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Attendance record broken for second year in a row at Crowchild Classic
The boisterous crowd at the 2026 Crowchild Classic doubleheader broke an attendance record for the second year in a row.
With 13,324 fans in the building, a new U SPORTS hockey regular season attendance record was set, beating last year’s total of 13,193 fans. Rumours under the rafters were that out of those 13,000-plus fans, the MRU crowd was the loudest.
The first instalment of the Crowchild Classic at the 'Dome was back in 2012 and had a mere 4,275 fans. That was the first year the Cougars entered the Canada West conference. Since then, it’s broken two attendance records back-to-back, more than tripling its size and popularity.
Students, alumni, family members and the MRU community packed the Scotiabank Saddledome for two games featuring the women’s and men’s Cougars hockey teams — facing off against the University of Calgary Dinos. Wearing their finest blue gear, some students went all out in full blue body paint, while others took the time to design shirts and signs. Many of the signs were themed around the popular Canadian TV show Heated Rivalry.
"What stands out the most to me about the Crowchild Classic this year is the fans. MRU fans are always the loudest and the proudest as they cheer on our teams,” says MRU's chancellor Arlene Strom, who joined the men’s team on the ice for her first-ever official puck drop alongside UCalgary's president Ed McCauley, PhD.
Women’s game
The Cougar’s women’s hockey team opened up the night, starting at 4:30 p.m.
They were hoping to bounce back after losing to the Dinos in the 2025 Crowchild Classic but ultimately fell short, 2-1.
In a rematch on Saturday at Father David Bauer arena the women played a high-scoring game that went into overtime. The Dinos won that one 4-3.
Read the full recap of Thursday’s game.
Men’s game
The Cougars men’s hockey team took on the Dinos for the second game of the night.
After losing 4-0 last year the Cougars wanted to come back strong and that they did, beating the red and yellow 2-1. Goalie Shane Farkas had an impressive performance in his fourth-straight Crowchild Classic.
Domination continued in Saturday’s rematch where the MRU men beat the Dinos once again, 4-3 in a shootout. With the win, Farkas became MRU’s all-time leader in minutes and games played by a goalie. Saturday marked his 57th career game.
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Read the full recap of Thursday’s game.
Read the full recap of Saturday’s game.
Crowchild Classic lore
The Crowchild Classic at the Saddledome is the so-called premier event, but the competition actually takes place all year long.
The friendly rivalry takes into account all regular season Canada West games between MRU and UCalgary in basketball, hockey, soccer and volleyball. The winner receives "The Trophy," a 68-kilogram cast-iron City of Calgary manhole cover. The losing school’s president is also involved and has to wear the winning team’s jersey for a day.
In the event of a tie, the school already in possession of "The Trophy" will keep it. The Dinos lead the all-time Crowchild Classic wins, but MRU has had the manhole cover for the last three, but hopefully four years.
The Cougars lead the 2025-26 Crowchild Classic nine games to seven, but there are a couple more volleyball and basketball matches left on the schedule. Go Cougars!