Lancers and Gryphons, Redmen and Patriotes battle in semifinals for spots in the Queen's Cup

What started with 16 teams is now down to four as the OUA men's hockey semifinals are set to begin on Wednesday night.

In the West Division, the CIS No. 7-ranked Windsor Lancers are in the semifinals for the fourth consecutive season and will be facing this year's Cinderella story, the Guelph Gryphons, who entered the playoffs as the sixth seed in the division but are now just two games away from the Queen's Cup.

(1) Windsor Lancers vs. (6) Guelph Gryphons

The defending Queen's Cup champion Windsor Lancers are looking to advance to their second consecutive conference championship game, while the Guelph Gryphons are trying to book their ticket to the big dance for the first time since winning the Queen's Cup in 1997.  The Gryphons are making their first semifinal appearance since 1999.

The Lancers swept their season series with the Gryphons, but both wins came in their first three games back in October and a lot has changed since then for a Guelph team that is peaking at the right time.

The Gryphons have lost Game 1 in each of their first two playoff series before coming back to win the next two games in the best-of-3 format, but would like to do themselves a favour by ending that trend against the high-powered Lancers.

Windsor's Spencer Pommells reached the 50-point plateau in the regular season and hasn't slowed down in the playoffs, currently sitting third in playoff scoring with 10 points in five games, including scoring a natural hat-trick in Game 1 against Lakehead in the second round. He finished the two-game series with four goals and two assists, taking home OUA Athlete of the Week honours in the process.  He scored two goals and added two assists in two regular season meetings with Guelph.

In goal for the Lancers, Parker Van Buskirk has also rolled over his strong regular season into the playoffs, posting a 2.52 goals against average and .913 save percentage while starting all five of Windsor's postseason games.

It has been a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for Guelph goaltender Andrew D'Agostini, who has allowed 13 goals with a .796 save percentage in the team's two losses, but allowed just six goals with a .958 save percentage in Guelph's four wins.

Despite their firepower, Windsor isn't immune to running into the dreaded hot goalie come playoff time, as the Brock Badgers showed when they nearly pulled off a shocking first-round upset of the Lancers.

Guelph forward Carlos Amestoy is currently tied for second with four playoff goals; he scored 10 goals and added 16 assists in 25 regular season games.

The Gryphons and Lancers met in the second round of the 2013 OUA playoffs, with Windsor sweeping the best-of-3 series, but each of those games was decided by a single goal, and another close matchup is expected with the stakes even higher this time around.

The series begins on Wednesday, Feb. 25 with Game 1 going at 7:30 p.m. in Windsor.  Catch all the action on OUA.tv!

(1) McGill Redmen vs. (3) UQTR Patriotes

For the 11^th consecutive season either the McGill Redmen or UQTR Patriotes will be the East representative in the Queen's Cup.

The two Quebec schools have dominated the past decade, winning a combined six Queen's Cups in that time, and will be meeting each other in the playoffs for the 19^th time, including four of the past five seasons. The Patriotes won the first 11 series but McGill has won the last seven.

This season, the teams split their series, with the road team prevailing in each game and both feature offences capable of lighting up the scoreboard. UQTR won the first game 3-1 at McConnell Arena (Jan. 3) and McGill took the rematch 5-2 at Le Colisee (Jan. 28).

UQTR led all OUA teams in the regular season with 4.54 goals per game, while the Redmen ranked fifth at 3.92. McGill also led the nation with a stingy 1.96 goals-against average. In the playoffs, UQTR is once again at the top averaging 5.50 goals through four games, while McGill sits second scoring 4.0 goals per game through five playoff contests.

Redmen forwards Cedric McNicoll and Jonathan Brunelle are tied for the playoff lead in points with 11 apiece, while McGill defenceman Samuel Labrecque led all OUA blueliners with 13 goals in 26 games and now leads all playoff marksmen with five playoff goals, four of which have come on the power-play.

For the Patriotes, forward Marc-Olivier Mimar, the OUA's third-leading scorer in regular season play, is currently tied for fifth with seven playoff points in four games, while forward Billy Lacasse is tied for third with four goals in the postseason, one of which was an overtime winner in Game 1 of UQTR's second-round matchup with Carleton.

The last lines of defence for shutting down these high-flying offences will be two of the top goaltenders in OUA.

Jacob Gervais-Chouinard of McGill is fourth in both playoff goals against average (1.81) and save percentage (.944) and has started all five of McGill's games. He also led the conference in both statistical categories during the regular season.

In net for UQTR is Francis Desrosiers, who has started all four playoff games, and is a big reason the Patriotes are the only undefeated team remaining in the playoffs. He backstopped the team to two overtime wins against Carleton, saving 39 of 40 shots in a 2-1 overtime win in Game 1 and 29 of 32 in Game 2. His 2.37 playoff goals against average and .932 save percentage ranks him fifth and sixth, respectively, in the conference.

Game 1 of the series will be hosted by McGill at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

The full OUA men's hockey playoff schedule is available here.

Each semifinal series will be a best-of-3 format with the highest-seeded teams, McGill and Windsor, receiving home ice advantage in Game 3 if necessary.

Both series winners will meet in the Queen's Cup the weekend of March 6-8 (date and time TBD) in a one game winner-take-all showdown, hosted by the remaining Ontario school. The two finalists will also qualify for the CIS championships, along with the OUA bronze medal winner between the two losing teams.