Lions continue to spread the scoring and other takeaways from OUA hockey
Toronto, Ont. (via 49 Sports, Ben Steiner, Richard Coffey) – We've officially entered the home stretch of the fall semester of OUA hockey.
As the first half of the school year nears its conclusion, so too does the first half of the hockey season, as there are just two weeks of games left before winter break. For teams across the OUA, this time of the year could mean finally shaking off the rust to avoid going into the holidays on a slump. It could also mean trying to win the rest of the way and solidify their position for the second semester. Each team has their own goals they want to achieve during these last two weeks of the fall slate, but every team will be looking to end on their semester on a high note.
WHKY: York’s scoring by committee helps team bounce back
If there was ever a team embodying the idea of offence up and down the lineup right now, it would be the Lions. After a slow start that included a four-game losing streak in October, York has since gone 4-2-0 in November, including a pair of wins last week thanks in part to offensive contributions from seemingly everyone in their lineup.
Across their 3-1 win over the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks on November 15th and their 6-3 win over the Waterloo Warriors on November 18th, the Lions got goals from nine different players. Of the 16 goals the Lions have scored in November, they have come from 15 players, with only Julia Cuccia's two-goal performance in a 4-0 win over Ontario Tech on November 10th being the outlier.
Kaitlin Teixeira is one piece that stands out in the Lions' group offensive effort. The first-year sits tied for the rookie lead with three goals and six points through ten games and has picked up a goal and two helpers in York’s last four.
Sitting just five points back of the Toronto Varsity Blues for second in the OUA East, the Lions get a solid opportunity to make up some serious ground this week as they face off against a pair of struggling crosstown rivals. On Thursday, York heads out to Oshawa to take on the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks (2-9-0), who split their recent matchups with Queen's, but still sit with the worst goal differential in the OUA at -18. Two nights later, the Lions head back to Canlan Sports York to host the TMU Bold (1-9-1). Not much has gone right for the Bold this season, as they have dropped seven in a row and all six of their road games this fall.
MHKY: Brock is nearly perfect to start the season
The Brock Badgers continue to roll. So far, a 4-1 loss to McGill on October 27th is the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season for the St. Catharines squad, as they sit 13-1-0 and eight points up on the TMU Bold in the West Division.
It hasn’t just bene one aspect of the game that has helped Brock dominate early, but rather a complete effort across the board. Offensively, Jacob Roach leads the team and sits fifth in the league with ten goals and 22 points in 14 games. Defensively, the Badgers carry the strongest penalty kill in the OUA at 90.3%, and in goal, Connor Ungar sits second with a 1.78 GAA and tied for first with a .944 save percentage.
Perfect already through four games in November, the Badgers pushed their winning streak up to seven with a pair of victories last weekend. They started with a 6-3 win over the Guelph Gryphons on November 17th, thanks to a goal and three assists from Tyler Burnie. A night later, they took a trip up the QEW to Toronto, and despite seeing their 2-0 lead disappear, ultimately held off the Varsity Blues for the 4-2 win.
A single point would solidify Brock's holding onto first place in the OUA West through the winter break, but the Badgers can do much more damage across their final four games. They kick the weekend off in a cage match against TMU on Friday night, as the Bold, currently on their own five-game winning streak, look to make up key ground against the division leaders. A night later, the Badgers head to Waterloo to take on a struggling Golden Hawks team that has lost five in a row.
WHKY: Separation in the standings proves difficult in the West
So far this season, there have been two sides of teams in the West Division: on one side, the Guelph Gryphons and the resurgent Laurier Golden Hawks; on the other, everybody else.
There is very little separating third-place Brock and the following Windsor Lancers, Waterloo Warriors, and Western Mustangs, as just three points divides the four teams overall, and just a single point delineates the fourth-place and sixth-place squads. For one reason or another, however, that bottom trio of teams have been unable to break away from the pack through the fall semester.
For Western, one of the biggest challenges has been playing away from home. The Mustangs’ 4-1-0 home record would put them second in the division, but their 1-3-1 record away from London is the worst. If you're a Lancers fan, the answer could very well lie in the powerplay. Windsor has a conversion rate of just 4.1% with the player advantage, including a 0-for-25 stretch on the road this season.
The Waterloo Warriors, finally, have struggled between the pipes. After going down in November of 2022 with a season-ending injury, Mikayla Schnarr took back the Warriors crease from Kara Mark, but it's been a tough start for the veteran. While sitting at 2-5-0, Schnarr's .899 save percentage is the lowest among all qualified OUA goaltenders. After stopping 26 of 28 shots in the Warriors' 2-1 loss to Guelph on November 15th, Schnarr stopped just 30 of 36 in the team’s 6-3 loss to York, marking Waterloo’s their third straight loss and Schnarr's fifth straight.
Each team gets a couple of chances to separate themselves this weekend. Windsor stays at home and hosts Queen's on the 24th before welcoming the strongest team in Ontario right now, the Nipissing Lakers, for a Saturday afternoon matchup. Western gets a tough test against the Badgers on the 23rd before welcoming in the Lakers. Meanwhile, Waterloo takes a Friday night trip to downtown Toronto to play the Varsity Blues before heading back to Waterloo to take on the Tricolour.
MHKY: Three-man show keeps anchoring the Queen's offence
The Queen's Gaels offensive core struggled a season ago en route to the team missing the 2023 Queen's Cup playoffs. That has not been the case in 2023-24.
Fourteen games into the season, the Gaels hold three of the top four spots in OUA scoring. Dalton Duhart leads the pack with 13 goals and 31 points, but he's followed closely by Jonathan Yantsis (9 goals, 25 points) and Nolan Hutcheson (11 goals, 24 points).
The last time the Gaels finished the year with three scorers in the top four came in 2021-22 when Holden Katzalay, Yantsis, and defender Owen Lalonde finished first, second and fourth, respectively.
In a pair of matchups with the RMC Paladins this weekend, the trio did not disappoint. On Wednesday night, in a 5-1 win, the three combined for two goals and five assists, led by four points from Yantsis. Two nights later, Hutcheson picked up two goals and an assist, Yantsis added a goal and two assists, and Duhart grabbed four helpers, as the Gaels took an 8-3 win over their crosstown rivals.
That win pushed the Gaels into a tie with UQTR for first in the OUA East, and they will try to take over the division’s top spot in a pair of cross-divisional matchups as they travel to Windsor to take on the Lancers and London for a meeting with the Mustangs. In a wild coincidence, the Gaels’ last matchup with the former came all the way back on November 24th, 2018, with the Kingston squad taking a 4-2 victory therein.
With four key points on the line this weekend, the Gaels will look to extend their winning streak and keep their offensive trio firing on all cylinders.