Explainer: A look at the Saskatchewan Huskies and 2025 University Cup,

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It’s University Cup time.

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It’s cut-throat Canadian university hockey at its best and, for some teams, its worst.

The U Sports national championship tournament — with its eight-team, single-knockout quarterfinal format — begins Thursday in Ottawa.

The No. 2-seeded University of Saskatchewan Huskies, who are Canada West conference champions, play the No. 7 Queens University Gaels on Friday night (7 p.m. ET).

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The Dogs were up at 3 a.m. Tuesday to catch a red-eye flight to Ottawa.

“We’re just going to get there and get acclimated,” said Saskatchewan coach and Canada West coach of the year Brandin Cote. “We have an awards banquet in the morning (Wednesday), practice after that in the evening, practice in the mid-morning Thursday, and then get ready to go on Friday.”

Here’s a look at the Huskies and what to expect from this year’s University Cup tournament:

What teams are competing for the University Cup?

Joining the Huskies (35-8-0 overall) are the No. 1 seed and reigning champion New Brunswick Reds (AUS champions, 37-2-0), No. 3 Concordia Stingers (OUA Champions 30-10-0), No. 4 Toronto Metropolitan Bold (OUA finalists  24-15-0), No. 5 Mount Royal Cougars (Canada West finalists,  27-11-0), No. 6 Moncton Aigles Bleus (AUS finalists, 24-17-0), No. 7 Queen’s Gaels (OUA bronze medalists  28-11-0) and No. 8 host Ottawa Gee-Gees (24-11-0).

The tournament kicks off Thursday afternoon with Mount Royal taking on Toronto Metropolitan (1 p.m. ET) and New Brunswick playing Ottawa (7 p.m. ET).

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What can the Huskies expect?

Captain Justin Ball is the lone holdover from the 2020 Saskatchewan team that last competed in the U-Cup.

He knows what to expect.

“Just real good hockey, honestly,” said Ball. “They’re all going to be similar games to what we experienced here (in Canada West playoffs) the last two weeks. Nothing different changes with our prep and our plan, and what we want to do, and the way we play. That’s about it: just come with our best and see what happens.”

Expect some of the unexpected.

Excitement abounds.

“I expect it’s going to be exciting for our guys,” said Cote. “We’ve talked about just enjoying the whole experience, but you can’t be distracted by everything, right? I’ve been part of a lot of short-term competitions as a player and coach. This set-up’s a little bit different in terms of it being a one-and-done thing. We talked about that. We’ve got to be on right away. There’s no room for error.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re sharp as we can right off the bat. We’re preparing for the team that we’re playing, and the guys will get some information on them. Ultimately, it’s going to be what we’ve been focused on all year — it’s about us.

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“There’s going to be things that happen (that you can’t control). There’s always some sort of distraction or some sort of adjustment that you have to make, whether it’s a practice time that gets changed or maybe a game goes into overtime.

“There are a lot of things that are out of your control, so we’re focusing on controlling what we can control. Whatever’s thrown at us, we’re going to have to adjust quickly.”

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