2017-18 winter sport schedules and permanent home of Subway AUS Women's Basketball Championship 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, hockey and volleyball, 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).

• 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.
• Link to full 2017-18 AUS women's volleyball schedule here.
• Link to full 2017-18 AUS men's volleyball schedule here.

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.

The doubleheader gets underway with the women’s game at 6 p.m. Both the X-Women and the Tigers look to start the 2017-18 season strong after missing the 2017 postseason.

At 8 p.m., the three-time defending AUS champion Tigers men’s team will face off against the X-Men. StFX narrowly missed the 2017 playoff semifinals following an 80-79 loss to Saint Mary’s in the quarter-final round.

The defending AUS women’s champion Cape Breton Capers kick off their season with back-to-back road games Friday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 4 at UNB.

Fall semester play will wrap up Sunday, Nov. 26 with the Memorial Sea-Hawks teams visiting the UNB Varsity Reds. 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 remaining five teams open their seasons Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. The reigning AUS champion X-Men visit the Acadia Axemen in Wolfville, N.S., the UPEI Panthers play host to UNB in Charlottetown, P.E.I. and the Dalhousie Tigers visit their crosstown rivals—the Saint Mary’s Huskies—at the Halifax Forum.

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. and play their home opener Saturday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. versus the Mount Allison Mounties.  

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.

Women’s Volleyball

The 2017-18 women’s volleyball season is set to begin Friday, Oct. 27 with the five-time defending AUS champion Dalhousie Tigers visiting the Acadia Axewomen in Wolfville, N.S.

The top four ranked women's volleyball teams following regular season play will qualify for the AUS championship.

The championship will take place over two days, where the first day will consist of two semifinals. The top-seeded team will face the fourth seed, while the second seed will face the third seed. The following day, the two semifinal winners will face off for the 2018 AUS championship title.

The host of the Subway AUS Women's Volleyball Championship is determined on a rotational basis, however the host must finish in the top four in that particular season. If the host does not finish in the top four, the next team in the rotation (who has finished within the top four) will become that season’s championship host. The team which did not qualify will become the host for the following year. 

The rotation is as follows: 2017-18: Moncton, 2018-19: Memorial, 2019-20: Dalhousie, 2020-21: UNB and 2021-22: Acadia.  

The AUS champion will advance to this year’s U SPORTS championship which will be hosted March 16-18 by Université Laval in Quebec City, Que.

Men’s Volleyball

The 2017-18 men’s volleyball season is set to begin Friday, Oct. 27 with an AUS-RSEQ interlock tournament hosted by Dalhousie.  

Fall semester play will wrap up Sunday, Nov. 19 and resume Friday, Jan. 12 following the holiday break.

The regular season will conclude Feb. 9-10 with an interlock tournament at Université de Sherbrooke.

The 2018 Subway AUS Men’s Volleyball Championship will once again consist of a best-of-three series between the teams that finish first and second in the regular season standings.

The U SPORTS championship will be hosted by McMaster University March 16-18 in Hamilton, Ont.

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. 23-24 by Université de Moncton.

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