CUFLA Check In – Baggataway Weekend

And then there were six. 

Heading into the Baggataway Cup weekend, six teams are still in the hunt for CUFLA’s final prize. It all goes down this weekend at Brock. 

There is lots to be determined still, but we know now who is still alive. In addition to the host Brock Badgers, the remaining teams are Western, Queen’s, Ottawa, Guelph and McGill.

If you missed our previous CUFLA articles, check them out here.

Super Qualifier Recap

Super Qualifier weekend provided some predictable results and at least one significant surprise. The story of the weekend was the Ottawa Gee-Gees, who knocked off perennial power Trent to advance. They capitalized on an injured Excalibur team that was missing a few key players, and made the most of their opportunity. 

Michael Goegan was the difference maker for Ottawa, scoring four times in the first quarter alone, and five total. Joining forces with Sean Kennedy and Landen Sinfield, the offence for Ottawa was good enough to take down Trent and goaltender Jackson Hainer. 

One Goegan’s big day included this ankle breaker at the top of the box. 

It was a bizarre first quarter that saw back to back Trent Goals waved off, the first due to the referees ruling that the ball had not actually cross the line, and the second due to a crease violation. On the broadcast, it was nearly impossible to tell conclusively on either ruling. 

But the goal of the day came from Ottawa’s Samuel Ouellette, who scored an easy looking around the world shot in the second quarter. 

In the end, it wasn’t particularly close as the previously 2-8 Gee-Gee’s pulled off the upset, and earned themselves another week.

On the less surprising side of things, Guelph and McGill both stayed perfect on the season, and will only meet in the finals. Both teams earned the top seeds in their conferences, and will receive a buy to the semifinals. 

McGill’s Zach Bye had 2 goals and 7 assists in the 19-5 victory for McGill over Bishop’s, and proved why he is one of the best players in all of CUFLA. Jack Bamford had a hat-trick and Mark Symon had 4 goals for McGill as well. 

For Guelph, Ethan Lee led the scoring with 5 goals, while Brandon Orr found the back of the net four times. They took care of business against the University of Toronto 18-2. 

Queen’s put on an impressive defensive display in their win over Carleton, finishing with the 6-3 win. Goaltender’s owned the game in that one, with Carleton’s (and Saskatchewan Rush netminder) Thomas Kiazyk made 22 saves, and Queen’s goaltender Quinton Greenfield made 15 of his own. The difference was the performance of Reed Allen for Queen’s, who finished with 4 goals. 

Then finally, Western used a huge first half to cruise to victory against Nipissing with a final score of 13-6. The score was close than this game really was, as Nipissing scored 3 goals in the fourth quarter to make it closer. Western led 8-1 and 13-3 at different times in the game. Jacob Hickey was outstanding for Western, finishing with 5 goals and 2 assists, while Connor Murphy added 4 goals and an assist of his own. 

Looking Forward 

The whole league looks towards St. Catharines this weekend for the Baggataway Cup, as the aforementioned six teams vie for the championship. 

Guelph and McGill will receive byes to the semifinals (Saturday), and will await the results of the Friday Quarterfinals. 

Western will hope that Ottawa’s victory over Trent was one-game wonder, and will look to punch their ticket to the weekend. As the defending champions, don’t discount Western’s experience this weekend. 

Then Brock will host Queen’s in the other quarterfinal, and look to defend home field. With the host’s exemption, Brock was the only team that did not play last weekend. Obviously there is varying degrees of success for teams coming off playoff byes in different sports, so we will see what happens in this one. 

The games will be streamed on Youtube, and the weekend will also feature a Rookie All-Star game and Sixes Showcase. 

The rookie game will compromise the top first year players from each conference and will be played on Friday night. While the sixes event will take place before the final game, and the official release from CUFLA alluded to the potential for sixes to become part of the CUFLA system in 2025. We will stay tuned to that announcement, 

For all other information regarding this weekend, check out the article here.