Nipissing University hosts 2021 Baggataway Cup

The nationally ranked North Bay Lakers season came to an end with a quarter final loss on Friday evening, but hosting the lacrosse tournament is something the players say they won’t forget. Nov.7/21 (Jaime McKee/CTV News Northern Ontario)

NORTH BAY -

While the nationally ranked fifth-place Nipissing Lakers men’s lacrosse team didn’t get the result they wanted, the school was host to the biggest lacrosse tournament in university sports this weekend.

“We don’t host a ton of the bigger events like this, so hosting something like this which is a national championship is really exciting,” said Nipissing University athletics information officer Rob Fenton. 

“A lot of behind the scenes work, but bringing the best lacrosse players in Canada to campus in North Bay, is a lot of fun.”

It’s a six team tournament with five of the schools coming from all over the country. Fenton told CTV News that hosting the tournament is a boost for lacrosse in the north and for the city. 

“Even just the influx in hotels and restaurants, stuff like that. That is obviously a boost for the tourism aspect and the city and to kind of put us on the map in terms of hosting a national championship it’s a pretty big deal and hopefully it opens the door in the future to host other sports as well.”

The Lakers season came to an end with a quarter final loss on Friday evening, but hosting the tournament is something the players won’t forget. 

“Being here for 6 years, we kind of built the program up. So to now host this is an unbelievable experience. So it’s super cool to see the alumni come back to support the boys, so it’s been awesome,” William Craig, a sixth year player on the team. 

Nipissing was supposed to host the tournament in 2020, but due to the pandemic it was cancelled. 

Fenton said it’s been a lot of work following all COVID-19 protocol, but has also been completely worth it.

“We’re having really good crowds, a lot of energy in the stadium,” he said.

“Overall it’s just been really good even though there has been some challenges, but it’s a good time.”