There’s a new banner in NAIT Arena. The men’s hockey team were awarded the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Supremacy Award on Friday, Jan. 17, before puck drop against the Red Deer Kings.
While the banner is meant to honour one program from each sport in the CCAA and highlight that program’s dominance in that sport, Ooks Head Coach Scott Fellnermayr recognizes the award is a special one.
“Although [the banner] says 50 years, it is based on nationals, and men’s hockey only had nationals from 1975 to 2001,” Fellnermayr explained. “In those years, NAIT won seven national titles, which is absolutely incredible. A lot of that is attributed to Perry Pearn’s teams from the 80s that helped put NAIT on the map, which even helps to this day with recruitment.”
The banner also overlapped with the Ooks celebrating their 60th year of men’s hockey. In addition to having the most national titles of any school, the blue and gold collected 16 Alberta Colleges Athletic Association (ACAC) Championships—winning four in a row from 1984 to 1987 and three from 1990 to 1992.
The Ooks also hold ACAC records for most points and goals in a season with 565 points and 222 goals in 1984/85, along with the most wins in a season. They won 32 games in 2015/16 after the team went undefeated. No other team in conference history has done the same.
With countless records to the program’s name, Fellnermayr hopes that this banner will continue to serve as a reminder to the Ooks dominant history, and that the team can continue to build onto the heritage for years to come.
“I was thrilled that those guys are getting honoured. They deserve it; that number of seven national titles in 22 years is unbelievable,” Fellnermayr said. “We want to honour [the alumni] by building more dominant teams and keeping that legacy alive.”
