Petes alum part of university hockey history, as team compiles 38-0 mark
Emmett Sproule plays for New Brunswick Reds, who captured a second straight University Cup
Peterborough Petes alumnus Emmett Sproule is part of Canadian university hockey history.
Sproule was part of a University of New Brunswick (UNB) Reds team that romped through U Sports with a historic 38-0 record in winning a second straight University Cup. Their 4-0 victory over the UQTR Patriotes on March 17 at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre secured the Reds a record 10th University Cup title. It was their ninth under the guidance of head coach Gardiner MacDougall.
UNB is just the second school in the history of the University Cup to win the national title after a perfect season, following McMaster, which accomplished the feat in 1963.
“I can’t even process into words how special it was for us,” said Sproule, who was the Petes’ leading scorer in the 2021-22 season. “Something special clicked early. We had a couple of close overtime games early in the season but, other than that, our team just rallied. We’re brothers in the locker room and we care for each other and play for one another and we just rallied and kept going and going and believed in ourselves. The next thing you know, we’re at the nationals undefeated.”
Sproule has not been a part of an undefeated team at any level of hockey and, prior to last season, hadn’t won a championship since his early years of AA minor hockey in Barrie. He said the streak wasn’t initially a big topic of conversation but, as the season progressed, people outside their locker room started taking notice.
“We just kept playing every weekend and we didn’t think about it too much midway through the season. When it started to get around 20-0, I know the City of Fredericton was pretty hyped about it. The city got more involved and it went in the news,” he said. “We couldn’t get too hyped about it knowing it wasn’t over yet.
“We went into the playoffs knowing we didn’t have many chances to lose and had to win them all and we just did it. The next thing you know, it’s a perfect season.”
Last year, the Reds were a young team and a bit of an underdog story, but not this season.
“This year, we had a lot of returning guys and our team was experienced after winning a championship. I could tell after the first week of training camp how bad these guys wanted to win. It was a special group,” he said.
They may have made it look easy, but it was far from it, he said.
“This league is so underrated and such a hard league to win in. There are so many former CHL (Canadian Hockey League) guys, great talent and 80-point guys, and it gets overlooked. This league is good. For us to go back-to-back and not lose a game this season is outstanding. You probably won’t see a team do it again,” he said.
Sproule suffered a shoulder injury, which is going to need surgery, halfway through the season. It forced him to miss a bunch of time and when he did return it limited his ice time.
“I was just there to do my role and fight and battle through it and cheer the guys on,” Sproule said.
The business administration student has at least one more season left with UNB and a three-peat is the goal. He should be recovered from surgery in time for training camp. “Our standard is even higher now. We don’t want to lose and be the team that breaks that streak, which carried on from the older guys last year,” he said.
Their winning streak dating back to last season stands at 47 games.
Former Petes captain Zach Gallant earned a bronze medal as his McGill Redbirds defeated Toronto Metropolitan University, 3-2, in the bronze-medal game. TMU features Petes alumnus Dustin Hutton.