Crowchild Classic ticket proceeds going to university mental health for first time
By Nathan Woolridge, News Editor
Tickets are now on sale for one of the city’s hottest annual sporting events and U SPORTS’ biggest hockey event — the Crowchild Classic. But this year, the tickets are not free and will cost students five dollars that will go towards a mental health initiative.
The money, “will be split between each institution for investment into student wellness initiatives,” according to the Cougar Athletics.
The seventh annual Classic will be held on Jan. 29, 2019 inside the Calgary Flames’ home arena, the Scotiabank Saddledome.
This event is put on with the support of the Calgary Flames and the Flames Foundation — which allows the Cougars and Dinos the opportunity to play in an NHL facility and give the university athletes a professional experience.
Crowchild Classic, created in 2012, has not only become a staple for university sports, but a famous and popular sporting event within the city of Calgary that consists of a doubleheader in women’s and men’s hockey between the Cougars and University of Calgary Dinos in Canada West regular season action.
This is one of the only sporting events that exists within the city in a soccer ‘derby’ and rivalry setting as both inner city schools battle it out for something more than just points in the league, but inner-city bragging rights.
In 2015, the U SPORTS hockey regular season attendance record of 8,882 was broken by the Crowchild Classic event. The game was the best-attended between U SPORTS teams.
In 2016, Dinos and Cougars supporters had a total of about 12,859 students, alumni, faculty and community members attend both men’s and women’s games at the Saddledome.
The event has been free for all students leading up to this year, where tickets will cost five dollars to attend the popular U SPORTS event.
Students can find more information on mrucougars.com and buy the tickets through Ticketmaster. Each account can purchase up to eight tickets and MRU students are encouraged to sit in the “Cougar Zone.”
