Women's Hockey | 10/17/2025 12:00:00 PM
After splitting the first two games of the season last weekend, it's another set of back-to-back games at home for the York University Lions women's hockey team.
Next up on the docket are the Waterloo Warriors – last year's McCaw Cup runners-up looking to make their third straight appearance in the final – and the TMU Bold, who are eyeing their first win of the season after a shootout loss to the Queen's Gaels in their opener.
The Warriors, like the Lions are off to a 1-1 start after starting their season in the nation's capital, where they shut out the Carleton Ravens 3-0 and were on the wrong end of a 1-0 shutout to the Ottawa Gee-Gees last weekend. York, meanwhile, took their season opener 2-1 over the Western Mustangs, before falling 3-1 to the Windsor Lancers in a rematch of the 2025 OUA West Play-in Game between the Lions and Lancers that saw York jump out to a 4-0 lead less than six minutes into the second period and going on to win it 5-3 to advance to the OUA quarter-finals.
As many know, there is, of course, no shortage of history between the Lions and the Warriors either. The two teams met in the OUA semi-final in 2024 following York's shocking sweep of the Nipissing Lakers, with the Lions taking the first game 3-2 before Waterloo won the next two 4-1 and 3-0, respectively. While there isn't nearly as much on the line in these two games, every win is important as the Lions look to cement themselves as one of the top contenders in the OUA West.
It was a solid opening weekend for second-year Ginger Fast and veteran Alexa Giantsopoulos, who each registered a goal and an assist in the first two games. Natalie Mamone, meanwhile, factored in on two of the three York goals with a pair of helpers, including one on Mikayla Totten's tying goal against Western just over eight minutes into the third – the Lions first of the season.
Emma Wedgewood, the Lions star fourth-year goaltender started both the first two games, making 25 saves on 26 shots in the win over Western and 24 stops in a losing cause against Windsor. Should she play Saturday night against the Warriors, she will play an important role between the pipes against a Warriors team that has allowed just a single goal through the first two games of the season. While that may not be sustainable, it suggest, as has been the case for awhile, that the Warriors defence is among the stingiest in the OUA, meaning the Lions will have to work harder to score goals and putting the onus on the goaltender to be solid – or better than solid – at the other end.
The Bold, on the other hand, are coming off a heartbreaking loss to the Gaels where they saw a 2-0 lead evaporate in the second period before Queen's' Mikayla Cranney scored the shoutout winner in what was a rematch of the OUA East Play-In which Queen's took by a 3-1 score. The Bold will be coming out hungry Sunday night, having had nine days to reflect on what might end up being their toughest loss of the season in the first game of the year.
Puck drop Saturday night is slated for 7:15 pm, while Sunday's game is a 6:00 pm start. You can get tickets to both games here or stream them both on OUA TV.
