The No. 2 nationally-ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team host the No. 6 Nipissing Lakers in the OUA McCaw Cup final, presented by CCM, this Saturday, March 11 at Varsity Arena.

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Tickets will be available at the gate, starting at 5:30 p.m. The first 500 U of T students with a valid T card will receive free admission. 

THE STAKES: The Blues are vying for their 19^th OUA title in program history, and their first since 2020. Both the Blues and Lakers have also booked their tickets to Montreal, as the top two teams from the OUA advance to the 2023 U SPORTS 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. Toronto swept the TMU Bold in the quarter-finals, before topping the Guelph Gryphons in three games in the semifinals.
 
The Nipissing Lakers finished second in the East division with a 19-4-3 record. They will be battling for their first provincial championship banner in program history. The Lakers swept the Queen's Gaels in the quarter-finals and defeated the Waterloo Warriors in two overtime games during the semifinals. 

Toronto and Nipissing faced off three times during the regular season, with the Lakers taking the season series 2-1. The Blues took the first game of the series on January 8 with a 6-2 victory at Varsity Arena. The Lakers edged the Blues in two 2-1 overtime losses on February 10 and 11 in North Bay, Ont.
 
This will be the fourth time the two teams have faced off in the playoffs, with the Lakers holding the advantage with a 4-2 record. The Blues are looking to take revenge after the Lakers defeated the Blues in the OUA semifinals last season. 

Nikki McDonald and Natasha Athansakos led the Blues offensively during the regular season. 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.
 
After a hattrick performance in Game 3 of the semifinals, Trussler leads the Blues with five points in the playoffs. Sitting just behind her is rookie forward Kaitlyn McKnight with three goals and four points. 

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.

The Blues goaltending duo will look to stop some of the top scorers in the OUA. Lakers forward Malory Dominico finished the regular season with 15 goals and 29 points, leaving her tied for first in goals and tied for third in points in the OUA. 
 
Sitting just behind her were Katie Chomiak and Maggie McKee, who were tied for seventh in points (23). Chomiak also scored 14 goals which was good for second in goals. McKee dished out the puck extremely well this season tallying up 18 assists (second in the OUA).