What do you do when you and your closest neighbouring institution play head-to-head in spirited and highly competitive competitions throughout the year in three sports and over 10 times per year? You up the ante a little more! The Nipissing Lakers and Laurentian Voyageurs have done just that with the creation of the 705 Challenge Cup.
The two northern universities have long been adversaries on the soccer pitch, competing yearly for the Riley Gallo Cup, named for the late son of former Laurentian women’s soccer coach Rob Gallo, but with the addition of men’s and women’s basketball and hockey to both schools in recent years, the timing was right to build on the friendly Northern rivalry.
The 705 Challenge Cup will be comprised of all regular season games between the Lakers and the Voyageurs in the sports of men’s and women’s basketball, hockey and soccer. The soccer teams will still compete for the coveted ‘Riley Gallo Cup,’ but those games will also be included in the overall scoring for the ‘705 Challenge Cup’.
The scoring each year for the new hardware will consist of the overall win-loss record between the two institutions. In the event of a tie in the head-to-head record, plus-minus will be used as a tie-breaker. One caveat to the plus-minus calculation will be dividing the point differential of the basketball games by 10. This will ensure that, for example, a potential 20 point win by one team only counts as +/- 2 and does not skew the overall calculation.
The Challenge continues…
| Date |
Sport |
Away |
Home |
Result |
| Friday, Sept. 13 - 5PM* |
WSOC |
LU |
NU |
NU 6-0 |
| Friday, Sept. 13 - 7:15PM* |
MSOC |
LU |
NU |
T 2-2 |
| Sunday, Sept. 15 - 1PM* |
MSOC |
NU |
LU |
NU 1-0 |
| Wednesday, Dec. 4 - 6PM |
WBB |
LU |
NU |
NU 57-52 |
| Wednesday, Dec. 4 - 8PM |
MBB |
LU |
NU |
NU 83-79 |
| Wednesday, Feb. 12 - 6PM |
WBB |
NU |
LU |
LU 75-68 |
| Wednesday, Feb. 12 - 8PM |
MBB |
NU |
LU |
LU 61-53 |
*Riley Gallo Cup Games
Past Winners
2016-17 - Laurentian Voyageurs (8-4)
2017-18 - Laurentian Voyageurs (9-5)
2018-19 - Laurentian Voyageurs (9-5)
2019-20 -
Nipissing Lakers (8-4)
2020-21 - Trophy not presented due to Covid-19
2021-22 -
Nipissing Lakers (6-3-1)
2022-23 -
Nipissing Lakers (5-3)
2023-24 -
Nipissing Lakers (4-1-1)
2024-25 -
Nipissing Lakers (4-2-1)
