McCallum, MacDougall win national awards ahead of University Cup start

James West/UNB Reds

Former Saint John Sea Dog Kale McCallum has been named the U Sports men's hockey defenseman of the year.

McCallum was announced as this year's award winner on Wednesday morning in Toronto. McCallum and the UNB Reds begin the University Cup national championship tournament on Thursday afternoon.

“It’s an honour, but it’s a team award,” said McCallum, via the Reds website. “We’re the number one team in the country for a reason. There’s a lot of people behind us, trying to help us get there, so it’s a team award.”

McCallum, 22 and in his second season with the Reds, had quite the year on the backend, posting an impressive 11 goals and 31 assists in 30 regular season Atlantic University Sport games. He added two goals and two assists in five playoff matches, helping UNB win yet another AUS title.

McCallum spent two seasons with the Sea Dogs before joining the Val-d'Or Foreurs.

UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall, meanwhile, was named the U Sports men's hockey coach of the year for a third time in his career. After a 30-0 regular season and perfect playoff run, there was really no other option but to award MacDougall with the honour.

MacDougall guided the Sea Dogs to the 2022 Memorial Cup on home ice.

The No. 1 seeded Reds begin the University Cup at 2 p.m. on Thursday when they face the No. 8 seeded Brock Badgers. 

There will be a few former Sea Dogs playing in this year's tournament, which is being held at Toronto Metropolitan University's Mattamy Athletic Centre (Maple Leaf Gardens).

1. UNB (AUS Champions): Kale McCallum and Nick Blagden

2. UQTR (OUA Champions): None

3. UBC (Canada West Champions): None

4. TMU (OUA runner-up): Kevin Gursoy

5. Calgary (Canada West runner-up): None

6. McGill (OUA bronze medalist): William Poirier

7. Moncton (AUS runner-up): Jeremie Jacob

8. Brock (OUA fourth/host berth): Olivier Desroches

The quarterfinals will be played Thursday and Friday. One side of the bracket will have UNB/Brock and TMU/Calgary while the other will have UQTR/UdeM and UBC/McGill. The semifinals take place Saturday and the medal games Sunday.

Below are my predictions — and you can find more picks and great coverage of this year's tournament at 49 Sports.

My very correct bracket (not up for debate sry) for this year's University Cup.

Apologies to my fellow TMU alum but I can't go against my fellow UNB alum on this one. pic.twitter.com/DDXOV8UgGh

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) March 13, 2024