Well I've been following UNB hockey back since I was first a student in 1983, back when they used to be called the Red Devils. I've been doing colour on their radio and TV broadcasts since around 1998 (the year they won their first national championship). In the mid-90's the AD got the bright idea to give all of the varsity teams a common name, and somehow came up with Varsity Reds. It was supposed to be original, but really, the University of Toronto are the Varsity Blues! I gradually got over the name change, but most of us call them the V-Reds (never Reds!).
UNB has been playing varsity hockey for over 100 years, but it took them until March 1998 to win their first CIS University Cup. They are the reigning champs, and have won the UCup 4 of the last 7 years (always the odd years for some reason ...). School colours are red and black. They average the best attendance in the CIS, but that is only an average of 2500 per home game (their rink seats 3700). Major Junior hockey gets all the hype and paying fans.
The V-Reds play in the most competitive conference in the CIS - the AUS (Atlantic University Sport). If you can come out of the AUS you have a good chance to be in the championship final. Last season's CIS championship final saw UNB defeat conference rival Saint Mary's 2-0. SMU managed to squeak by perennial power Alberta in the round-robin. The University Cup is a 6-team tournament: AUS winner, Canada West winner, 2 OUA winners (in CIS hockey the Ontario and Quebec teams play in a double-size conference), the host, and a rotating wildcard (which was SMU last season).
