The Uteck Bowl is one of the two semifinal bowls of U Sports football, Canada's national competition for university teams that play Canadian football. It is held in the easternmost of the two semifinal venues. The Uteck Bowl champion moves on to face the Mitchell Bowl champion for the Vanier Cup. It was named for Larry Uteck, a former professional football player and university coach who died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2002.

Uteck Bowl
SportCanadian football
LeagueU Sports football
Awarded forWinning the U Sports Semifinal Championship
CountryCanada
History
First award2003
Editions20
First winnerSaint Mary's Huskies
Most winsLaval Rouge et Or (8)[1]
Most recentMontreal Carabins (2023)

History

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The Atlantic Bowl traditionally saw the Atlantic University Sport champions face a champion from another conference at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. However, in the interests of competitive fairness, the Atlantic Bowl was replaced by the Mitchell Bowl, its venue, like the Churchill Bowl that had paralleled it for so long, rotating among two of the conference champions.

Larry Uteck was a longtime football coach at Saint Mary's University and, at the time, the university's athletic director. It was decided that the Churchill Bowl would be retired, the Mitchell Bowl would take the place of the Churchill Bowl, and a new championship would be named in Uteck's memory. Thus, the Uteck Bowl formally replaced the Atlantic Bowl.

The inaugural Uteck Bowl was played at Huskies Stadium, where two-time defending Vanier Cup champions and home team Saint Mary's Huskies defeated the Simon Fraser Clan.

The 2020 game was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Uteck Bowl champions

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Date Champion Score Runner Up Location Uteck Bowl MVP
November 15, 2003 Saint Mary's 60–9 Simon Fraser Huskies Stadium, Halifax Les Mullings, Saint Mary's
November 20, 2004 Laval 30–11 Laurier PEPS Stadium, Quebec City Jeronimo Huerta-Flores, Laval
November 19, 2005 Laurier 31–10 Acadia Huskies Stadium, Halifax Ryan Pyear, Laurier
November 18, 2006 Laval 57–10 Acadia PEPS Stadium, Quebec City Olivier Turcotte-Létourneau, Laval
November 17, 2007 Saint Mary's 24–2 Laval Huskies Stadium, Halifax Tim St. Pierre, Saint Mary's
November 16, 2008 Laval 59–10 Calgary PEPS Stadium, Quebec City Benoit Groulx, Laval[3]
November 21, 2009 Calgary 38–14 Saint Mary's Huskies Stadium, Halifax Matt Walter, Calgary[4]
November 20, 2010 Laval 13–11 Western PEPS Stadium, Quebec City Christopher Milo, Laval
November 18, 2011 McMaster 45–21 Acadia Moncton Stadium, Moncton Kyle Quinlan, McMaster[5]
November 17, 2012 Laval 42–7 Acadia PEPS Stadium, Quebec City Maxime Boutin, Laval
November 16, 2013 Laval 48–21 Mount Allison MacAulay Field, Sackville Guillaume Rioux, Laval
November 22, 2014 Montreal 29–26 Manitoba CEPSUM Stadium, Montreal Gabriel Cousineau, Montreal[6]
November 21, 2015 UBC 36–9 St. Francis Xavier Oland Stadium, Antigonish Brandon Deschamps, UBC[7]
November 19, 2016 Laval 36–6 Laurier Telus Stadium, Quebec City Félix Faubert-Lussier, Laval[8]
November 18, 2017 Western 81–3 Acadia Raymond Field, Wolfville Chris Merchant, Western[9]
November 17, 2018 Laval 63–0 St. Francis Xavier Telus Stadium, Quebec City Hugo Richard, Laval[10]
November 16, 2019 Montreal 38–0 Acadia Raymond Field, Wolfville Reda Malki, Montreal
November 21, 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[2]
November 27, 2021 Saskatchewan 14–10 Montreal CEPSUM Stadium, Montreal Offence: Adam Machart, Saskatchewan[11]
Defence: Riley Pickett, Saskatchewan[11]
November 19, 2022 Saskatchewan 36–19 St. Francis Xavier Oland Stadium, Antigonish Offence: Mason Nyhus, Saskatchewan[12]
Defence: John Stoll, Saskatchewan[12]
November 18, 2023 Montreal 29–3 Western CEPSUM Stadium, Montreal Offence: Jonathan Sénécal, Montreal[13]
Defence: Nicolas Roy, Montreal[13]

Future participants

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The teams and host sites of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl rotate on a six-year cycle, so that in each cycle each of the four conferences hosts and visits every other conference once. With the 2020 game cancelled, the cycle was delayed by one year with the 2020 teams playing in 2021.[14]

The participants and sites for future Uteck Bowl games are listed below:[15]

Date/Year Visiting conference Host conference
2024 OUA AUS
2025 AUS RSEQ
2026 RSEQ AUS
2027 Canada West RSEQ
2028 Canada West AUS
2029 OUA RSEQ

To date, the Uteck Bowl games hosted by Quebec have been played at the champion's home field, while the first four games hosted by Atlantic University Sport (AUS) were played at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. The 2011 game was held in Moncton at the newly built Moncton Stadium. All subsequent games were hosted by the Loney Bowl champion.[16] As of 2023, home teams have a record of 11–9.

Team win–loss records

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Team W L Win %
Laval Rouge et Or 8 1 .889
Montreal Carabins 3 1 .667
Saint Mary's Huskies 2 1 .667
Saskatchewan Huskies 2 0 1.000
Western Mustangs 1 2 .333
Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 1 2 .333
Calgary Dinos 1 1 .500
McMaster Marauders 1 0 1.000
UBC Thunderbirds 1 0 1.000
Acadia Axemen 0 6 .000
St. Francis Xavier X-Men 0 3 .000
Manitoba Bisons 0 1 .000
Mount Allison Mounties 0 1 .000
Simon Fraser Clan 0 1 .000

References

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  1. ^ Past U Sports Champions
  2. ^ a b "U Sports cancels 2020 fall championships due to COVID-19". U Sports. June 8, 2020.
  3. ^ "59 Laval vs. Calgary 10". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. November 16, 2008. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved November 17, 2008.
  4. ^ "CIS:Calgary vs Saint Mary's (Nov 21, 2009)". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. November 21, 2009. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
  5. ^ "CIS:Uteck Bowl: Marauders off to first Vanier Cup final since 1967". Archived from the original on November 22, 2011.
  6. ^ CIS football Uteck Bowl: Carabins survive Manitoba comeback, advance to first Vanier Cup from Canadian Interuniversity Sports, November 22, 2014
  7. ^ "Deschamps named game MVP". Prince George Citizen. November 22, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  8. ^ "Laval's Felix Faubert-Lussier on familiar turf at Vanier Cup". sportsnet.ca. The Canadian Press. November 24, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  9. ^ "Uteck Bowl: Mustangs advance to Vanier Cup with 81-3 win over host Axemen". November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  10. ^ Black, Peter (November 17, 2018). "Quarterback Hugo Richard leads Rouge et Or past X-Men 63-0 in Uteck Bowl". Battlefords News-Optimist. The Canadian Press. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  11. ^ a b "Uteck Bowl: Huskies stun Carabins with last-minute victory, advance to Vanier Cup". U Sports. November 27, 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Uteck Bowl: Huskies defeat X-Men, advance to 2022 Canada Life Vanier Cup". U Sports. November 20, 2022.
  13. ^ a b "Turnovers the difference as Carabins romp over Mustangs to Uteck Bowl win". U Sports. November 18, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  14. ^ "U Sports announces 2021-23 fall championship hosts in soccer and rugby". usports.ca. July 3, 2020.
  15. ^ "U Sports Championship Calendar". U Sports. 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  16. ^ AUS announces 2013 football schedule