The first game of the new year will be a special one for the York University Lions men's hockey team as the squad hosts the second annual Mark Cross Memorial Game at Canlan Ice Sports on opening weekend of OUA action.
 
Puck drops on the team's 18^th regular-season game, distinct as it honours Cross' jersey number, at 7pm in a contest against the No. 4 nationally ranked Toronto Varsity Blues.
 
Cross, who played for the Lions from 2011-16, was an assistant coach with the Humboldt Broncos and lost his life in the team's tragic bus crash on April 6, 2018. York continues to honour his life and legacy with the Mark Cross Memorial Scholarship Fund, and all donations from Friday's game will support the fund.
 
On the ice, the action will feature a pair of teams at opposite ends of the OUA West Division standings. The young Lions, with 17 rookies on the roster this year, entered the December break at the bottom while the Varsity Blues have raced out to a 14-2 record and sit atop the division.
 
The Lions were hanging around the .500 mark for much of the season before ending the fall portion of their schedule with six losses, four of them by a single goal. Sophomore defenceman Jeremy Lucchini leads the team with 13 points (four goals, nine assists), while team captain Scott Feser has put up 10 points (four goals, six assists) on the season.
 
Despite the struggles, they have been competitive against the rival Blues this season. U of T won both meetings in the regular season, by narrow scores of 5-3 and 3-2, while the Lions took a 2-1 pre-season decision back in September.
 
After a 2-2 start to the season, the Blues have won 12 straight games and outscored their opponents 61-24 in that stretch. They are currently ranked No. 4 in the U SPORTS Top 10 and hold a three-point advantage on the rest of the division with a game in hand.
 
Toronto's 73 goals for are the most in the OUA and five more than any other team in the division. David Thomson, the conference's leading scorer, has paced the team with 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) in 16 games. They also have a stingy defence, allowing a conference-low 40 goals, thanks to the strong play of Alex Bishop, the U SPORTS athlete of the month for November.
 
The Lions have two games on the schedule for the opening weekend of 2020 and will return to home ice the day following the Mark Cross Memorial Game for a contest against the Western Mustangs. That match-up will begin at 7:15pm at Canlan Ice Sports. Both games can be seen live online at OUA.tv.