Western and Queen's to meet in OUA Women's Hockey Championship series
Will it be the first ever, or two in three years? That will be the story as the best-of-three OUA Women’s Hockey Championship kicks off Wednesday night at 7 p.m. with the Western Mustangs hosting the Queen’s Gaels in game one from Thompson Arena.
Queen’s enters the series in search of their second title in three years, after claiming gold in 2010-11. Meanwhile, the Western Mustangs have yet to claim an OUA banner in program history.
The Gaels were the third-seeeded team in the playoffs this year after finishing the regular season with a 20-4-2 record. In the first round of the post-season, the Gaels dropped game one to Windsor before roaring back to take games two and three to set up a date with arguably the hottest team in the OUA, the Guelph Gryphons, in the semifinals. Queen’s responded by sweeping the second-seeded Gryphons, winning 4-2 on the road in game one and taking a 3-1 decision at home in game two to win the right to play for gold.
Morgan McHaffie (Guelph, Ont.) has been a leader for the Gaels all season long. The fourth-year centre had 12 goals and 21 assists on the year, and was named a first team all-star for her efforts. Joining McHaffie as an OUA all-star this season is defenceman Katie Duncan (Kitchener, Ont.) whose 22 points ranked her second among blueliners in the regular season. Queen’s also features all-rookie defenceman Alisha Sealy, who led rookie defenceman in scoring with 14 points.
Western enters the championship series after finishing the regular season 19-5-2 and in fourth place. In a first round matchup with the Toronto Varsity Blues, the Mustangs blanked Toronto in game one and took a 4-3 triple overtime win to seal the series. The OUA semifinals saw a meeting with first-place Laurier. The Mustangs and Golden Hawks split shutout road wins to force a third and final game. Facing the task of knocking off the top seed in their own arena, the Mustangs, behind the second shutout in the series by Kelly Campbell, downed Laurier 1-0 to advance to the finals.
Campbell (St. Thomas, Ont.) was a rock for the Mustangs all year long. She was named a first team all-star on the strength of her 15 wins, 2.01 goals against average and .942 save percentage during the regular season. Western defenceman Katelyn Gosling (London, Ont.) was also a first team all-star this year after finishing the regular season with seven goals and 19 assists, which was ninth overall and first among blueliners. Kryshanda Green (Caledon, Ont.) earned all-rookie status this year, after scoring nine goals and adding 11 assists.
Through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Queen’s has relied heavily on offence, as Morgan and Brittany McHaffie sit atop the points lead with 10 and 8 respectively. On the other hand, Campbell has had a major role in the Mustangs success, recording three shutouts in five games and posting an average of 0.90 goals against.
The series opens on February 27 with a 7 p.m. puck drop at Thompson Arena on the Western University campus. Queen’s will host game two on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. from the Kingston Memorial Centre. Game three, if necessary, will be hosted by the Gaels on March 3 at the Memorial Centre, beginning at 3:30 p.m.
