Wesmen Classic back after 2-year hiatus

The Wesmen Classic, a university athletics holiday staple since the late 1960s, returned to the hardwood at the University of Winnipeg this week after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

University of Winnipeg athletic director Dave Crook says it's "amazing" to see the return of the event, now in its 54th year.

"Having to cancel it the last two seasons, and it being men's basketball … it's just wonderful," Crook said.

Crook says several people have come up to him since the eight-team tournament tipped off Wednesday, and told him they've missed lots of game action because they were talking with people they hadn't seen in a long time.

"It's sort of a homecoming," Crook said. "It's an opportunity for people who are back in the city — who aren't usually here, who aren't around university sport — to come back and to watch it, and to connect with people and just to connect with the game.

"It's just such a tradition in this community, the Wesmen Classic."

Originally the Golden Boy Tournament, the Classic was first played in 1967 with Vic Pruden coaching the Wesmen in the tournament's debut at Riddell Hall.

The event moved to the Winnipeg Arena and later the Winnipeg Convention Centre before shifting to the Duckworth Centre in the mid-1980s.

The Classic has also featured high school and club teams before shifting to a four-year rotation involving men's and women's volleyball and basketball starting in 2017.

The last time men's hoops was featured was 2016, with the University of Manitoba Bisons topping the University of Alberta Golden Bears 86-78 in the final.

Crook has fond memories of the tournament, both as a fan and later as a coach of both the Wesmen and University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

"This tournament is a big part of my life … I've been to so many," he said. "I've been to one in the Arena. I've been to watch them in the Convention Centre when I was a kid, and being part of the staff here, and then to win one as a head coach myself, it was just an unbelievable feeling."

Crook was an assistant coach on the Wesmen squad captured the 1983 tournament, 69-61, over the Brock University Badgers.

Favourite memory

But he says his favourite memory of the event came in 1999, the year the Pronghorns captured the Classic, defeating Winnipeg 86-65 in the final.

"When I won my first Classic as a head coach with the University of Lethbridge and we beat the Wesmen in the final, that was sort of a dream come true," Crook said.

He also led the Wesmen to victory in the 2006 edition, defeating the Brandon University Bobcats 91-72 in the final. 

That was also the last time Winnipeg won its own event.

The Wesmen last reached the championship game in 2014, falling 81-71 to University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Those two teams will square off in Friday's title game, with the nationally ranked No. 2 Gee-Gees favoured to claim their second Classic victory.

"I coached in 20-plus Classics in my own career, and it just means an awful lot to have Winnipeg in the final tonight is just outstanding," Crook said.

Winnipeg defeated the Algoma University Thunderbirds 98-59 in quarter-final action Wednesday before getting the better of Brandon 79-74 in Thursday's championship semifinals. Ottawa got past the Bisons 79-64 in the quarter-finals and the University of Regina Cougars 69-54 in the other championship semifinal.

Putting on his coaching hat, Crook says the keys for the Wesmen against the Gee-Gees are physicality and strong guard play.

"I think we have to match them physically. If we don't stand up to them, I think they'll just dominate us, and knock us out of the game early," he said.

In Friday's other games. the No. 8 Bisons battle the Thunderbirds in the seventh-place game at 2 p.m., followed by the Université Laval Rouge et Or against No. 6 Alberta in the consolation final at 4 p.m. The Bobcats and Cougars tussle in an all-Canada West third-place matchup at 6 p.m.

Tickets for the final day of action are $12.