The Keyano Huskies Esports teams received national acclaim from the inaugural Esport Canada Post-Secondary power rankings. The Huskies ranked third nationally in Rocket League and ninth in Call of Duty, making Keyano College one of four schools to receive a Top 10 ranking across multiple titles.
The Esport Canada Post-Secondary (ECPS) power rankings were released for the first time earlier this week and will be updated bi-weekly for the duration of the academic year. These rankings will be published in an effort to promote Canadian post-secondary esports competition.
“It’s great to see how far our teams have come in such a short amount of time,” says Keyano Huskies Esports coordinator and head coach, Shadi Hanna. “To see our program placing higher than other older and larger Canadian programs on these rankings speaks volumes about the potential our own program has to grow.”
Keyano College recently joined ECPS in an effort to contribute to the development of Canadian post-secondary esports programming. The advisory board seeks to support the growth of esports nationally through advocacy, education and recognition of the achievements of Canadian esports teams.
“We have never had a uniquely Canadian ranking system for post-secondary esports before,” says ECPS Council member, Bill Ai. “The creation of these rankings will allow Canadian colleges and universities to understand just how competitive post-secondary esports are at the national level, and prove that there are more and more institutions building their programs to compete for these top spots.”
Esports competition at the collegiate level is largely an international enterprise. Since games can be played online, there are fewer barriers imposed by the costs and logistics of travel. It is quite common for Canadian schools to compete against schools from the United States in official collegiate competitions. However, the ECPS hopes that as time goes on, these power rankings will encourage schools to participate in national competition
“The drive for [Canadian] schools to build and grow their esports programs is at an all-time high. The hope is that these power rankings will ultimately lead to explosive growth within the Canadian post-secondary esports landscape.”
