There were no upsets among the five Baggataway Cup playoff games over the weekend, but that doesn't mean there weren't any surprises.
The McMaster Marauders provided a surprise when they hung tough with the three-time defending champion Western Mustangs. Ultimately, it's a familiar field that will head to the Baggataway Cup in Montreal next weekend.
The East teams will be the same trio as we saw in Toronto last year, with McGill in as hosts, Trent downing Queen's and Nipissing barely squeaking by Bishop's.
From the West, Western and Brock return after meeting in the championship game the last two years. Toronto, who got into the final weekend last year as hosts, were at home to Guelph but couldn't manage to beat the visitors for a second time this season, so the Gryphons will head to Montreal as the only team not returning from last year's Baggataway Cup final six weekend.
Full results and school game story links can be found at the bottom of this story.
Western 8, McMaster 5
The Mustangs had downed Mac 14-3 a month ago, so it may have been reasonable to expect that they would handle the Marauders easily again in the playoffs. Resilient McMaster wasn't going down without a fight, though.
Nate Emery gave the Marauders the game's first lead just 1:09 after the opening whistle. While Western responded with four straight goals before the first quarter ended, Mac battled back with the first two goals of the second quarter to pull back within 4-3.
Veterans Cole Davis and Cody Ward replied with goals before the half to give Western as many goals as they would need to win, but McMaster matched the Mustangs with a pair of goals in the second half to keep things interesting.
Brock 12, Laurier 3
Brock only had one game all regular season where a team finished within seven goals of them and that was way back in their second game of the fall, a 12-11 road win over Guelph on September 22, so it doesn't rate as a surprise that the Badgers won handily on Halloween night.
Laurier did hang in for a while, tying things up 1-1 with 3:55 to go in the first quarter.
But then the Brock defence got into the offensive action: Adam Kirchmayer and Latrell Harris scored in the next two minutes to open a run of nine unanswered goals by the Badgers.
Guelph 7, Toronto 4
The Varsity Blues had earned home field for this game by downing the Gryphons 6-5 on October 20. That game, however, did come the day after Guelph had scored a huge 10-4 upset win over Western.
This time, the Gryphons were wholly focused on the task at hand. Downing a game Toronto side still didn't come easily. When grad student AJ Masson scored five minutes into the fourth quarter, the game was tied 4-4 and it was definitely up for grabs.
Then Mark Wilson scored two of his game-high four goals to give Guelph the edge they needed to earn a trip to Montreal.
Nipissing 13, Bishop's 12
This set up as likely the most competitive game of the playoff weekend and the back and forth contest didn't disappoint.
Nipissing opened with the first three goals but Bishop's got the next four. Another four-goal Gaiters' run put Bishop's ahead 9-7 through the midway point of the third quarter.
When David Rossiter scored five and a half minutes into the fourth, Bishop's had extended their lead to 11-8 and looked to be in pretty good shape.
The twists and turns weren't done, though. Nipissing's Sam Rooney scored a natural hat trick in a span of 1:32 to even things up.
Sam Firth scored with a minute and a half to play and Bishop's was back in front. It didn't take long for 2018 CUFLA scoring champ Scott Dominey to reply; he connected 29 seconds later to tie it back up.
That set the stage for Bo Peltier's heroics. Peltier took a pass from Tanner Poole and scored the winner with 27 ticks of the clock remaining.
Trent 6, Queen's 4
Each team scored one goal in each of the first two quarters. The deciding stretch in the game was the first nine minutes of the third. Trent Cole Hanrahan gave the Excalibur the lead. Then Adam Kitchen, Trent's leading regular-season goal scorer with 19, connected back to back to extend their advantage to 5-2.
Queen's scored twice before the end of the quarter but Kitchen added the only goal of the fourth to provide a bit of insurance en route to Trent's win.
| McMaster |
5 |
@ |
Western |
8 |
Oct 31, 2019 |
Details |
| Laurier |
3 |
@ |
Brock |
12 |
Nov 01, 2019 |
Details |
| Guelph |
7 |
@ |
Toronto |
4 |
Nov 02, 2019 |
Details |
| Bishop's |
12 |
@ |
Nipissing |
13 |
Nov 02, 2019 |
Details |
| Queen's |
4 |
@ |
Trent |
6 |
Nov 02, 2019 |
Details |
Brock Athletics game story
Guelph Sports Journal game story
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