Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas


The Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas are the sports teams that represent the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

History

The University of Alberta fields in 17 sports administered by U Sports in the Canada West conference.
The football and soccer teams play their home games at Foote Field, and the basketball and volleyball teams' home is the Saville Community Sports Centre.
The ice hockey team plays at Clare Drake Arena, named after long-time coach Clare Drake. Professor W. G. Hardy coached the team from 1922 to 1926, and played a leading role in getting the first ice hockey rink built at the university campus in 1927.

Sports sponsored

Football

The Alberta Golden Bears football team have been in competition since 1910. The Golden Bears have won three Vanier Cup national championships, in 1967, 1972 and most recently in 1980. The program has also won 18 Hardy Cup conference titles, second only to the Saskatchewan Huskies who have won 19 of them. The Golden Bears have also had three players win the Hec Crighton Trophy, with Mel Smith winning in 1971, Bryan Fryer winning in 1975, and most recently Ed Ilnicki winning the award in 2017.

Awards and standings

The Bears are considered a strong school team in Canada in multiple sports. The hockey and volleyball teams, in particular, are frequent challengers in U Sports national championships.
The hockey team has won a total of 15 National Championships and 25 Canada West championships, having won 5 National Championships and 13 Canada West championships in the past 15 seasons.
The volleyball team has been strong over the past decade, having been crowned National Champions on four occasions: 2008, 2009, 2014, and 2015. In addition, they were runners-up in 2006 and 2007. They have also won the Canada West 13 times.
In addition to their success over Canadian competition, the Golden Bears host the annual Husky Energy Can-Am Challenge of Champions tournament, where they frequently spearhead the Canadian contingent's success. This tournament sees four top teams from both Canada and the USA competing for supremacy, with the Canadian teams holding the overall title, having won 9 of the 13 tournaments.

Championships