Takeaways | Lakehead and Toronto thrive as January comes to a close
Toronto, Ont. - The final weekend of January is in the books in OUA men’s and women’s hockey, and the contenders are truly becoming clear as playoff season approaches.
With the full cohort back from representing Team Canada at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, the best players are shining, as teams look to gain form in the season’s final weeks.
WHKY: As the Varsity Blues keep winning, can anyone stop Toronto?
The Toronto Varsity Blues are officially chasing history. A pair of wins over the weekend pushed the Varsity Blues' winning streak to 14 straight and their winning percentage to .905 at 19-2-0. A .905 winning percentage would be the highest in the OUA since 2011-12, when the Golden Hawks went 25-0-1 for an almost unfathomable .987 clip.
Toronto opened the weekend with a 4-1 win over Western, extending their streak to thirteen and taking two points that the Mustangs definitely could have used. In her first game back since winning gold with Team Canada at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games, Céline Frappier didn't miss a beat, opening the scoring just 3:42 in for Toronto. Elizabeth Gauthier tied it for Western, but a pair of goals in the second, including Nikki McDonald picking up her team-leading ninth, gave Toronto a 3-1 lead after two periods before Madelyn Walsh added an insurance marker in the third.
The following night, Laurier arrived in Toronto to take on those dynamic Blues. While a pair of goals from Rylee Crego and Chloe Davidson made a 3-0 Toronto lead into a 3-2 game with just over ten minutes left in the third, Natasha Athanasakos picked up her fourth of the season for Toronto with nine minutes to play before Sophie Grawbarger added one late to seal a 5-2 Toronto win. All told, eight different Blues hit the back of the net over the weekend, with only Frappier scoring twice.
Despite boasting the second-best offence in the OUA, the Varsity Blues truly have been scoring by committee in 2022-23 as Athanasakos is the only Toronto player in the top 20 in the OUA (sitting in 10th place with 18 points).
Which is why at this point, the question has become, how can a team stop Toronto? It is a challenging question to answer, as on their winning streak, the Blues have shown they can roll four lines of offence and complement it with consistent netminding from both goalies. The rest of the OUA has six games left in the regular season to figure out an answer for the Varsity Blues; otherwise, the 2020 McCaw Cup champions will be the odds-on favourites to retake the trophy in 2023.
WHKY: Carley Olivier returns on fire and helps Waterloo keep rolling.
Leah Herrfort and Tatum James spent most of the fall semester working in tandem as the one-two punch that led the Waterloo Warriors to the top offence in the OUA. On the other side, Carley Olivier had a quieter start to her season with a respectable six assists in the first twelve games of the year leading into the end of November. Once the calendar turned to December, though, Olivier started scoring and has not stopped.
Olivier picked up six points with two goals and four assists in the final two games of the fall semester before grabbing four points in the opening weekend of 2023 with three goals and one assist. Oliver then joined Herrfort at the World University Games, where she picked up two goals and five assists in seven games en route to winning gold with Team Canada.
On Saturday, both Herrfort and Olivier returned to the Warriors as they were in Kingston to face the Gaels, and both gold medalists picked up right where they left off for Waterloo. Down 1-0, just six minutes in, Olivier found the back of the net to make it 1-1 with her sixth goal of the season. Six minutes later on, the power-play Tatum James potted her thirteenth of the year to tie for the league lead, with both Olivier and Herrfort picking up assists. In the second period, Herrfort picked up a pair of goals herself as the Warriors welcomed back their golden teammates with a 6-1 win over Queen's.
Playing in the Sunday matinee game, the Warriors finished the weekend with a trip to Oshawa to play the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks and once again, Olivier provided the lion's share of the offence. After Jessie Fennell opened the scoring halfway through the second, just nine seconds later, Olivier grabbed her seventh of the season to make it 2-0 for Waterloo. The Ridgebacks got one back, but Olivier potted the late empty netter to give Waterloo the 3-1 win and push their winning streak to five games.
Whereas the East division is essentially sewn up with Toronto a mile ahead of everyone else, the OUA West title is still up for grabs as the season winds down. With Olivier and Herrfort back and not missing a step, though, Waterloo looks well on its way to finishing the season on top of the division.
MHKY: Lakehead thundering into the playoffs
The Lakehead Thunderwolves have often been a playoff team in the OUA, but this year, they’re making a case to not just be in the running for the Queen’s Cup, but be potential championship game hosts.
This weekend, the Thunderwolves packed their Thunder Bay barn and downed the Western Mustangs 2-1, rebounding from their previous loss to a Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks team scraping away for every point.
With the victory, the Thunderwolves put themselves among the four OUA West teams that have clinched a postseason berth, while also placing them within the top two that would earn a bye past the first round. As long as they hold onto top four, their intense gameday atmosphere will get to welcome home ice advantage.
Although the Thunderwolves may not offer the speed and skill seen by some of the other OUA teams, they’ve found a cohesive and deep style of play, benefitting from hard forechecking and spurts of puck possession. They’re one of the deepest teams as well in terms of their scoring spread, with nine players posting 14 points or more.
At the top of their lineup, Griffen Fox and Spencer Blackwell have been a revelation this season, leading the team as they both play out at a point-per-game pace, thriving in a division that former Junior A players don’t often dominate. Fox spent time in the MHL and OJHL, while Blackwell had just 43 games in major junior.
It may be a challenge for them to go deep in the playoffs, but the Thunderwolves showed their ability to adjust and grind out a result in their last game and finished the month of January with six wins in eight games.
Heading into the final stretch, head coach Andrew Wilkins will need to emphasize consistency to his group, as they approach the challenging opposition of Brock and York, two teams fighting for playoff seeding, and current OUA West No. 1, Windsor, who haven’t hit much of any setback this season.
MHKY: Simon Lafrance shines in return to Patriotes
UQTR forward Simon Lafrance ended his 2021-22 U SPORTS season with the overtime-winning goal to give his Patriotes the U CUP in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Since then, he’s not slowed down, and has overtaken the OUA scoring lead after winning a gold medal with Team Canada.
Since returning from national team duties, Lafrance has been on a tear. He scored two goals and two assist against Ottawa in his first game back, while adding another goal and two assists against Carleton. His total on the year vaulted to 15 goals and 35 points in 25 games, building a buffer between he and the rest of the OUA pack.
The Patriotes weathered the storm that was playing without three of their best players with Lafrance, Justin Bergeron, and Zachary Lavigne away with Team Canada. Yet, now as they’ve returned, UQTR looks as destined for the Queen’s Cup as they did last season.
The defending OUA champions have just two games remaining in their regular season schedule, facing the RMC Paladins twice, both home and away, as they look to continue their fine form into the fast-approaching postseason.
