Hockey: Queen's, McGill stranded by snow dump travelling to University Cup

First it was 36 years without a trip to the University Cup; now it has taken some 36 hours for Queen's men's hockey to make it to Fredericton.

(Update: while both stranded teams seem to see the humour in the situation, at this writing, 1:45 a.m. on March 16, Rte. 132 which both teams would take to New Brunswick is closed. U Sports has, according to sources, turned down Queen's appeal to postpone its game against UNB, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. AT/6 p.m. ET on Thursday. So either it will be a very road-weary Queen's team hitting the ice, or no Queen's team at all.)

Due to a major accumulation of snow throughout eastern Canada, both the 5-seed Gaels and 8-seed McGill — who each play Thursday, natch — have been hampered getting to the tournament. Queen's flight out on Tuesday was cancelled due to the weather, so a bus was arranged for the team to make the trip. Then the travelling party met with highway closures. Neither will be there in time for the all-Canadian awards dinner traditionally held on the eve of the tournament.

As if facing UNB and red-hot St. Francis Xavier was not daunting enough.

Both schools' Twitter game and ability to make light of what is doubtlessly a downer is admirable. Queen's has had fun with it, with Dylan Anderson and Spencer Abraham appearing to be the merrymakers among the group stuck on the highway:





As have the McGillians, whose Wednesday practice was held in in Rivière-du-Loup, Que., which is four hours outside of Fredericton:


Dibs on writing the screenplay if either/each team goes on a run this weekend. The opening puck drop is Thursday; Acadia-Alberta and UNB-Queen's, with Saskatchewan-York and McGill-St. FX on Friday.
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