A vast majority of sports fans in North America do not know about the Winter University Games that take place every 2 years around the world. It doesn't get much if at all press coverage here in North America, but every two years university teams from all over the world travel to a host nation to participate in Winter Olympic events.
Of course Canada sends a hockey team, but this hockey team isn't made up of NHL stars or even top talent from the NCAA. Canada sends a true Canadian University team made up of its all-stars from one of its three conferences.
The CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) is governing body of university athletics in Canada and has three men's hockey conferences, Canada West (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitboa), Ontario University Athletics (Ontario, Quebec), and Atlantic University Sport (PEI, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick).
These conferences take turn in selecting their best athletes to represent Canada against other countries top student-athletes.
The 2011 Winter University Games (there is also a summer one, but I don't really care) is being held in Turkey; more specifically the city of Erzurum. For these games the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) gets to send its top athletes in search for gold.
Here are the men's ice hockey teams past results:
Year - Host - Conference - Result
1997 South Korea - Canada West - Bronze
1999 Slovakia - OUA - Bronze
2001 Poland - AUS - Silver
2003 Italy - Canada West - Bronze
2005 Austria - OUA - 5th
2007 Italy - AUS - Gold
2009 China - Canada West - Silver
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