Weekend Watch | Women's hockey openers take centre stage
Toronto, Ont. (via 49 Sports) - For the first time in 2022-23, there's OUA men's and women's hockey on the same weekend, as the conference joins the rest of Canadian university hockey in regular season play.
While each men's hockey team has already played at least twice, and the women's season got underway on Thursday night with TMU and Waterloo wins over Wilfrid Laurier and Guelph, respectively, this weekend brings action not seen yet this season.
Let's take a look at a few things to watch.
MHKY: A distant scent of an upset with Toronto and Western
Coming off two losses to the Brock Badgers, the Western Mustangs will be hoping to get back on the saddle when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues this weekend. It may be a few years back, but the 2022-23 season still features holdover players from last time the two teams met, when the #8 Mustangs took down the #1 Varsity Blues in the 2020 Queen's Cup Playoffs.
That 2020 upset, which sent ripples across Canadian university hockey, launched the Mustangs on a legendary underdog run to the semifinals of the U CUP, where they weren't able to test themselves due to the tournament being cancelled midway as COVID-19 took hold of North America.
The Mustangs have been solid this season, and improved midweek against the Badgers, getting two shots past goaltender Mario Peccia, something they failed to do in their previous meeting, a 4-0 loss in St. Catharines.
Second-year Western defenceman Jack Tucker has scored twice this season and has played significant minutes for head coach Clarke Singer as he takes on more responsibility. Meanwhile, he'll match up against last season's OUA West defenceman of the year, Ryan Barbosa, another offensive blueliner on Toronto.
For the Varsity Blues, it hasn't been any easier, as they look to rebound from a 6-1 thrashing against the TMU Bold and a hard-fought 2-1 loss to their rivals on Thursday. The intriguing call, however, will be whether head coach Ryan Medel opts to start second-year Jett Alexander or freshman Rayce Ramsay in goal.
Alexander played a calm, confident game against the Bold on Thursday, making 26 stops in his first start of the year after relieving Ramsay midway through the previous loss.
While the blueline matchup of Barbosa and Tucker highlights the game, keep an eye on the centre matchup between Western's Shane Bulitcka and Toronto's Ross Krieger, both of whom play an intelligent, hard-forechecking style, and will go up against each other for much of the night.
With the holdover drama from 2020 and two teams looking to avoid three straight losses, the Varsity Blues and Mustangs are bound to bring exciting hockey to London's Thompson Arena.
MHKY: Can Parker AuCoin and Carleton's top line keep rolling?
Carleton Ravens forward Parker AuCoin couldn't have had a better OUA opening weekend, really, the entire Ravens top line couldn't have dreamt up anything more perfect.
AuCoin scored seven times in wins against Nipissing and Ontario Tech, while linemate Nick McCarry finished the weekend with a goal and six assists. The high-flying duo now enters the second week against the RMC Paladins and Queen's Gaels.
The Paladins won't be much of a test defensively after conceding 14 goals in two games, but they could push the Ravens to a competitive game on the scoresheet, a fact that could drive the top-line to multi-point games once again.
RMC is a better team this season, beating McGill 7-6 in their season opener, but the Ravens remain heavily favoured. However, the big test will come against the Queen's Gaels on Saturday, as the Ravens face a team coming off a toe-to-toe battle with the defending U SPORTS champion UQTR Patriotes.
The Gaels put up a considerable challenge against the Patriotes, with Hayden Fowler and Jonathan Yantsis picking up where they left off in the 2021-22 rookie season, while Luke Richardson made 63 saves on 72 shots.
After scoring seven goals on opening weekend, Parker AuCoin will hope to keep his goal scoring form up as the Ravens look to exploit defensive fragilities on both the Gaels and Paladins in Kingston.
WHKY: Can Toronto find their way back to the top of the OUA?
It's hard to win once; it's a lot harder to win twice. The Varsity Blues entered last season as the defending McCaw Cup champions and rolled through the regular season, winning the OUA East Division and leading the conference with 45 points while finishing with the most goals for (45) and the lowest goals-against average (1.18).
In the playoffs, the Blues took down Queen's 2-0 in their semifinal matchup, but fell to the Nipissing Lakers 3-2 in the OUA East Final, denying themselves a chance to defend their title.
The 2022-23 Varsity Blues come with a lot of firepower, but lose some of their depth that carried them a year ago.
Taylor Trussler returns for a fifth season with the Varsity Blues after finishing third in the OUA in points (16) and goals (9) and she's joined by Céline Frappier, who had a breakout rookie season for the Blues a year ago, finishing with 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 16 games. At the same time, Toronto loses a stalwart on the backend as veteran defender Gabrielle De Serres graduates after five years with the Varsity Blues and joins the PHF's Montreal Force.
A two-time OUA all-star, De Serres led the OUA with ten assists last season, and if there is a hole that Varsity Blues head coach Vicky Sunohara will have a challenge to fill this year, it will be on the blueline.
In net, similar to Trussler, Erica Fryer is back for one more ride as a fifth year with the Varsity Blues, and her résumé speaks for itself. OUA East goaltender of the year a season ago, a two-time OUA all-star, and member of the OUA all-rookie team, Fryer has been the backbone of the Blues the last two seasons especially and will be leaned on heavily once again for Toronto to try and get back on top.
The Blues get their first taste of OUA hockey on Saturday afternoon when they head to Columbia Ice Field to take on the Waterloo Warriors.
A juggernaut in the regular season, Waterloo rolled into the 2022 McCaw Cup playoffs first in the OUA West, a top-three team offensively and leading the league on the penalty kill (96.2%).
In their OUA West semifinal against the Western Mustangs, though, the Warriors came out flat and fell 2-1, ending their drive for their first McCaw Cup title before it had even really begun.
This season, the Warriors lose some pieces upfront in Krystin Lawrence and Megan Fergusson, but see Leah Herrfort, who finished tied for sixth in OUA scoring with 14 points (six goals, eight assists), return. On the backend, Carley Olivier, who led the OUA in goals and points from a defender with 15 (six goals, nine assists) returns, while Mikayla Schnarr is back in the Warriors net after finishing in the top five in the OUA in wins (12), goals-against-average (1.18), and save percentage (.947).
It shouldn't be a question of whether this version of the Warriors can compete in the regular season; rather, it's in February and March that the Warriors are looking to make the most noise. They opened the 2022-23 OUA season with a 6-1 win over the Guelph Gryphons thanks to a goal and two assists from Kassidy McCarthy will look to ride the wave into their matchup against Toronto.
WHKY: Brock begins their title defence against Guelph
The Brock Badgers entered the 2022 playoffs in third in the OUA West Division, but rolled to their first McCaw Cup in program history thanks in part to Tiffany Hsu allowing just two goals in three games, while up front, Cassidy Maplethorpe led the OUA with five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in three games.
As they enter 2022-23 trying to defend their title, the Badgers see Hsu return to tend the crease, but now have to contend with losing a major piece to their offence in Maplethorpe. After four years at Brock, Maplethorpe transferred to the University of Alberta for her final year of eligibility, now forcing the Badgers to replace the OUA's top goal-scorer from a year ago.
The first crack at that job likely falls to Emma Irwin. Irwin finished second on the Badgers in scoring last season with 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists), and after improving her points-per-game from 0.375 in her first season to 0.875 a year ago, Irwin will likely be looked at to try to lead the Badgers' title defence.
Their first test comes in a season-opening matchup with the Guelph Gryphons. The Gryphons saw their previous campaign end in a 2-1 OUA West semifinal loss to the Badgers, giving this year's season-opening matchup a possible redemptive quality.
The Gryphons' biggest asset a season ago was in goal, as they finished with the lowest goals-against (16) and the second lowest goals-against-average (1.20) in the OUA. Guelph employed a true three-headed-monster in net in 2021-22 of Martina Fedel, Ally Davidson, and Kathryn Raymond. All three goalies return for the Gryphons this season, providing a nearly unprecedented level of stability in the Guelph net.
The question for Head Coach Rachel Flanagan, though, will be if they will be able to continue to run a three-way tandem this season or will one of the three goaltenders need to take firm control of the crease. The Gryphons gave Fedel first crack at the crease in their opening night matchup with the Waterloo Warriors, but after a 6-1 loss, it seems likely that it will be either Raymond or Davidson in net when the Gryphons take the ice at Canada Games Park on Saturday.
