Weekend Watch | Guelph women, Lakehead men look to continue winning ways

Toronto, Ont. (via 49 Sports) - As the back half of the hockey season enters its second week, one thing has already become clear. The jostling atop of the standings in both the East and West divisions that continued all the way until the holiday break has shown no signs of slowing down. 

WHKY: Guelph Gryphons roll on as road warriors

With just three points separating them from the Waterloo Warriors, the Guelph Gryphons suddenly have the top spot in the OUA West Division well within their sights, and a big reason for that comes from their impressive play away from home. While serving as hosts, the Gryphons sit at a respectable 3-3-2, but away from home, a 7-0-2 record leaves them as the last team in the conference yet to lose in regulation on the road.

Already this week, in their Thursday night matchup on the road against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, the Gryphons added to their record thanks to a 2-1 shootout victory that moved their 2023 winning streak to three games. Tori Verbeek picked up her sixth goal of the season, which also moved her into the top ten in conference scoring.

The Gryphons will finish off their three-game road trip with a visit to Canada Games Park on January 14th to face the Brock Badgers, who enter the weekend in essentially the opposite position. Whereas the Gryphons are the OUA’s best road team, the Badgers are struggling in their own arena. After a win in their home opener, the Badgers dropped seven straight at home to close 2022 and, thanks to that, face an uphill climb in the OUA West Division.

MHKY: Lakehead keeps finding ways to win

If the six-game winning streak they have carried over from 2022 is any indication, the Lakehead Thunderwolves are poised to be the breakout side in the OUA West in 2023, thanks in part to their ability to win in nearly every possible way. Buckle up.

The T’Wolves started with a 7-5 win over Waterloo on November 26th, a game in which Lakehead came back from 3-0 and 5-3 deficits, respectively. That was followed by a set of back-to-back wins on December 2nd and 3rd over Western. Spencer Blackwell picked up his first OUA hat trick in the former – a 6-3 win – which the Thunderwolves followed it up with an OT win that was sparked by Keighan Garrie’s game-tying goal with 15 seconds left in regulation. Lakehead kicked off 2023 with a pair of slightly less stressful wins over Toronto – 2-1 in overtime and 4-2 the following night – before overcoming a 2-0 deficit to Guelph on Thursday and taking the 5-3 win.

It is perhaps a cliché that ‘the team that finds ways to win will be the team that will find a way to win when it matters’, but on this current run, the Thunderwolves seems to model that philosophy perfectly.

Lakehead gets a chance to push their streak to as high as eight as they complete a three-games-in-three-nights stretch with a matchup against the struggling Warriors on January 13th before heading over to Laurier to play the Golden Hawks on January 14th.