SEASON PREVIEW: Women’s hockey set to open season at home

The Gee-Gees women's hockey team came within a goal of forcing overtime in game three of the RSEQ semifinal last season, and they'll be hoping for an even better playoff push in 2022-23.

Ottawa opens the season at the Minto Sports Complex on Saturday, Oct. 15 against the Montreal Carabins. Puck drop is at 2:00 p.m. and tickets can be purchased at tickets.geegees.ca.

Last season was Chelsea Grills' first full year at the helm of the program and was slightly shortened due to conference-mandated COVID-19 policies. The team ended up playing 15 regular season games with an extended playoffs. Ottawa finished with a 7-7-1 record, but pushed McGill to the brink in the RSEQ semifinals.

The RSEQ is once again slated for a 25-game regular season. The complete Gee-Gees schedule can be found here.

Despite graduating a relatively small number of players, Ottawa will be without some key pieces in 2022-23. Captain Christine Deaudelin and long-time forward Alyssa MacMillan have graduated, while goal scoring threats Alice Fillion and Ariane Aubin will not be returning to the ice this season. 

The Gee-Gees have brought in some exciting talent from south of the border, as three Ottawa-area products have transferred back home to wrap up their university careers. Taylor Sims (RIT), Viki Harkness (UConn) and Abygail Moloughney (Syracuse) will all be donning the Garnet and Grey. 

Moloughney brings particular intrigue, as the forward earned a plethora of conference honours while leading Syracuse in goals, assists and points in 2021-22. 

The three transfers will be joined by incoming recruits Béatrice Bilodeau (Cégep Limoilou) and Reece Mepham (St. Albert Slash). 

The goaltending tandem Aurélie Dubuc and Mahika Sarrazin are back for Ottawa, while the defence will be anchored by Mikaila Kraczynski, Jaimee MacDonald and Angélique Proulx, the latter of whom led the team in assists last year.

Katherine Birkby and Alèxe Clavelle return to headline the forward group, while RIT transfer Kylie Lalonde paced the team in goals in the extended playoffs.

The top four finishers in the RSEQ regular season will make the playoffs, with the postseason starting in late February. Two Quebec-based schools will qualify for the U SPORTS National Championship, but with the championship being hosted by the Université de Montreal, the Carabins will be one of those schools. 

This means should Montreal qualify for the RSEQ final, their opponent will also earn a berth at the championship, as per usual. However, should Montreal miss the RSEQ final, only the RSEQ champion will earn a spot in the final eight tournament.

All Ottawa home games will be streamed live on the Gee-Gees YouTube channel, and tickets are on sale at tickets.geegees.ca.