The Unofficial Dalhousie Varsity Power Rankings 

From now on, championship titles won by Dalhousie University sports teams are meaningless. Only my opinion matters now. Welcome to the Unofficial Dal Varsity Power Rankings.  

A few quick notes on how the rankings were done: while not the biggest factor, recency bias played a role; Atlantic University Sport accomplishments were weighted more heavily than the national stage; and individual achievements meant less than team accomplishments. 

Dal athletes that may be offended by my list, please don’t come after me; innertube water polo doesn’t build enough muscle to fend off a varsity athlete. 

14. Men’s hockey 

Dalhousie, the biggest school in the Maritimes, has won the fewest Atlantic University Sport hockey championships. It’s won a grand total of one, almost 50 years ago in 1979. Don’t worry fellas, it’s just that dingy Halifax Forum bringing bad luck. Next season, in the new arena, I’m sure we’ll have our first season over .500 since 2003-04.

13. Women’s hockey 

This team’s only been around since 2002, and its winning record last season earns it a better spot on my list than the men. In cutting the women’s hockey program some slack, I’m also considering goaltender Grace Beer’s breakout 2024-25 season, highlighted by an AUS MVP award and a U Sports first team all-star nod. Unfortunately, with no AUS titles to its name, I can’t put this team any higher than 13. Again, let’s just blame the Forum. The team has historically won just 39 per cent of its games, but that’s nothing a $36.5 million rink won’t fix. 

12. Women’s basketball  

This team has 11 AUS championships and a national silver medal under its belt, not bad by any means. But it’s only won six regular season games since I got here in 2021. Its historical record, while good, isn’t enough to clear the bleak blare of the buzzer signalling another loss, a sound the team’s heard too many times. The program shouldn’t worry, though. This team has a winning history and will find its way back to that eventually. The team just needs to forget about this unfortunate blip in its winning ways, though my power rankings never will. 

11. Men’s basketball 

This team has won 10 AUS championships, one less than the women’s team’s 11. However, the women’s team last won the AUS title in 2000-01, and since then, the men have won nine times. “What have you done for me lately?” was a key question in these rankings. The men’s basketball team has only two national medals — a silver and a bronze, but both of them being in the last 10 years helped their place in the ranking. Unfortunately, only 10 AUS championships leaves them short of cracking my top 10. I promise the placement of men’s basketball has nothing to do with my being five-foot-nine.   

10. Men’s soccer 

Three members of the men’s soccer team faked injuries after seeing this low placement, and suddenly, I’ve been red-carded from a game I don’t even play. 

I’m aware I might get some heat for this one. I just said recency bias plays a role in these rankings, and despite the team winning its 14th championship title in 2025, Dal men’s soccer gets 10th? With three Tigers earning U Sport honours? How is that fair? The women haven’t won since 2012.  

9. Women’s soccer  

Yeah, but they’ve got two more AUS titles, with 12, and three national championships to the men’s one. The women’s last couple of AUS championships were in 2012 and 2011 — a while ago — but they’ve had a winning record for the past seven years, and before this year’s title, the men hadn’t won the AUS since 2008. It’s not like the men have been dominating recently, so I’m putting women’s soccer ahead of them.  

8.  Men’s cross-country  

Now we’re getting serious. The men’s cross-country team has won 22 AUS titles. Even in years the team hasn’t won, individual athletes on the team have seen great success in the eight-kilometre race, like star runner Jacob Benoit. In 2023, Benoit was the AUS Athlete of the Year, and in 2024, he finished fourth in the U Sports national championship race. He’s gone now, but the team still featured two AUS all-stars this season, with Alex Rogers finishing seventh in the AUS championship race and Ben Mundle crossing the finish line in 11th. 

7. Women’s cross-country  

The men’s team finished third in the AUS this season, and so did the women’s. Though Molly Pert came in sixth at the AUS championships and earned first team all-star honours, she says she was disappointed by the result. Not sure why: the real prize is where you place in my Dal varsity power rankings. With 26 AUS titles and a seven-year winning streak that only ended in 2019, they were always going to be at least eight kilometres clear of the men’s team on this list, regardless of how the season turned out.  

 6. Men’s volleyball 

The last seven years haven’t been kind to this team, as they haven’t won a game this season yet. But who am I to ignore an overall win percentage of 78 per cent, 36 AUS titles, including 33 consecutive wins from 1980 to 2015? My instinct, as lacrosse club champion, is to taunt this team’s latest shortcomings. Instead, I have to do the right thing and bow down to a legendary program.  

5. Women’s volleyball 

I got to see the last couple seasons of the program’s 10-year win streak from 2012 to 2023. Even though the team didn’t win the AUS title in 2023-24 or 2024-25, it still won 80 per cent of its games last season, finishing 16-4 in the regular season. While Dal’s women’s volleyball team has 27 AUS titles to the men’s 36, recent dominance gives them the edge.  

4. Men’s swimming 

Only having 33 AUS titles, its latest being in 2024-25, and its 21-year win streak being interrupted by Acadia in the 2019-20 season keeps this team off my podium. I think the team might get there one day; 25 titles in 26 seasons is a solid base for the program to build on.  

3. Men’s track and field  

With 43 AUS titles, the men’s track and field team winning the conference is usually a safe bet. Do water boys get to hold the trophy? Asking for a friend. 

Notice how I say winning with this team is a safe bet, and not a sure bet. In the last 23 seasons, the team has won 22 times. In 1994, 2001 and 2014, the team dropped the AUS titles, ruining what could have been a 34-year streak. These iterations of the team let down the 2024-25 AUS champion squad by denying them a silver medal on the unofficial varsity power rankings. 

2. Women’s swimming  

In the 2024-25 season, the women’s swim team extended its AUS winning streak to 23 seasons in a row. Hundreds of AUS all-stars have propelled this team to 37 AUS wins, and Dal holds record times in 13 of 19 events. I need to get down to the pool for more than just water polo.  

1. Women’s track and field  

Longest winning streak in U Sports history at 35 consecutive seasons. Let’s all agree to come back to Dal for the 50th straight-win party.