2017-18 AUS winter sport schedules announced

(HALIFAX, N.S.) – Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2017-18 regular season sport schedules for men's and women's basketball, and hockey, as well as the hosts for the 2018 AUS winter championships.

All AUS regular and postseason games will be webcast at AUStv.ca powered by Bell Aliant and select games will be broadcast live on Bell Aliant's Fibe TV on the TV1 channel (channels 1 and 401).

Men's and Women's Basketball

The 2017-18 AUS men's and women's basketball regular season is set to begin Wednesday, Nov. 1 with StFX visiting Dalhousie.

Following a dissappointing 2016-17 campaign, the UPEI Men's Basketball Panthers will kick the new season off November 3rd, in Halifax to take on the SMU Huskies. 

On the women's side, the young Panthers surprised most with an exciting campaign. The Panthers will look to build upon that momentum for 2017-18 as the Panthers will also travel to Halifax to take on the Huskies. 

Fall semester play will wrap up for the Panthers Saturday, Nov. 25 at home against the Acadia Axemen. Regular season play resumes Jan. 4 for the winter semester.

The regular season concludes Sunday, Feb. 24.

The 2018 Subway AUS Basketball Championships will once again be hosted by the AUS conference office at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.

This year's championships will take place March 2-4.

The women's championship began running concurrently with the men's in 2015 as a two-year pilot project which was extended for an additional season in 2017.

This season, the Subway AUS Women's Basketball Championship joins the men's championship permanently as a yearly fixture at Scotiabank Centre.

"We are thrilled to see how the community has embraced the expansion of this marquee event," said AUS executive director and championship chair Phil Currie. "We knew from the onset that our women's basketball product had just as much to offer fans as the men's product, and we were hopeful that by moving the event to a larger stage, we would be able to showcase that."

"I'm happy to report that in each of the three years of this pilot project, we saw steady growth in terms of community and corporate partner support for the women's championship. We're very happy to be announcing this as a permanently joint annual event in Halifax."

The AUS women's champion will advance to the 2018 U SPORTS women's basketball championship being hosted March 8-11 at the University of Regina.

The Atlantic conference will once again have two berths in the men's national championship as Acadia hosts the U SPORTS Final 8 men's basketball championship March 8-11 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.

The AUS berths will go to Acadia, as host, and the AUS champion. Should the Axemen capture the 2018 AUS title, the second Atlantic conference berth will be awarded to the runner up.

Men's Hockey

The 2017-18 men's hockey season is set to begin Wednesday, Oct. 4 with the defending U SPORTS champion UNB Varsity Reds playing host to the Moncton Aigles Bleues.

The UPEI Panthers will open their season Oct. 6 as they play host to UNB at MachLauchlan Arena, puck drop at 7:00pm.

First semester play wraps up Saturday, Dec. 2 and the winter schedule kicks off Wednesday, Jan. 3.

The final games of the regular season will be played Saturday, Feb. 10., making way for the quarter-final playoff round of the Subway AUS Men's Hockey Championship.

This year's AUS playoff format will once again feature a pair of best-of-three quarter-final series, followed by a best-of-five format in the semifinals and a best-of-three final round.

AUS is guaranteed three berths in the 2018 U SPORTS University Cup, which is being hosted by UNB at the Aitken Centre in Fredericton, N.B. for the second consecutive year.

Should the Varsity Reds advance to the 2018 AUS final round, a best-of-three consolation final series will be held to determine the third team from the Atlantic conference to compete in the national championship.

The 2018 U SPORTS University Cup will be held March 15-18.

Women's Hockey

The 2017-18 women's hockey season is set to begin Friday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. with the Moncton Aigles Bleues hosting UPEI and the StFX X-Women hosting the St. Thomas Tommies.

The defending AUS champion Saint Mary's Huskies will open their season on the road Saturday, Oct. 14 at UPEI at 7 p.m.

Fall semester play concludes Nov. 26 and resumes Jan. 5 following the holiday break.

The regular season wraps up Saturday, Feb. 10.

The top six teams in the standings will move on to post-season play. Three rounds of playoff series will be played with the top two seeds receiving byes into the semi-final round.

The quarterfinals will feature the third-place team taking on the sixth-place finisher, while the fourth-place team will face off against the fifth-place team.

The quarter-final, semi-final and final rounds will once again each be best-of-three affairs using a 'home-away-home' format where the higher seeded team will host the opening game of the series as well as the third and deciding game, if necessary.

The 2018 U SPORTS women's hockey championship will be hosted by Western University in London, Ont. March 15-18.

Swimming, Track and Field, Curling—2018 Winter Championship Hosts and Schedules:

• ·       Curling: The 2018 Subway AUS Curling Championships will be hosted Feb. 8-11 by Curl Atlantic and UNB at the Capital Winter Club in Fredericton, N.B.
• ·       Swimming: The 2018 Subway AUS Swimming Championships will be hosted Feb. 9-11 by UNB at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre in Saint John, N.B.
• ·       Track and Field: The 2018 Subway AUS Track and Field Championships will be hosted Feb. 23-24by Université de Moncton.

View full schedules below:

• ·        Link to full 2017-18 AUS women's basketball schedule here.
• ·        Link to full 2017-18 AUS men's basketball schedule here.
• ·        Link to full 2017-18 AUS men's hockey schedule here.
• ·        Link to full 2017-18 AUS women's hockey schedule here.

Please visit http://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/championships/index to view the complete 2017-18 AUS championship schedule.