Commerce and Engineering undergraduate societies test "rivalry" on the ice

Hundreds of students poured into the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on a sunny afternoon in mid-March, filling almost an entire side of the arena in anticipation of the first-ever Ice Cup, where Engineering and Commerce students laced up to battle out a rivalry years in the making.

Back in December, the Commerce Undergraduate Society (CUS) officially challenged the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) to a hockey game in an Instagram post, stating the “long-standing underground rivalry” deserved a “formal response” as “business students have become the default target of engineering humour.”

The post received over 1,000 likes, which was more than UBC Homecoming’s announcement by UBC Thunderbirds, according to Sophia Keeshan, the CUS’s VP student engagement.

“I wanted to do something that was memorable,” Keeshan told me in an interview in the scorekeeper's box moments after the game ended. She said she wanted to plan an event that would “[register] with a lot of students,” and has been planning the game for the last nine months. Before the engagement they received online, she was only expecting about 150 students to show up. They ended up selling about 500 tickets.

The EUS responded in another Instagram post 48 hours after the CUS challenged them, writing, “If Commerce wants to settle this rivalry on the ice, we’re more than happy to show what actual teamwork and grit looks like.”

Between someone tampering with the buzzer, David Guetta’s “Where Them Girls At” blasting above on the rink’s speakers, and a referee asking about his paycheque during our conversation, Keeshan beamingly said the event turned out “better than [she] could have imagined.”

The atmosphere that March 14 afternoon was filled with eagerness — and uncertainty — as laughter, chants and cheers echoed throughout the arena. Students who came out to support their faculties proudly sat behind their team’s benches, and held handmade signs for their friends on the ice.

Less than three minutes after the puck dropped, Engineering got on the board as Luke Atkins scored off a pass from his brother, John Atkins, triggering “Kickstart My Heart” by Mötley Crüe — the engineers’ goal anthem — on the arena’s speakers.

Signing up for the team was “a no-brainer” for the brothers, according to Luke. He said that while there’s always some rivalry between faculties, engineering and commerce students “get compared a lot because the programs attract competitive people … It’s nothing hostile, but when you lace up against each other, it definitely adds an edge. You want to win for your faculty.”

Going into it, John said “there definitely was a veil of uncertainty surrounding the team,” Their team was finalized a week or so before the game, and only practised for the first time together minutes before the game started during warm-up.

Although Commerce’s captain, Justin Grant knew the quality of his team, which included students who played junior hockey, he had “zero clue” how good the engineering team would be. “From what I heard, I thought that Commerce was going to be a lot better but, with Engineering scoring the first goal, I think we realized that it’s time to take it a little more seriously,” Grant said.

Commerce wasted no time responding. About a minute and a half later, Tyler Tse scored his first goal, setting the tone for the competitive game ahead, and “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd erupted on the speakers — Commerce’s song of choice.

Despite a brief intermission, Commerce was able to capitalize on their momentum about a minute into the second period as Grant scored, making it 2–1. The engineers had multiple scoring opportunities in the second period, including a breakaway which looked promising — until the potential scorer was cross-checked from behind right before releasing a shot on net. After sliding into the boards and drawing a penalty, Engineering missed out on their opportunity to score off a penalty shot. They managed to tie it up 2–2 with 36 seconds left in the period when John deftly delivered a no-look backhand pass in front of the net to Luke — who deked the goalie before burying it in, and their fans erupted as the duo secured yet another goal for their team and faculty.

Luke said they are “absolutely attuned” to each other's positioning, and that their second goal was a perfect example of that. “It's almost like sharing a brain out there; we can find each other without even looking.”

“We grew up on the ice side by side, so to be out there representing engineering as brothers on the same line — and to connect on both goals — that's something we won't forget.” He said. “[It] will be one of my favourite memories from my time at UBC.”

AMS Archivist Sheldon Goldfarb said that historically, “Commerce has never stood out as the main object for the engineers to go after,” and that perhaps the current rivalry is new. However, he said that conflict between Commerce and Engineering was reported in 1970.

On Nov. 3, 1970, The Ubyssey reported that the EUS destroyed Commerce’s chariot, forcing them to withdraw from the annual chariot race. The race is one of the EUS’s oldest traditions: an annual competition held during E-Week where different engineering disciplines build and race chariots along Main Mall. Back then, other faculties, like the CUS, also competed.

In addition to destroying their chariot, the EUS raided the CUS’s common room, stealing $75 worth of beer — which is over $600 today, and the damage totalled about $150 —more than $1,200 today. It was reported that the EUS paid the damages fees and the CUS did not press charges.

Goldfarb said that engineers were known to rival Arts, Forestry and even The Ubyssey, and their Cairn was — and still is — a consistent target from other faculties.

“[The engineer’s] get up to all sorts of things … other sorts of pranks … and they fight people, but I haven’t heard they had a specific vendetta with the Commerce [students],” Goldfarb said.

In 1988, a group of Forestry students destroyed the Cairn, prompting the creation of the current one, which has stood since 1989.

In 2018, it was suspected the engineers pulled a prank on Commerce during E-Week, and Keeshan said that more recently, the rivalry has spread more so by “word of mouth” and “chirps” on social media.

Keeshan, who worked with the EUS in planning the event, decided to host it in the second semester in order to “increase more cross-faculty spirit.”

“There’s so much spirit from both faculties at the start of the year, but we kind of see it die out,” she said. “[The engineers] were going to bring the energy, and that’s what I wanted,” She would be right — John said that the engineering crowd gave their team “a huge boost out there,” and gives them “tons of credit.”

Going into the third period tie game, the stakes were high as both teams had demonstrated their prowess. Students watched with rapt attention unaware they would be in for an action-packed period.

Just two minutes in, Ethan Tinevez of Commerce scored, followed by Teegan Sara, who scored off a breakaway 15 seconds later. While the engineers continued to apply pressure and fire the puck, none found their way to the back of the net. Kyle Eng and Tse of Commerce scored twice more with less than five minutes left in the third period — six seconds apart — making the final score 6–2.

Despite four unanswered goals, the engineers put up a good fight — quite literally. With less than two minutes left, an engineer took a swing at a commerce player, who pushed back. This was immediately met with a shove by another engineer and all of a sudden, players skated from all corners of the ice to the scene — ironically just outside of the penalty boxes — wanting in on the fight.

Grant said that if there weren’t rules and regulations behind fighting, the game would have got “a little bit out of hand.”

Two players landed on the ice, in a brawl, and nobody appeared to care about the whistles from the refs. The engineer who threw the initial punch proudly stepped into the box and threw her arms up in celebration. She wouldn’t be alone in the box though, as another engineer joined her and a commerce student was sent to theirs.

“The crowd — at least the engineering fans — liked the fighting aspect of it, so I feel like it brought a little bit of energy to the game at the end,” Grant said.

The engineers managed to defend their net short-handed with 30 seconds left until the game's final buzzer went off.

While Commerce secured the bragging rights that afternoon, Luke said the final score only “reinforced [the rivalry], without a doubt.”

“Credit to Sauder — they had a strong team and they played well. But the game was tied going into the third period, so it's not like we were outclassed … If anything, the final score just makes us want to run it back.”