A pair of players from the Queen’s Men’s Hockey team have been selected to Head Coach, Brett Gibson, and Team Canada at the 2025 FISU Winter World University Games. Defenceman and Captain Jack Duff ArtSci ’25, along with forward Nolan Hutcheson ArtSci ’25, who serves as the team’s alternate captain, will travel to Torino, Italy, later this month to compete for international glory.
The FISU World University Games are a multi-sport event organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The event is designed for university athletes from around the world to come together to compete for gold while fostering cultural exchange and a platform to expose the deep well of talent at the university level.
The games take place every two years and is the second largest global sports event, behind only the Olympics in of reach. This makes it an extremely rare and esteemed accomplishment to be selected to participate in the game. It recognizes that the pair of Gaels are among the best university hockey players in the Nation.
“It’s is a great opportunity and we’re truly honoured and excited to be provided this opportunity. To have two players from one team being able to compete for a gold medal at the world stage is a testament to our team overall and not just individually. Without the first half of the season we had, who knows if we’d be having this opportunity to play for our country,” Hutcheson said in an interview with The Journal.
Hutcheson is currently leading the OUA in goals scored, with 16 so far, seven of which were game-winning goals. Duff has been a terror to play against during his time as a Gael, helping Queen’s solidify themselves as one of the top penalty killers in the nation and one of the most challenging programs to score against.
While Duff’s contributions may not be shown on the stat sheet, his physical style of play and smart decision-making have proven himself capable of playing on the international stage.
Duff and Hutcheson are two of the top players on the Gaels, and in participating on Team Canada, they’ll be ing an array of the nation’s top talent.
“The team here is filled with top-end players from all around Canadian universities. Each player here is exceptional and are all excited to have the chance to play alongside each other. It’s always neat to see how you blend with players from other teams you compete against during the regular season. I think when you come to an event like this, those rivals are put to the side for the time being,” Hutcheson said.
The roster selected to compete in Italy is comprised of the top players on teams from all across Canada, including 12 players from the OUA .
The most well represented team is the Concordia Stingers, with two forwards and one defenseman being sent to Italy. Currently, the Stingers sit atop the OUA East, at 16-2 through 18 games played.
Speaking to the challenges that might come about in trying to mesh with an entirely different roster, Hutcheson stated that building chemistry off-ice is the key to on-ice success.
“By keeping it simple. I think it starts off the ice, finding chemistry through various team-building activities. Those go a long way in finding chemistry on the ice with an entirely new roster focused on the same goal. On the ice, you can’t change the player that got you on the team to begin with, you have to trust yourself and the team that was built.”
The 2025 FISU World University Games will get underway on Jan. 13 in Torino, Italy. The pair of Queen’s stars have already travelled to the athletes’ villages.
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