Conference coaches eye REDS and X-Women as teams to beat this season
(HALIFAX, N.S.) The two-time reigning champion UNB REDS topped this year's AUS women's hockey coaches pre-season poll.
The poll results were announced Wednesday, ahead of the AUS regular-season openers featuring the Moncton Aigles Bleues versus the UPEI Panthers and the Mount Allison Mounties versus the Dalhousie Tigers. Puck drop for both games is set for 7 p.m. ADT.
All games of the AUS regular season and postseason will once again be webcast at www.AUStv.ca.
The annual AUS women's hockey pre-season coaches' poll was voted on by the league's eight head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own teams.
The REDS received five of the eight first-place votes in this year's poll for a total of 47 points in the voting.
UNB finished the 2022-23 regular season in first place with a 23-2-1-2 record, earning a bye through to the playoff semifinals. The REDS took down the UPEI Panthers in four games in the best-of-five round, moving on to face the STFX X-Women in the conference finals.
The exciting best-of-three championship final series went to double overtime in Game 3 and saw UNB capture their second consecutive AUS title.
The 2023 conference finalist X-Women were voted second in the pre-season coaches' poll—earning 45 total points and three first-place votes.
Third in coach voting were the Saint Mary's Huskies with 37 points. The Huskies finished the 2022-23 season in third place in the conference standings with an 18-9-1-0 record. In the postseason, they won their way to the semifinals before being knocked out by STFX in four games.
The UPEI Panthers claimed fourth in the pre-season poll with 29 points. The Moncton Aigles Bleues were voted in fifth with 22 points, closely followed by the Dalhousie Tigers with 21 points. The St. Thomas Tommies (15 points) and Mount Allison Mounties (eight points) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in this year's poll.
After regular-season competition finishes on Feb. 11, the top six teams will move on to post-season play.
This will feature three rounds of playoff series with the top two seeds receiving byes into the semi-final round. The quarterfinals will follow a best-of-three format while the semifinals will be a best-of-five series. The 2023 AUS women's hockey champion will be determined by a best-of-three championship final series.
The 2024 U SPORTS women's hockey championship will be hosted by the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, March 14 to 17.
The complete 2023-24 AUS women's hockey schedule is now available here.