The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team punched their ticket to the OUA semifinals with a 3-1 win over the No. 3 seeded Ottawa Gee-Gees in Game 2 of their OUA quarter-final series at Varsity Arena on Saturday (Mar. 1) night.
Throughout the first period, Toronto and Ottawa fought for the game's opening goal, but strong goaltending and defensive play kept the first period scoreless, until the Blues broke the stalemate with 19 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Fourth-year Blues captain Emma Potter put up a strong effort to keep the puck in the offensive zone, allowing fourth-year forward Aili McKeown to pass the puck to second-year forward Ashley Delahey. Delahey then found her twin sister Taylor Delahey in front of the net who fired a shot past Gee-Gees goaltender Mireille Kingsley for a 1-0 Blues lead. And then just eleven seconds later, fifth-year forward Scout Watkins-Southward was sprung for a breakaway on a pass by fourth-year defender Kalie Chan and beat Kingsley five-hole for her second goal of the series, securing a 2-0 lead that the Blues took into the intermission.
In the second period the Blues and Gee-Gees traded chances. A strong defensive effort from the Blues was crucial as they cut off passes, blocked shots, and turned their strong play into scoring chances off the rush. Between the pipes, first-year goaltender Lyla McKinnon came up with big saves for the Blues to get the crowd roaring at Varsity Arena. Strong chances from both teams saw McKinnon and Kingsley trade stops but after 40 minutes of play the Blues held on to their 2-0 lead.
Looking to strike back in the third period, Ottawa's Beatrice Bilodeau found the back of the net to cut the Blues lead in half. Despite the goal, the Blues were not phased by Ottawa's comeback attempt as the defence stood strong and McKinnon capped off a phenomenal game between the pipes, making some of the best of her 33 saves to keep the Blues ahead. With 31 seconds left in the third period, fourth-year forward Sophie Grawbarger beat out a potential icing and scored an empty net goal to put the Blues ahead 3-1. U of T were able to neutralize a desperate Ottawa attack for the final 31 seconds of the game and held on, defeating the Gee-Gees to punch their ticket to the OUA semifinals.
The No. 7 nationally ranked Varsity Blues are now set to take on the No. 4 nationally ranked Guelph Gryphons in the next round of the playoffs. Game dates and times will be announced in the future. Tickets for U of T home games are available at varsityblues.ca/tickets, while all OUA playoff games can be streamed live and on-demand via oua.tv.
