Hawks travel south
Beth Mullen

Taking a breath after a road trip to Minnesota this past weekend, the women's hockey team is now focussed on planning their strategies for the next series of games leading up to the OUA finals in Guelph, taking place on February 13 and 14.

The trip across the border proved to be educational as the women met with an ice surface almost twice the size of their own and an excellent Minnesota organization.

The Hawks played two exhibition games at Mariucci Arena on Friday and Saturday against the Minnesota Gophers, one of the top ranked teams in the United States.

Although the Hawks found themselves a little overwhelmed by a powerful Gopher sqaud, dropping both games of the series, Hawk head coach Josh Batley said that the experience will be useful in making the team's game stronger for the rest of the season.

"The calibre of play forced the team to play harder. In terms of speed, size and agility, the team was just awesome," noted Batley.

The OUA schedule now calls on the Hawks to embark on a grueling four game road trip, including two games against the Queen's Golden Gales in Kingston on Thursday and Friday as well as one against the Toronto Varsity Blues at Varsity Arena in Toronto on Saturday night.

The road trip started yesterday in North York against the York University Yeowomen. This trip is bound to be a tough one as both York and Queens are battling for the leagues final playoff spot.

As the OUA Finals approach, the coach insists that the key to doing well, will be to, "go in on a high and come out firing!"

Three of the four teams that will be taking part in semi-final games have already clinched spots. These include the Hawks, Guelph and Toronto. The fourth team, likely to be York or Queen's, has yet to be determined.

Although they have a playoff spot guaranteed, the Hawks will want to keep the intensity level high as first place in the divison is still attainable. Competitiveness and quality of play will remain the team's priorities.

Your next opportunity to see the Hawks in action will be when they wrap up their regular season schedule on Sunday, February 7 against Guelph. Game time is 7:00 p.m. at Waterloo Memorial Arena.