right after his penalty had expired. UNB's momentum continued through the third when UNB scored 3 goals in 45 seconds with the fifth goal coming 3 minutes later. The 5-2 victory was UNB's second over Alberta in as many years and would send them to the finals to meet Acadia.

UNB vs Acadia - CIAU Finals, Won 6-3

Acadia had certainly supprised everyone in Pool 'B', despite being ranked last in the tournament - they disappoointed the home crowed in thier first game defeating the USask Huskies 6-5 on a last minute goal and later disposing of UQTR 7-4 to win Pool 'B'.
UNB took the a two goal lead in the first on 13 shots. UNB's tough fore-checking held Acadia to two shots in the first. The second period saw the game open up with Acadia scoring twice and UNB matching each goal to end the period 4-2. UNB would take a 3 goal lead mid way through the third. Acadia would answer on the power-play 4 minutes later, but UNB would regain it's 3 goal lead and seal the victory with a minute left in the game.

(Photo Credit - David Kilfoil)

Tournament All-Stars

Ken Carroll was voted to the Tournament All-Star team and Chris Zanuto was voted Tournament MVP.

Material gathered from articles printed in the Daily Gleaner and The Brunswickan