KINGSTON, Ont. - It's a battle of two nationally ranked programs as the No.6 Queen's Gaels who finished as the first seed in the OUA will take on the No.10 Nipissing Lakers, the fourth seed in the OUA, in a best-of-three series with the winner heading to the McCaw Cup championship game.

Game one of the series goes Wednesday night in Nipissing at the Memorial Gardens in North Bay, puck-drop is set for 7:00 pm and the game can be seen live on OUA.tv.

The series will then shift to Kingston for game two, as the Gaels host the Lakers Friday night at 7:30 pm at the Kingston Memorial Centre. Should the series go the distance, the Gaels and Lakers will meet in Napanee at the Strathcona Paper Centre for the final game at home for Queen's. Puck-drop will be 7:30 pm for the third and final game.
SEASON SERIES
The two teams met twice during the regular season with each side skating away with a victory. The Gaels took a 3-2 win at home in November with Queen's captain Jessica Wakefield scoring the game-winner with just six seconds remaining in the third period. It was a penalty-filled affair as each team took 22 minutes worth of penalties, season highs, and the Lakers had 11 minor penalties.

The second game the two teams played was a quieter affair at the start of January, and the Lakers took the win on home ice 1-0 in overtime. Maria Dominico broke the deadlock for the Lakers who had a season-low 20 shots on net in the game.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
The Gaels were able to defeat the eight-seed Waterloo in their opening round series winning the first game 2-0 at Waterloo and sealing the victory in game three after falling 2-0 in game two. The third game saw the Gaels jump in front thanks to goals from Addi Halladay and Katrina Manoukarakis and Stephanie Pascal picked up her second shutout of the playoffs in the 4-0 win.

The Lakers took on the fifth-seed Ryerson Rams and found themselves fighting to keep their season alive early. Ryerson walked into Memorial Gardens in North Bay and stole a 4-2 opening game win in the series, but the Lakers were able to battle back. Nipissing shutout Ryerson in Toronto 3-0 then sealed the series back at home with another 3-0 decision. Jacqueline Rochefort got the start in game one for Nipissing, but it was Danika Ranger who stole shutouts in games two and three to clinch the series.

NATIONALLY RANKED TILT
With just four OUA teams remaining in contention, the conference is well represented among the nations best teams. The No.6 Gaels and No.10 Lakers meet in one semifinal while the other pits the No.5 Guelph Gryphons against the No.9 Western Mustangs.

OFFENCE FROM THE DEFENCE
Two leading scorers among defenders in the OUA this season were Zosia Davis from the Lakers and Jessica Wakefield from the Gaels. Davis led all defenders with 18 points (4g, 14a) while Wakefield was just behind with 16 points (7g, 9a). Wakefield led all defenders in goals with seven, and her three game-winners were also the best among the blueliners. 

Both players have been held off the scoresheet through three playoff games so far.

SPECIAL TEAMS
The Gaels entered the playoffs with the top-ranked penalty kills at 95.1% and the second best power play at 16.7%. After the opening round, the Gaels are 0/7 on the power play and have an 80% penalty kill having allowed one goal on five chances.

For the Lakers, they finished the regular season with the sixth best power play at 12.7% and fifth-ranked penalty kill at 88.7%. After their opening round series, Nipissing has a perfect penalty kill with opponents going 0/11 and have a 20% power play connecting on 2/10 opportunities.