2015 CIS University Cup
| 2015 CIS University Cup | |
|---|---|
| Halifax, Nova Scotia | |
 |
|
| Host team | St. Francis Xavier X-Men |
| Champions | Alberta Golden Bears |
| Venue | Scotiabank Centre |
| Duration | March 12–15, 2014 |
| Number of games | 8 |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Television | Sportsnet 360 |
The 2015 CIS Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament (53 Annual) was held March 20–23, 2014. It was the first of two consecutive CIS Championships to be held at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax jointly hosted by the St. Francis Xavier University & Saint Mary's University. Each school would be a designated 'host' for one of the events; St. Francis Xavier would be the 2015 host while Saint Mary's would be the host in the second year (2016).
The defending champions were the Alberta Golden Bears who advanced to the tournament as the Canada West Champions and #1 seed.
This 2-year bid included a format change that would see 8 teams compete as well as the re-introduction of the bronze medal game. Previous tournaments were a 6-team 2-Pool format that would see one team from each pool advance to the Championship final. This 2-Pool format was introduced in 1998 and had been used for the past 17 years. Instead of a Pool format, a tradition single elimination 8 team bracket would be used and the teams seeded 1-8. The tournament length would be the same (4 days) with two games on each day. The losers of Saturday's Semi-finals would play in the Bronze game - held prior to the Championship final on Sunday.
In the previous 6-team 2-Pool format, the conference champions were seeded 1-3 and the remaining three teams were shuffled between the pools based on the CIS balancing criteria to reduce intra-conference match-ups (e.g. when there were only two teams from one conference - they would be placed in separate pools. The lower seeded team, if a conflict arose based on 1-4-6 vs 2-3-5 placement, would be swapped with a lower seeded team in the other pool to maintain the integrity of the draw).
In the new format, the teams would be seeded based on the last CIS Top 10 Poll (the Saturday/Sunday prior to the tournament). The three conference champions would be seeded 1-3 with the order based on their rank. The OUA Runner-up (loser of the Queen's Cup) is seeded 4th, regardless of their rank. The remaining four teams are seeded based on their rank. Teams in the bottom half can be shuffled by 1 spot, up or down, to reduce intra-conference match-ups in the first round (Quarter Finals) while maintaining the integrity of the draw (e.g. if the AUS Champion is seed #1 and the host is an AUS team seeded #8, the AUS host would swap seeds with #7 to avoid an AUS-vs-AUS first round match).
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