The playoffs begin this week for a trio of York Lions teams as the men’s hockey and both the women’s and men’s volleyball squads begin their quest for post-season hardware. For the third straight year, the men’s hockey team will have to go through Lakehead en route to the Ontario University Athletic title.
Over the past two seasons, the Thunderwolves have skated to four consecutive one-goal victories against York in the playoffs. The best-of-three series begins Wednesday night in Thunder Bay. Games 2 and 3 are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday afternoon at Canlan Ice Sports Arena. Last week, the Lions wrapped up the regular season with a 4-3 overtime loss to Brock and a 7-3 setback against the fourth-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks.
The OUA East Division’s second-place women’s volleyball team begins post-season play at home when they host the Ottawa Gee-Gees at 4pm on Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Tait McKenzie Centre. This will be the third time this season that the two squads will face each other. In both previous regular season games, the home team has emerged with a 3-1 victory. Last week, the Lions finished the regular season with a 3-0 victory over the Ryerson Rams.
The men’s volleyball team travels to London to face the Western Mustangs in the OUA quarterfinal on Thursday night. The winner heads to Kingston on Saturday for a semi-final date with the seventh-ranked Queen’s Golden Gaels. Both the Mustangs and the Lions finished the regular season with identical 14-6 records but Western earns home court advantage based on point differential. The two teams split the regular season series with the Mustangs winning more set points. In their final regular season, the Lions fell 3-0 to the Ryerson Rams.
The fifth-ranked women’s basketball team wraps up the regular season this week against Laurentian on Wednesday night at 6pm at the Tait McKenzie Centre. The team will put its 14-game winning streak on the line against the Voyageurs before enjoying a first-round bye in the playoffs. The OUA East Division leaders will host the OUA East semi-final on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 6pm at the Tait McKenzie Centre. Last week, the squad improved to 19-2 on the year after posting an 80-76 win over Toronto and a 76-45 win over Ryerson.
The men’s basketball squad wraps-up a five-game home stand this Wednesday at 8pm when they host the Laurentian Voyageurs. With two games remaining in the regular season, both against the Voyageurs, the Lions sit tied with Toronto for third place in the OUA East Division. Last week, York lost against the Varsity Blues, 82-70, before rebounding with an 87-61 victory over Ryerson. This week’s Male Athlete of the Week, Dan Eves (right), averaged 25.5 points, 4.5 assists and four rebounds over the two games.
Behind this week’s Female Athlete of the Week, goaltender Melanie Quinn (left), the women’s hockey team posted its second-consecutive shutout, 4-0 over the Brock Badgers. Quinn was stellar between the pipes, turning aside all 31 Brock shots. The fifth-year Newmarket native has not surrendered a goal in seven straight periods over the past three games, during which time she has made 73 saves. The Lions will look to continue their solid defensive play this week when they host Waterloo on Friday night at 7:30pm at Canlan Ice Sports Arena, followed by a road contest against Windsor on Sunday.
The Lions track & field squad prepares for its final meet before the OUA Championships this weekend when they participate in the Hal Brown Last Chance event at Toronto. Last week in Windsor, the women’s side finished sixth in the team event, while the men placed eighth. Kaitlin Coopman recorded York’s top finish, placing second in the women’s 1500 metres.
York’s swimming teams completed the season last weekend at the OUA Championships at Guelph. Rookie Richard Tse led the Lions contingent with a ninth-place finish in the 200m individual medley and a 13th-place finish in the 50-metre backstroke. The men’s team finished with 28 points, good for 13th at the OUA Championships.
This article was submitted to YFile by Stephen Reid, sport & recreation information assistant in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health.