Lacrosse in a Snow Globe. And a Baggataway Cup Title to Boot

Could the Guelph Gryphons have had more fun as they earned the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association championship by romping to a 15-5 win over the Nipissing Lakers in the culmination of the 2025 season at Brampton's Terry Fox Stadium on Sunday, November 9th?

The Gryphons had been dominant all season long. Nipissing was the only team to have beaten Guelph – a 14-12 Lakers win on the opening weekend of the season – and no other team besides the Western Mustangs even came closer than 12 goals against the Gryphons.

Guelph led all CUFLA teams in scoring with 174 goals – paced by the top two scorers in the league, Will MacLeod (45g/26a/71pts) and Liam Aston (25g/32a/57pts) – which was 50 more than any other team. They also allowed the fewest goals; their 61 goals against was 11 less than the next best defensive teams (McGill and Trent). That gave them an astonishing goal differential of +113.

To win in the playoffs, Guelph had to run through a gauntlet composed of their long-time rivals from Western and Brock followed by the rising Lakers, who had finished second in the Western Conference. Things were closer than they had been in the regular season, but a single dominant period in each of the first two postseason games sent the Gryphons on to the championship tilt.

On Super Qualifier Weekend, a 4-0 third quarter with 3 goals from MacLeod and 1 from Aston broke open a game that had been tied 3-3 at half time and propelled the Gryphons to a 10-5 win.

On Semifinal Saturday of the Baggataway Cup, the second quarter was the key difference as four different Gryphons (Ethan Lee, Jesse Gonsalvez, Robbie Baxter and Bryce Dennis) scored in a 4-0 period that pushed them ahead 8-3 at the half. A roaring Badgers comeback that featured 5 straight goals in the third quarter wasn't enough, as Guelph responded to complete a 15-10 win.

Then it was on to the title tilt against the Lakers, who had forged the best season in team history. Nipissing went 7-3 and dumped the Toronto Varsity Blues 19-8 on Super Qualifier Weekend. That sent them to the Baggataway Cup final weekend for the fourth time, where they faced Queen's in the second quarterfinal on Friday.

The Gaels provided a serious challenge, scoring the first 3 goals of the game and leading 7-4 when they scored the first goal after halftime. From there, though, it was almost all Nipissing. Hat tricks from Zach Tarr, Jason Knox and Ben King led the way in a 13-8 win, the first in Baggataway Cup history for the Lakers.

It wouldn't take long for them to get their second.

Nipissing ran up against the Eastern Conference first seed McGill Redbirds on Saturday. It was a battle throughout, with the score tied 3-3 after the first quarter and Nipissing leading by a single goal, 8-7, at halftime.

The Redbirds forged a 9-8 lead with goals from Massimo Thauvette and Owen Howard 37 seconds apart to open the third quarter. But the Lakers, and in particular Jason Knox, responded. Knox made use of his size and strength all weekend to bull his way toward the net and create chances for himself or dish to his teammates. The next stretch of the third quarter was all about dishing, as Knox earned three straight assists on goals by Kaleb Fulkerson, King, and Carter Tait. When Tarr ripped a shot from 18 yards out to the bottom corner with nine seconds left in the quarter, the Lakers were up 12-9.

The resilient Redbirds came storming back, though. Dylan Fenton sandwiched a pair of goals around a Liam Miletich marker in a span of less than three minutes, starting at the 1:02 mark of the fourth quarter, to tie the game up.

A birth in the championship game hung in the balance, and Tarr swung that balance towards Nipissing when he blasted another outside shot, from almost the same spot as his previous goal but at the opposite end of the field, to rip home what proved to be the game-winning goal. A pair of insurance markers from Tait made the final score 15-2, and the Lakers were off to their first championship game. Knox leaped off the field and the scoresheet, putting up 3 goals and 6 assists for the biggest offensive performance of the tournament.

Getting the first two Baggataway Cup wins in team history would have to be the highlight of Nipissing's season. They didn't enter the final thinking that, but Guelph soon extinguished the Lakers' hopes of completing a Cinderella story.

With snow falling steadily and piling up on the field, volunteers working at every break to keep the crease, centre line and sidelines clear, and a brisk wind tearing from one end zone to the other, conditions didn't seem ideal for anyone. The Gryphons, though, appeared to be in their element. On a day when the slippery conditions mostly favoured offensive players, rather than the defenders who had to react to what the attackers were doing, Guelph defence and goaltending were the stars of the game.

The defensive group made it difficult for Nipissing to generate good scoring chances. When they did, Logan Pagano was stellar at turning them aside.

The Gryphons offence did its part in the 15-5 win, with Liam Aston scoring 4 goals and 2 assists while Ethan Lee and Robbie Baxter each added a hat trick. The score was 2-0 after the first quarter then 8-1 at half time following the kind of impressive second quarter that has set this Guelph team apart as one of the best in CUFLA history.

The victory was Guelph's sixth Baggataway Cup championship, and first since 2014.

Check back at CUFLA.ca in the coming days for the announcement of the All-Baggataway Cup team and CUFLA's 2025 All Canadians and league award winners.