New Brunswick Reds

Overview
"Reds" is the athletic name of the varsity sports teams of the University of New Brunswick located in Fredericton, New Brunswick. There is a satellite campus located in St. John, New Brunswick (UNBSJ), created in 1964, which is independent from the campus in Fredericton.

Early on, the hockey team was known as the either the "Hillman" or "Red'n Black" as UNB had no defining athletic name. The student newspaper, The Brunswickan, chose to label all of the athletic teams with unique names in 1956. The hockey team was labeled "Red Devils" and 'Red' was part of all of the names they created (two examples being Men's & Women's basketball; Red Raiders & Red Bloomers). This name was replaced with "Varsity Reds" in 1991 as part of an all encompassing rebranding of the Varsity Athletics program. In the Spring of 2018, the program announced it would be rebranded "Reds", removing the word "Varsity".

They are unofficially called the "Squirrels" due to the prevalence of the rodent on campus and as a 'slight' (the UNB crest has a caricature of two beavers holding a bible, their images can be construed as looking like squirrels).

They are members of the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) - a conference within the larger governing body of university sports in Canada, U Sports (formerly known as CIS-Canadian Interuniversity Sports and CIAU-Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union before that).

University Hockey
UNB was a founding member of the Maritime Intercollegiate Hockey Association (MIHL) created on December 28th, 1905 along with Mount Allison, Dalhousie and St. Francis Xavier and play for the Hewson Cup. UNB & Mt. Allison were schedule to play the first game of the season, but due to exams and a thaw - the game was postponed. The first game was played by Dalhousie and St. Francis Xavier a few days later (St. FX won 6-3 at home). UNB would win the rescheduled home game vs Mt. A, by a score of 3-2.

After a dispute with St. Francis Xavier in 1908, UNB, along with Mount Allison University, the University of King's College, and Acadia University, created another collegiate league that did not include St. FX, the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia League titled the Maritime Interuniversity Inter-scholastic Hockey League-MIIHL. These teams would play for the Sumner Cup with the first 5-time winner taking ownership.

After WWI, all of the schools returned to playing hockey. For UNB, they rejoined the MIHL/MIAA while also playing in the MIIHL. To facilitate playing in both leagues - MIHL games versus overlapping opponents (Mt. Allison & Acadia) would count towards MIIHL results. The team with the best result would advance to a single game championship vs King's College who did not play in the MIHL. UNB won ownership of the trophy in 1928 and thus ended the MIIHL.

The MIHL would merge with the Maritime Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) in 1919-20. (note: The area defined as the 'Canadian Maritimes' encompasses the three provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia - it does not include Newfoundland) This association would be the governing body for a number of collegiate sports - not just hockey. The association changed its name in 1968-69 to the Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association (AIAA) with the addition of Memorial University (St. John's, NL). In 1973-74 the name changed to Atlantic Universities Athletic Association (AUAA) when the AIAA merged with the women's AWIAA, and finally in 1998-99 to the present AUS.

Non-University Hockey
While the details were not recorded, inter-class and inter-club hockey games at the University of New Brunswick were played as early as 1880. The first recorded competitive UNB hockey game was Feb. 5, 1897 against the local detachment of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Infantry (perpetuated now as the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment-2RCR). The game was played in downtown Fredericton at the George Street outdoor rink and UNB lost 3-2.

In January 1902, the “Red and Black” defeated a team of local bank employees 2-1 in their inaugural season in the Fredericton City League. In the early era, “home ice” was a flooded field borrowed from the local garrison and the players cleared the ice. The team captain doubled as coach and the seven-man starting line-up was the entire team.

From the late 40s throughout the 50s, it was common for collegiate teams to play in two leagues as the MIAA season was quite short (only comprising of playoffs). During this time, UNB was a member of a number of Senior or Intermediate hockey leagues; FCHL-Fredericton Commercial, FDIHL-Fredericton and District Intermediate, CNBSHL-Central N.B. Senior, SNBIHL-Southern N.B. Intermediate & YCIHL-York County Intermediate. This practice was stopped by the CIAU in the early 60s

Collegiate Hockey (UNBSJ)
The UNBSJ Red Barons formerly played Junior A and B hockey. Their teams are now called the UNBSJ Seawolves. The UNBSJ Seawolves are members of the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association ("ACAA"), which has not operated a hockey league since 1987. The program was never a member of the ACAA hockey league, choosing to play in other leagues instead, nor the AUS in any of its prior incarnations.

External links:
 * Official Site
 * Fan Site
 * Fan Site for Stats, Alumni & History

SOURCE:
 * UNB Wikipedia Page
 * UNB Fan History Page

MIAA/Senior 1905-06 to 1940-41
NOTES:
 * The MIHL Hewson Cup involved UNB, Acadia, St. Francis Xavier, and Mount Allison at the outset of the league in 1906. St. F.X. won it 3 times and kept the trophy.
 * The MIIHL Sumner Cup was first awarded to the winner of the Intercollegiate Hockey League in 1909 and then later to the winner of the West Division versus King's College championship game. UNB won the cup in 1909, 1911(disputed), 1921, 1923, 1926, and 1928. UNB retained the trophy and it resides at UNB today
 * MIAA divided into East and West sections in most seasons.
 * UNB, like most schools, did not compete from 1941-42 through 1944-45.

MIAA 1945-46 to 1967-68
NOTES:
 * There were some 4 point games from 1962-63 to 1964-65.
 * The pennant champion would be the league champion in 1963-64.
 * The two divisions were called Nova Scotia (NS) and New Brunswick (NB) in 1958-59 and 1959-60.
 * A one division format started in 1962-63.

AIAA/AUAA years with ties 1968-69 to 1996-97
NOTES:
 * Two divisions in 1973-74, North[N] and South.
 * Two divisions in 1979-80, East and West[W].
 * Two divisions in 1980-81 to 1981-82 and 1985-86 to 1996-97, Kelly and MacAdam[Mac].

AUAA/AUS years with ties and OT losses 1997-98 to 2005-06
NOTES:
 * Two divisions in 1997-98 to 1999-00, Kelly and MacAdam.
 * One division format from 2000-01 onwards.
 * From 1997-98 to 2001-02 overtime losses were also included in the loss column.

AUS years without ties 2006-07 to present

 * Ψ Event cancelled prior to team playing first game.

University Cup Tournaments

 * 1964 University Cup
 * 1984 University Cup
 * 1997 University Cup
 * 1998 University Cup
 * 2000 University Cup
 * 2003 University Cup
 * 2007 University Cup
 * 2008 University Cup
 * 2009 University Cup
 * 2011 University Cup
 * 2012 University Cup
 * 2013 University Cup
 * 2015 University Cup
 * 2016 University Cup
 * 2017 University Cup
 * 2018 University Cup
 * 2019 University Cup
 * 2020 University Cup

Championships

 * MIIHL (Sumner Cup) - 1909, 1911, 1921, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1928
 * MIAA - 1925, 1934, 1960, 1962, 1964
 * AUAA - 1984, 1997, 1998
 * AUS - 2000, 2003, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018
 * University Cup - 1998, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019

International Exhibitions

 * Dec 20, 1980: at Edinburgh: New Brunswick 5, Scotland 1
 * Dec 21, 1980: at Durham: New Brunswick 12, England 6
 * Source: vredshockey.com
 * Dec 10, 2017: at St. John: New Brunswick 4, Poland 1
 * Source: VarsityReds.ca Game Story

Reds who played in the NHL

 * Fred McLean (Quebec City & Hamilton, 1919-20 - first New Brunswicker to play in the NHL)
 * Greg Holst (New York Rangers)
 * John LeBlanc (Vancouver, Edmonton & Winnipeg)
 * Darryl Boyce (Toronto)
 * Kevin Henderson (Nashville)
 * Philippe Maillet (Washington)

Played for UNB after their NHL career:

 * Sid Veysey (Vancouver)
 * Bill McDonagh (New York Rangers)
 * Dan LaCosta (Columbus)
 * Pete Kelly (Detroit - UNB's coach in the 50s and 60s, played with UNB in Senior League games only)

Participating Universities

 * Acadia Axemen
 * Dalhousie Tigers
 * Moncton Aigles Bleus
 * New Brunswick Varsity Reds
 * Prince Edward Island Panthers
 * St. Francis Xavier X-Men
 * Saint Mary's Huskies

Formerly Participating Universities

 * St. Thomas Tommies
 * Cape Breton Capers
 * MUN Beothuks
 * Mount Allison Mounties

Formerly Participating Universities - no longer AUS members

 * Nova Scotia Technical College - now part of Dalhousie
 * Prince of Wales College - now part of UPEI
 * St. Dunstan's Saints - now part of UPEI
 * Collège Saint-Joseph aka St. Joseph's University - now part of Moncton
 * University of King's College Blue Devils

Also see
Senior links:
 * List of Eastern Canada Allan Cup Playoffs
 * Maritimes Senior Playoffs
 * Antigonish-Pictou-Colchester Senior Hockey League
 * List of APC Seasons
 * Central Section
 * Valley Senior Hockey League
 * List of VSHL Seasons
 * Atlantic Canadian Hockey History
 * VSHL page

National links:
 * U Sports (formerly CIS)
 * List of University Cup Playoffs (from 1962-63 to present)
 * List of University Cup Champions

Atlantic links:
 * Atlantic University Sport
 * List of AUS Seasons (from 1919-20 to present)
 * Atlantic History - AUS page
 * Intercollegiate Hockey League and Sumner Cup
 * Hewson Cup
 * Mount Allison Site – Atlantic hockey early trophies - pdf
 * Mount Allison Site – Atlantic hockey early trophies