The Brock Badgers (8-8-6-2) will battle the Guelph Gryphons (16-3-2-3) when the puck drops on the OUA women's hockey playoffs beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 20.
The eighth-seeded Badgers begin the series in Guelph on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. before returning home to host Game 2 on Friday, Feb. 22 at 7:15 p.m. Get your tickets for Game 2 here.
Watch Game 1 live on OUA.tv.
If necessary, Game 3 returns to Guelph on Sunday, Feb. 24.
"Guelph is a fantastic team to play against. We always enjoy our games against them," said head coach Margot Page. "They are very skilled and play well as a group. It is the reason they are always in one of the top spots in the league every year."
The Badgers are 1-1 against the No. 1-seeded Gryphons during the regular season. Brock lost the first meeting 6-1 at home on Nov. 29, but rebounded with a 4-3 win in Guelph on Jan. 9.
"We have had some success versus them this year, but we will need to bring our 'A game' on Wednesday if we want to come back for Game 2 leading the series," said Page.
The series promises to be a goaltending duel as Brock senior netminder Jensen Murphy takes on Guelph's Valerie Lamenta and Aurore Beaulieu. All three goalies lead the league in save percentage. Lamenta is the OUA leader with 1.24 goals against average, while Murphy leads the league in saves (807).
The Gryphons are tasked with handling lightning-quick forward Annie Berg, a third-year centre who leads Brock in scoring and is third in the OUA with 25 points.
Brock can also spread their scoring throughout the depth chart with senior forwards Amanda Ieradi (17 points in 24 games) and Maggie Spratt-Mallick (14 points in 24 games).