Gaels stun Hawks in semi final

For the first time in eight years the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) women’s hockey title will go somewhere besides Laurier.

On Friday night in Kingston, the Golden Hawks fell 2-1 in overtime to the upstart Queen’s Gaels, eliminating the number-two nationally ranked Laurier squad. This not only breaks the purple and gold’s streak of seven consecutive OUA championships, but also marks the first time since the 1999-00 season that the Hawks won’t be playing in the OUA finals.

Friday’s second game of the OUA semi final series was an almost eerie repeat of the first, which took place on Wednesday night in Waterloo. Both games went to double overtime. Both games saw Queen’s win by a 2-1 margin.

And the most incredible part?

The same Gael played the hero in both contests. Second-year Brittany McHaffie scored 3:24 into the second overtime in game one and 2:29 into the second extra frame in game two, lifting her team to the provincial finals while breaking the hearts of the purple and gold.

Despite the early elimination, Laurier still qualifies for the Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) finals as the host team. This means that only the winner of the OUA championship series between Queen’s and either Brock or Guelph (Guelph leads that series 1-0) will make it to the CIS championship tournament here in Waterloo from March 10-14.

Look for the full story in Wednesday’s issue of The Cord