This weekend’s marquee matchup didn’t feature the Queen’s Gaels or Western Mustangs.

Instead, Queen’s Commerce took on Ivey School of Business last Friday in front of 300 heckling Queen’s fans at the Memorial Centre — a round robin fixture in the annual Cure Cancer Classic (CCC).

Post-game, Ivey team captain Ray Abramson took a minute to soak in his school’s 4-2 round robin win over Queen’s.

“The Queen’s-Ivey rivalry’s pretty legendary, obviously,” Abramson said. “It just means so much to come away with the win and have that energy.”

As always, the Queen’s vs. Ivey matchup was a high stakes affair. Fans — primarily Queen’s Commerce students — arrived in busloads, provided by the Commerce Society, to support their faculty’s hockey team.

“We loved the atmosphere. [The game] got chippy but at the end of the day, we’ll all be at the same bar tonight,” Abramson said.

The loss for Queen’s meant Ivey took their spot in the playoff rounds. Queen’s goaltender and tournament Public Relations Manager Chase Heinemann was quick to brush off the loss post-game: “We just didn’t get the bounces.”

Score line aside, Heinemann couldn’t hold back excitement over this year’s tournament success. The crowd support was bigger than any Gaels home game to date, the $10,000 fundraising goal is likely to be reached and there was no shortage of sponsorships.

“The amount of support we got for the tournament is just unbelievable,” Heinemann said.

“It was great to see everyone out, especially for this cause.”

The game was made more riveting by howling Queen’s fans. An eruption went off after every goal — either boos or cheers. At times, it seemed a microcosm of the off-ice tensions between schools.

“These two hate each other — it’s always been that way,” said Larry Cote, a Queen’s Commerce graduate whose son was playing wing for Ivey.

“They’re the number one and number two schools in business, and they just keep competing,” he said, without specifying which was number one.

Queen’s hosts the event annually as part of a year-long initiative to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society, attracting nine business schools from coast to coast.

UBC students made the trek for the second time in three years, aided by $5,000 fundraising from Sauder School of Business.

“We’re looking to take out McGill, definitely,” said UBC team captain Sean Wheeler, after suffering a 4-2 loss to McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management. It was McGill who ended UBC’s tournament hopes two years ago in the semifinals en route to the CCC crown.

This year, McGill beat Guelph 5-1 on Sunday in the championship game to earn their third straight CCC title.

“They’ve got a target on their backs,” Wheeler said.