MacDougall retires from REDS

Legendary coach captured 9 U SPORTS titles, 12 AUS titles

May 15, 2024

Legendary coach captured 9 U SPORTS titles, 12 AUS titles

May 14, 2024 (FREDERICTON, NB) - The winningest coach in U SPORTS men’s hockey regular season history has decided to retire after leading the UNB REDS for 24 seasons.

Gardiner MacDougall made the announcement Tuesday night, at a news conference held at UNB’s Aitken Centre and attended by about a hundred people.

“It’s been an unbelievable experience and journey here,” said MacDougall. “Every year, you get different opportunities that you look at, probably, that was enhanced this year because of our record and the amount of attention our team got and my time with the under 18 team. This time we looked at one of those opportunities to see if made sense.”

Tuesday’s news conference came in the wake of an unprecedented season for MacDougall’s REDS.

The team went 43-and-0, winning every regular season, playoff, and exhibition game they played.

MacDougall leaves UNB having coached UNB to 490 regular season victories over 24 seasons, the most by any coach in Canadian men’s university hockey history.

With nine national titles, he’s tied for most University Cup titles by a coach with the legendary Tom Watt. He coached UNB into a record 12 University Cup gold medal games.

2024 marked MacDougall’s 17th appearance in the national championship tournament, a new record, and was his ninth consecutive appearance, moving him into a tie for second in that category.

“He’s done a lot for our men’s hockey program, he’s done a lot for UNB, he’s done a lot for hockey in this city and in this province,” said REDS’ Athletic Director Jeff Speedy. “We’re so thankful to have had someone as passionate and as driven as Gardiner for as long as we’ve had him.”

Under MacDougall, UNB won a dozen Atlantic University Sport championships, including the last six in a row, and captured an incredible 16 consecutive Atlantic conference regular season titles.

“It goes back to our motto here, make a significant difference,” said MacDougall. “With all the people here at UNB, in Fredericton, even throughout New Brunswick, we tried to be a difference-maker and created a legacy of high-performance for our university and our province.”

Over his 24 seasons, MacDougall coached the REDS in 985 regular season, conference playoff, national championship tournament and exhibition or non-conference games.

He amassed an impressive record of 732 wins, 232 losses and 21 ties for a .743 winning percentage.

Had it not been for the loss of the 2020-2021 season to the pandemic, he’d easily have surpassed 1000 games behind the bench.

As part of his incredible run, MacDougall helped more than 125 different student-athletes achieve U SPORTS Academic All-Canadian status. Some of those student-athletes earned that prestigious status more than once.

To earn Academic All-Canadian status, a student-athlete must maintain an 80% or better average while participating in a varsity level sport.

“As much as he worked on earning wins on the ice, he did a lot to ensure the student-athletes that came through his program were equipped for life after UNB and life after hockey,” said John Richard, Executive Director of the UNB REDS.

Tuesday’s news conference was a celebration of sorts for MacDougall, the accomplishments of his program, and his legacy. Nothing was said about what’s next for MacDougall or the program.

“Tonight’s about UNB,” he said.

“We’re sorry to see him go,” said Speedy. “We look forward to seeing what he does in whatever is next for him.”

STORY BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics