The No. 2 nationally-ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team take on the TMU Bold in a best-of-three OUA quarter-final series this week.

Series Schedule:
Game 1: Thursday, February 23 | TMU at Toronto | 7:00 p.m. | Varsity Arena
Game 2: Saturday, February 25 | Toronto at TMU | 2:00 p.m. | Mattamy Athletic Centre
*Game 3: Sunday, February 26 | TMU at Toronto | 4:00 p.m. | Varsity Arena
(*if necessary)

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"We've had a good regular season with many players coming in and out of our lineup," said Vicky Sunohara, the two-time reigning U SPORTS coach of the year. "We needed everyone to contribute. We play in a very competitive league and I have no doubt that the postseason will be a battle, starting with TMU. We are excited for the opportunity to play playoff hockey. We're having fun and feel that we are prepared."

THE STAKES: Should Toronto be victorious, they would take on the winner of Guelph/Windsor in the semifinals. The Blues are four wins away from a ticket to Montreal, as the top two teams from the OUA advance to the 2023 U SPORTS national championship, March 16-19.

A HEAD-TO-HEAD LOOK: The Blues set a program record for most regular season wins, finishing with a 23-2-2 record, atop the OUA East standings with 70 points. The TMU Bold finished fourth in the East with a 10-13-4 record.

Toronto won the season series with TMU, recording 4-1, 3-0 and 5-1 victories over the Bold.

The two teams met in the OUA semifinals in 2019-20, with the Blues overcoming a Game 1 loss to take the series 2-1. Overall, Toronto holds a 20-5-1 head-to-head record with TMU, dating back to their first meeting in 2011-12. 

Rookie forward Kaitlyn McKnight is coming off a hattrick performance in Toronto's 6-2 regular-season finale victory over the Windsor Lancers, and also has held a hot hand versus the Bold. In three meetings with TMU, McKnight has combined for three goals and one assist.

Nikki McDonald and Natasha Athansakos have led the Blues offensively. McDonald notched a team-high 11 goals and 24 points, while Athanasakos led U of T with 18 assists and ranked second with 22 points.

Since returning from injury, veterans Taylor Trussler and Céline Frappier have also made a huge impact. Trussler scored 10 goals and added five assists for 15 points in 14 games, while Frappier has notched 10 points in 14 games for the Blues.

While Toronto ranked second in the league in offence with 84 goals, they co-led the nation with a mere 34 goals allowed. That is in large part due to the dynamic goaltending duo of Madeline Albert and Erica Fryer.

Albert led the OUA with a 1.07 goals against average and .948 save percentage, going 12-0-1 and recording five shut outs in 13 starts this season. Similarly, Fryer ranked second in the province with a 1.39 goals against average and third with a .936 save percentage, going 10-2-1 in 14 starts.

Erika Crouse has led the Bold throughout the regular season. She has scored a team-high nine goals and added 10 assists for 19 points. Olivia Giardetti has also been a scoring threat, notching six goals and 11 assists for 17 points.

Rookie goalies Lauren Griffin and Alexia Stratos have split duties between the pipes, holding 2.36 and 2.48 goals against averages, respectively.