Ridgebacks starting to roll and other takeaways from OUA hockey

Ottawa, Ont. (via 49 Sports / Richard Coffey) – The end of the first semester of the 2023-24 campaign is officially upon us. It still feels like just yesterday that the puck dropped on a new season, and yet just one weekend of games remains before the break. With that said though, questions and opportunities still remain for teams across the OUA.

WHKY: Is Ontario Tech turning things around?

Don’t look now, but if all goes right, the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks could potentially head into the winter break on a five-game winning streak and just a game under .500. That feels like a far cry from the Ridgebacks of barely a month ago who entered November winless and dropped to 0-6-0 before finally picking up their first win on November 5th against Western. Ontario Tech dropped their next three, but since then, the Oshawa squad have won three in a row. They swept the previous weekend to move to 4-7-2 and slipped past York into the final playoff spot in the East Division.

What is the big reason for Ontario Tech’s recent run? Goaltending. After allowing 33 goals in their first ten games, the Ridgebacks have allowed just three during their three-game winning streak, including back-to-back 2-1 wins over the Lions and Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks last week. 

Third-year goalie Zoe McGee has been on a tear during that stretch. After stopping 41 of 42 against Queen’s in a 5-1 win on November 18th, she followed it up with 32 saves in their triumph over York and another 41 saves in their shootout win over the Laurier. 

With a -16 goal differential (20-36), things are still far from perfect for the Ridgebacks, but there is a clear opportunity to end the first half of the season with momentum. To do so, they’ll first take on the Windsor Lancers at Campus Ice Centre on December 1st.

The team’s final challenge – and perhaps their toughest in their quest to push their win streak to five – comes with a trip out to Guelph to play the Gryphons the following day. Guelph, led by Martina Fedel’s historic run in goal, have just kept rolling, going 7-0-1 in their last eight games to open up an eight-point lead in the West division.

MHKY: Can Dalton Duhart be stopped?

The easiest way to tell how incredible Dalton Duhart’s first half has been for the Queen’s Gaels is that he is four points away from passing the 38 points that Simon Lafrance put up as the top scorer throughout all of last season. 

35 points in 16 games has Duhart chasing some elite company. The ultimate goal would be to pass the 58 points Alex Picard-Hooper scored for the McGill Redbirds in 2010-11. 58 is the highest point total in the OUA in over 15 years, and Duhart, if he were to continue this pace across the second half of the season, could catch it. 

The secret for Duhart has been the assists, as his 22 helpers lead the conference, followed by his teammate Jonathan Yantsis, who has 16 as part of his 25-point semester. In just three games before being held off the scoresheet in Queen’s 2-1 overtime loss to Western on November 25th, Duhart picked up an absurd ten assists, helping the Tricolour to three straight wins on what ended up being a five-game streak.

The Gaels did lose to the Mustangs to snap that stretch, but the night before, on November 24th, they hosted the Windsor Lancers to a much different result. Queen’s hung five goals on Windsor in the first period, including four in the first eight minutes on the way to a 7-2 win. Duhart picked up three assists on the game, including a pair on the powerplay. 

With two games left in the schedule before winter break, the Gaels’ goal now should be to get a little space between them and UQTR, who sit just a single point behind them. They start the weekend with a December 1st trip to McConnel Arena in Montréal to play McGill before heading further up to Colisée Trois Rivières to take on those aforementioned Patriotes.

WHKY: Nipissing is running away with the East Division

This might be the ultimate jinx in writing it, but the Nipissing Lakers look like a team headed full speed toward a third straight McCaw Cup appearance. 

Thanks to their 10-game winning streak, the Lakers have opened up a 12-point lead in the East Division over Toronto and have shown no signs of slowing down. Not only is Nipissing winning, but they’re winning by a lot. The Lakers went 7-0-0 in November, winning by less than two goals only once. 

In their two-game sweep last weekend, it was more of the same. On a Friday night trip to Western, 34 saves from Chantelle Sandquist, along with timely offence, gave the Lakers the 3-1 win. A night later in Windsor, a pair of goals from Mallory Dominico and a 28-save shutout from Sandquist gave Nipissing a 4-0 win. 

While much of the goaltending talk is centered around Martina Fedel, Sandquist’s incredible first-half performance should not be discounted. Sitting tied for the league lead with 13 appearances, the Nipissing netminder has a league-best 12-1-0 record, a 1.12 GAA, and a .951 save percentage that sit just behind Fedel for the league lead. 

The Lakers get to finish the first half of the season at home with a visit from the Varsity Blues. The big question for this series is whether either team can get their powerplay going.

Nipissing’s issues are more localized, as they have connected just 7.6% of the time in their last four games, but Toronto’s struggles with the player advantage are more prolonged. Despite the third most opportunities on the powerplay this season, the Varsity Blues have just one goal.

The penalty kill has been strong for Toronto at 94.7%, good for third in the OUA, but the powerplay has been Toronto’s biggest struggle. If the Lakers can continue to keep Toronto’s powerplay at bay, it would go a long way toward extending their streak. 

MHKY: The Carleton Ravens are a conundrum

It’s been a bizarre month for the Carleton Ravens. It started rough, with a pair of losses to their cross-town Ottawa rivals, including a 7-1 blowout. The Ravens lost a pair of 3-2 overtime games the following weekend before splitting each of the last two weekends, with both games needing overtime. 

So, to break that all down, Carleton went below .500 in November but has picked up points in five of their last six games.

Last weekend, their struggles with the extra skater likely contributed to them missing out on the extra point. The Ravens took the trip to Ontario Tech on November 24th and got an early lead thanks to Parker AuCoin, but the team went 0-for-8 on the powerplay, including a pair of five-on-three chances. Cullen McLean tied it in the second before getting the overtime winner to give Ontario Tech the 2-1 win. 

The following day, the Ravens took on the Lions in an absolute shootout. Carleton went up 3-1 before York scored four unanswered in the second to lead 5-3 after forty minutes. An early goal from Keiran Craig to complete his hat trick cut that lead down before Alex Johnston tied the game at 5-5 midway through the third. Finally, rookie defenceman Nolan Seed won things in overtime to give the Ravens the 6-5 win. 

After 24 goals a season ago, it’s been an imperfect year for Parker AuCoin, with nine so far, but with three goals and five points in his last four games, he appears to be heating up at the right time for the Ravens. That will be useful as the Brock Badgers travel to the Ice House on December 2nd. 

Thanks to a lights-out season from Connor Ungar in net and the best overall offence in the OUA, the Badgers hold a six-point lead over Toronto for top spot in the West Division and the top spot overall in the league. Winners of eight in a row before dropping a 5-2 game to Laurier last weekend, Brock will be an interesting litmus test to see if the Ravens can close the first half strong. 

Before that game, though, the Guelph Gryphons make the long trip east for a December 1st game against Carleton. At 8-8-0, good for sixth in the West, it has been a middling season for Guelph, but as is the theme for every other team, with a pair of road games to close the year, the Gryphons will look to gain momentum heading into 2024.