Early October puck drops mark the start of the 2024-25 hockey seasons
Burlington, Ont. – Facing off for another frenzied year on the ice, the puck officially drops on the 2024-25 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men’s hockey season on October 3rd and the women’s campaign on October 9th.
2024-25 OUA Women’s Hockey Schedule
2024-25 OUA Men’s Hockey Schedule
The men’s schedule will see its first regular season action when the Guelph Gryphons play host to the Windsor Lancers. Nearly a week later, the women’s slate will get its start with TMU and York doing battle.
The next night, October 10th, features a tantalizing rematch of the 2023-24 McCaw Cup Championship between the Waterloo Warriors and Toronto Varsity Blues. After the former netted the overtime winner to close out the OUA season a year ago, they will look to start their title defence in similarly victorious fashion at home against a talented Toronto program.
That opening week of play will also feature a playoff rematch between York and Nipissing (Oct. 11th), after the former upset the latter in quarterfinal play last year, as well as the OUA debuts for both the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens, who join the conference in women’s hockey this season. They will host Western and Brock, respectively.
When it comes to the rest of the men’s opening weekend, all of last year’s final four teams will get their 2024-25 season started therein. The semifinalists from Brock will head to Waterloo on October 4th, with McGill, bronze medalists a year ago, venturing to Nipissing that same day.
The following day, the Lakers will play host to the three-time defending champion UQTR Patriotes, who will look to get their search for a four-peat off on the right foot, while the Queen’s Cup runners up – the TMU Bold – visit the nation’s capital for a game against the Gee-Gees.
There will be rivalries aplenty throughout the men’s Week 2 offering, including the Patriotes hosting Concordia, the battle of Waterloo between the Warriors and Wilfrid Laurier, and postseason rematches between the Golden Hawks and Bold, Brock and Windsor, as well as Ontario Tech and Ottawa.
Quest for the Cup rematches continue on the women’s side into Week 4, with the Gryphons hosting the Varsity Blues following their sensational semifinal series a year ago. Queen’s, who also gave the finalist Blues a strong push in the quarterfinals last season, will welcome Toronto to the Limestone City on November 15th, while Waterloo and Laurier will add to their inherent rivalry – and 2024 quarterfinal quarrel – on November 16th.
November 16th will also feature the rematch of the 112th Queen’s Cup. After UQTR claimed that coveted title over TMU at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, the two teams will do battle once again in downtown Toronto for the first time since the Patriotes prevailed in the double-overtime thriller.
After each playing a game against their cross-town rival earlier in the week’s slate, Ottawa and Carleton will suit up for the Colonel By Classic on November 30th to help wind down the fall stretch with a must-see marquee matchup.
Officially bringing the women’s and men’s schedules into the holiday break will be one final tilt apiece on December 4th. These final games of 2024 will feature the Lancer men welcoming Western and the Nipissing women’s team hosting the Warriors.
The Lakers will pick things back up on January 4th, hosting the Ridgebacks to help usher in the home stretch of play, while the RMC Paladins visit Toronto a day later to start the men’s winter schedule.
As all teams embark on the home stretch coming out of the holiday break, each game becomes that much more important with the playoffs on the horizon. Featured among those final weeks of matchups is a home-and-home between semifinal combatants a year ago – UQTR and McGill; the annual Frosty Mug (York v. Guelph) on January 23rd; and the historic Carr-Harris Cup on February 6th.
Both campaigns will come to a close with a pair of matchups on February 16th, which then turns the page to their respective postseasons.
The men’s bracket will see the top six teams in both the East and West Division advancing to the playoffs. The top two teams in each will get a bye through Round 1, which sees its best-of-three series face off from February 17th to 23rd, but will hit the ice for the quarterfinals the following week (Feb. 24th to Mar. 2nd).
The best-of-three series continue on into the semifinals from March 3rd to 9th, before each division’s last squad standing will contend for the 113th Queen’s Cup on March 15th in the single-game finale.
It will be similar timelines for the 10 women’s playoff teams as well. A single game matchup between each division’s No. 4 and No. 5 seeds kicks off the festivities on February 22nd. Switching to a best-of-three series for the next two rounds, the quarterfinals (Feb. 24th to Mar. 2nd) and semifinals (Mar. 3rd to Mar. 9th) hit the ice next, with divisions crossing over for the latter.
Similar to the men’s circuit, then, the McCaw Cup champions will be decided in the season’s final game on March 15th.