TORONTO, ON – 300 minutes. That’s roughly the amount of time each team in OUA women’s hockey has until the puck drops on the McCaw Cup Playoffs. The chase for the final four spots is developing further, with different schools dropping in and out of the current picture. Even if 300 minutes seems like a small number when compared to the rest of the season, for many teams it can make all the difference this season.
With that in mind, here are two things 49 Sportsnet learned from the past week on the ice in OUA.
A big week for the York Lions vaults them into a OUA playoff spot
The York Lions have been a constant bottom-feeder in women’s hockey over the last three seasons. Their fates aren’t entirely sealed this year, but going into last week, and there was only an outside chance they could qualify for the McCaw Cup Playoffs. And they proved this past week that that’s all they need to conjure some spirited performances. An unusual weekday morning game at Toronto saw the Varsity Blues, second in the OUA East, pepper goalkeeper Emma Wedgewood with 31 shots while allowing ten fewer.
York knew the task would be difficult as Toronto deploys many potent scorers. They managed to hold on just enough but were down a goal in the third period. Alexa Giantsopoulos and Sydney Paulson made sure the efforts weren’t put to waste, and both scored while engineering one of the quickest – and most shocking – turnarounds in the OUA this season. York’s efficient passing leading up to those goals stunned the Blues.
Even better for the Lions, a 5-star performance later in the week was on the cards: Giantsopoulos came up with another goal, Kaitlin Teixeira scored twice (she assisted Paulson’s winner versus Toronto), and Wedgewood stopped all 27 shots as York blanked Windsor.
They now sit fourth in the OUA East, level on points with Ontario Tech.
Guelph beats Nipissing in a clash of OUA titans
This season of women’s hockey hasn’t featured dramatic races for each division but rather one team running away with first place. The East boasts the Nipissing Lakers. The West is the Guelph Gryphons’ playground. The latter was superior when the two met on January 26th. A close contest came down to overtime, where Katherine Heard secured the win with a mere two seconds to go on the clock.
Even though the extra frame decided the game, Guelph acted as the tone-setter. Katelyn Dance scored in the first period, silencing the Lakers’ arena. The Gryphons chose not to let up from then on. They pressed heavily, and Nipissing was lucky to have not broken twice early on. Credit must be given to goaltender Chantelle Sandquist, who denied Guelph 36 times. The offensive control was brilliant from the visiting squad, who conceded shots here and there, certainly not at the quantity they were producing opportunities.
As members of opposite divisions, the only potential playoff matchup for this pair is the final. It’s crucial to remember that the McCaw Cup is, ultimately, decided by a single game. Guelph has shown they can exhibit dominance over weeks and months (they currently hold a 12-game winning streak) and fend off difficult opponents in single games, like the Nipissing encounter. Regardless of how the final five games go, Guelph will enter the playoffs as favourites – and not by a close margin.