The University of Toronto women’s hockey team kicked off their 2008-09 OUA campaign on the road this weekend (Oct. 3-4) with a pair of wins over the Brock Badgers and Guelph Gryphons.

The Blues opened the season on Saturday and Karolina Urban (Kamloops, B.C.) got Toronto on the board midway through the second period capitalizing on a rebound in front of the net. Fourth-year assistant captain Annie DelGuidice (Hamilton, Ont.) added an insurance marker early in the third as she tipped an Amy Cornell (Oakville, Ont.) point shot past Brock goaltender Beth Clause (Hamilton, Ont.). The Blues came away with a convincing 2-0 victory over the Badgers.

Both goals came with a man advantage and first-year goalie Kendyl Valenta (Brampton, Ont.) earned her first shutout of the season in the 2-0 victory.

On Sunday, it was Darby Smith (Madoc, Ont.) leading the Varsity Blues to a 2-1 overtime shoot-out win against the scrappy Guelph Gryphons.

After a scramble in front of the Toronto net, Guelph forward Tamara Bell (Guelph, Ont.) was awarded a penalty shot and scored to put the Gryphons up by one.

Smith answered back for the Blues, scoring a power-play goal from Urban and Lindsay Hill (Ajax, Ont.) to tie things up in the second period. The Blues were badly outshot in the third period but Valenta stood on her head to push the game into an extra frame.

With new OUA regulations in place, Toronto played their first shoot-out in regular season competition. The first three shooters solved nothing and under sudden-death pressure, Smith stepped up to score her second goal of the game and secure the 2-1 victory for the Blues.

The Varsity Blues women’s hockey team travels to Waterloo next Saturday, October 11 to take on the Warriors at 7:30 p.m. The Blues return to Toronto on Sunday, October 12 and will host their home opener against the Windsor Lancers at Varsity Arena. The puck drops at 5:00 p.m.