Queen's Golden Gaels

Queen's University Varsity Baseball Team started competing in the Ontario University Athletics circuit as of 2010.

Painted on the walls of the Varsity locker room is the word "Success" followed by the phrase "the harder you work, the luckier you get."

Queen's hosted McGill University at the Kingston YMCA on February 6, 1904, in the first-ever Canadian interuniversity basketball game. McGill won 9–7, after a ten-minute overtime period to break a 7–7 tie.[2]

The men's curling team, in 2010, earned the gold medal at the CIS national championship in Edmonton, Alberta. The team led by First Team All-Canadian Jonathan Beuk went 5-1 in Round Robin play before beating the Manitoba Bisons in the semi-final and the UPEI Panthers in the Championship. The Gaels qualified for the 2011 World University Games in Erzurum, Turkey where they represented Canada. The team finished fifth after losing a tie-breaker match to the Czech Republic.[3]

Gaels football at Richardson Memorial Stadium

The Queen's Gaels football program is one of the longest-lived and storied in U Sports. The team began organized play in 1883 when the Ontario Rugby Football Union was first founded and won ORFU champions in 1893 and 1894. Queen's has competed continuously since 1882, celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2007. The first organized university football league in Canada, the Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union (CIRFU), was founded in Kingston in November, 1897, with charter members Queen's, McGill University, and the University of Toronto.,[4] the football squad showed continued success, winning three straight Grey Cups in 1922, 1923 and 1924. Once teams stopped competing for the Grey Cup, which was begun being solely awarded to teams in the professional Canadian Football League in 1955, the Gaels turned their attention to the Vanier Cup, appearing in the U Sports championship game five times and winning four of those games in 1968, 1978, 1992 and 2009.

In 1886, Queen's challenged the Royal Military College of Canada to a game played on the frozen Kingston harbour; the two schools play annually for the Carr-Harris Cup, to continue the world's oldest hockey rivalry. Queen's hockey is one of the oldest hockey clubs in the world; only McGill University's team, started in 1875, is older among Canadian university teams. Queen's played its first season in 1883-84, with the first game for which records exist played against a team from Petawawa.[5]

In the 1890s, Queen's played in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), winning its championship three times consecutively, taking the Cosby Cup into its permanent possession. Queen's won the inaugural J. Ross Robertson Cup during the 1898–99 season, as the senior ice hockey champion of the OHA.[6][7] As Ontario champion, the Queen's hockey team was a regular in Stanley Cup Challenge Games by challenging in 1895,[8] 1899 and 1906.

Queen's donated the Queen's Cup for annual Ontario University Athletics competition in 1898. In 1902, the Intercollegiate Hockey Union was formed and the Gaels won the title in 1904 and 1906. In 1909, Queen's won the Intercollegiate league and then won the Allan Cup national championship by defeating the Ottawa Cliffsides in a challenge. The 1910 team won the Allan Cup for a second time by winning the Intercollegiate title and a challenge before losing the Cup in a second challenge to Toronto St. Michael's.

Queen's operated a junior ice hockey team during the 1920s in the OHA. The junior team won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as the provincial champions in 1926, and had been finalists in 1921.[9] Queen's reached the 1926 Memorial Cup finals, but lost to the Calgary Canadians for the national championship.[10]

The varsity teams play at the Kingston Memorial Centre following the demolition of the Jock Harty Arena.

In 2018-19, the Gaels won their first Queen's Cup in 38 years, 4-1 over Guelph Gryphons in front of a 2,900 people at the Kingston Memorial Centre

• 1999-2000 Defeated Toronto Varsity Blues in first round, 2 games to 1.

Down 4-1 heading into the 3rd period of game 3. Scored 3 goals in 82 seconds to tie the game and another 74 secs later to take the lead. Won the game 6-4 with an empty net goal.

• Defeated Guelph Gryphons in quarter-final, 2 games to 0.

  Lost to UQTR in OUA Final Four, semi-final, 3-2.

• 2000-2001 Lost to RMC Paladins in first round 2 games to 0
• 2001-2002 Out of Playoffs
• 2002-2003 Defeated RMC Paladins in first round 2 games to 0

  Lost to Toronto Varsity Blues in quarter-final 2 games to 1

• 2003-2004 Defeated RMC Paladins in first round 2 games to 0

  Lost to Toronto Varsity Blues in quarter-final 2 games to 0

• 2004-2005 Out of Playoffs
• 2005-2006 Out of Playoffs
• 2006-2007 Lost to Ottawa Gee-Gees in quarter-final 2 games to 0
• 2007-2008 Gained first round bye

  Lost to McGill Redmen in semi-final 2 games to 0

• 2008-2009 Did Not Qualify for Playoffs
• 2009-2010 Lost to Carleton in OUA First Round 2 games to 1
• 2010-2011 Lost to Nipissing in OUA First Round 2 games to 0
• 2013-2014 Lost to Carleton in OUA East Semi-Final 2 games to 1
• 2014-2015 Lost to McGill in OUA East Semi-Final 2 games to 0
• 2015-2016 Lost to UOIT in OUA First Round 2 games to 1
• 2016-2017 Lost to York in OUA Final
• 2017-2018 Lost to Concordia in OUA East Semi-Final 2 games to 1
• 2018-2019 Defeated Concordia 2-0
• Defeated Ottawa 2-1
• Defeated Carleton 2-0
• Defeated Guelph 4-1 (Won OUA Championship)
• Lost to St. FX X-Men 5-3 (USports Quarterfinals)

The men's rugby team is regarded as one of the most successful rugby programs in Canada, and has won the OUA a record 23 times. Their home games are played on Nixon Field, at the heart of Queen's University campus, and crowds often top 2,000 spectators.

Most recently, the team was won the OUA Championship in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2017. Other dynasties include the late 80s.

The team is currently coached by Dave Butcher, who took over from Gary Gilks and Peter Huigenbos in 2017.

Nationally capped players that have come through the program are current national captain, Lucas Rumball, Alistair Clark, Sean Duke, Dan Moor, Kainoa Lloyd and Matt Beukeboom.

The women's soccer team captured gold at the CIS national championship in 2010. They beat rival Wilfrid Laurier 1-0 in the CIS final revenging its loss in the OUA final one-week earlier. Striker Jacqueline Tessier led the CIS in scoring during the regular season, tallying 18 goals in 16 games.[11]

In 2006, earned silver medals in the CIS national championships, thanks largely to star striker Eilish McConville.[12] McConville led all CIS players with 22 goals during the regular season, and was named the CIS Player of the year as a result.[13]

Track and field is reported as the first sport at Queen's University. It began in 1873, as competitions held annually to celebrate the Universities inauguration on October 16 and included traditional Scottish competitions such as the caber toss.[14] These competitions remained major university events into the early 20th century.[14]

When the CIAU (now U Sports) began, the Queen’s University Track and Field team was one of the only teams to participate in all three athletics sports – indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and cross-country.

In 1963 Rolf Lund was named head coach of the team, marking a turning point in the team’s history. Through the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the Queen’s track and field team saw many successful athletes. Some notable athletes include Olympian Sheridon Baptiste; Olympian Anne Marie Malone;[15] Olympian Victor Gooding, current school 1500m record holder Bob McCormack; and past head coach and multiple CIS champion Melody Torcalacci. The current coach is Steve Boyd.

Queen Sailing is the current Canadian Collegiate title holder in Team Racing. Queen's is a member of the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) in the Middle Atlantic district (MAISA), as well as a part of CICSailing, Canada's inter-university sailing association. In 2011 Queen's Sailing won all the CICSailing title regattas it entered. The Varsity Sailing Team practices out of the Kingston Yacht Club.

The annual Athletic Awards gala is known as the Colour Awards for Varsity Clubs. The Female Athlete of the Year is awarded the Marion Ross Trophy. First awarded in 1981, the honor is named in recognition of the university's first athletic director. The Male Athlete of the Year is given the Jack Jarvis Trophy.