KINGSTON, Ont. (March 1, 2011) – Tomorrow night, the No. 10 Queen's Gaels women's hockey team continues their incredible post-season run as they play Game 1 of the OUA Championship best-of-three series against the No. 7 Guelph Gryphons.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 pm at the Gryphon Centre on the campus of the University of Guelph.
The Gaels, who are playing in the OUA Championship for the first time since 2006-07, come into the series having won nine consecutive games, one of the longest winning streaks in team history. Included in that streak is the Gaels two game sweep of the No. 2 Laurier Golden Hawks in the OUA Semifinal last week.
Entering the series with just one win against Laurier in nine previous playoff games, the Gaels used strong defence, quality goaltending and timely goal scoring to knock off the seven-time defending OUA Champions.
Brittany McHaffie of Guelph, Ont., was one of the heroes in the series for Queen's as she scored both game-winning goals in double-overtime. The sophomore forward finished the series with four points and has recorded at least in point in all three playoff games thus far.
Goaltender
Mel Dodd-Moher of Stittsville, Ont., was also fantastic for the Gaels in both games, stopping 64 of the 66 shots she faced in the series. The second year netminder enters the championship series sporting a 0.75 GAA and a 0.973SV%.
As for the Gryphons, they come into the series riding a hot streak of their own as they have won their last five games, including a two game sweep of the No. 5 Brock Badgers in their OUA Semifinal matchup. Guelph's last loss came at the hands of the Gaels, a 4-1 Queen's victory back on February 6, 2011.
Guelph has been led in their playoff run by the trio of Tori Woods (Orangeville, Ont.), Tamara Bell (Guelph, Ont.) and Kaitlyn Mora (Guelph, Ont.). The three forwards have combined for all eight of the Gryphons goals in the playoffs with Woods scoring four goals, while Bell and Mora have each scored twice.
Guelph goalie Danielle Skoufranis of Thornhill, Ont., has also been very strong for Guelph, posting a 1.10 GAA and a 0.944 SV% through the Gryphons first three playoff wins.
While the Gaels will continue to look to Dodd-Moher and McHaffie to lead them in this series, another key player for Queen's will be Brittany's twin sister
Morgan McHaffie of Guelph, Ont. Morgan leads all playoff scorers with five points (1 G, 4 A) through the semifinals and has been one of the top players in the OUA during the regular season, finishing fourth in the conference in both goals and points.
Queen's will also look to the line of
Becky Conroy (Pembroke, Ont.), Liz Kench (Gananoque, Ont.) and
Kelsey Thomson (Martintown, Ont.) to lead the team in this series. All three players have played for an OUA Championship in the past as they skated for Queen's in the 2006-07 championship game against Laurier. Kench was the only one of the three players to record a point in that game, as she earned an assist on Queen's only goal of the contest, but the experience all three gained from that game will be invaluable for the Gaels against Guelph.
This season, Queen's and Guelph met on three occasions with the Gaels holding a 2-1 advantage in the head-to-head series. Queen's won 2-1 at home on October 30, 2011 and also won 4-1 on the road as previously mentioned. Guelph's lone victory came at home on November 14, 2010 when they won 5-2.
NOTES: One key to the series may be special teams play…the Gaels' powerplay is operating at a 15.4% efficiency rating while their penalty kill is killing penalties at a 90.9% clip…Guelph's powerplay has struggled up to this point, scoring just one goal in 17 chances (5.9%)…as for their penalty kill, it has been perfect, killing off all 13 opponent's man-advantages…this is the second time this season that Queen's and Guelph have squared off with an OUA Championship on the line…the Gryphons defeated the Gaels in the women's rugby championship back on October 30, 2010
