RECAP: Women’s hockey shines in OUA opening weekend, Gagnon scores four against Brock

The University of Ottawa's women's hockey team made their return to the OUA on Friday night, hosting the Western Mustangs to start the season. The following day, it was Brock Badgers who hit the ice at the Minto Sports Complex to challenge the Gee-Gees.

Picking up a pair of wins to start the regular season, the Gee-Gees instantly made their mark in the OUA with a 1-0 win against the Mustangs and an 9-1 victory against the Badgers.

"It's fun, everyone is so excited for this season, everyone is ready for the challenges that come with joining the OUA," Gee-Gees captain, Beatrice Bilodeau, spoke on the team's excitement. "It's great having our families here, and our results this weekend show that we can compete in this league."

Charley Healey was the first Gee-Gee to find the net in the 2024-25 regular season. Her second period goal was all that was needed to earn victory on Friday night's home opener.

Goaltender, Mireille Kingsley registered her first shutout in the Garnet and Grey, stopping all 21 shots against her.

Ottawa was back on the ice on Saturday afternoon to welcome Brock. Coming off a 5-2 loss to the Carleton Ravens, nothing could have prepared the Badgers to enter Gee-Gees territory.

Ottawa took no time getting on the board. Arianne Gagnon found her goal in the opening minute of play, receiving a perfect pass from Maelle Laplante.

By the end of the opening period, Gagnon had already logged a hat track and with goals from Suyeon Eom (4:48), Naomi Morin (10:30), and Sydney Lynch (14:06), the Gee-Gees had a 6-0 lead after the first 20 minutes of action.

"I'm proud of my game. I'm working hard and I'm really happy to play with these girls, they're amazing," Gagnon said.

Ottawa head coach, Ali Domenico, was pleased with the team's first period performance.

"We really liked our first and we are really happy with our effort from start to finish," Domenico said. "It's exciting, and we want to be putting together 60 minutes and just buy into our identity and habits, and we felt we really did that today and were fortunate to get a few goals along with it."

Brock found an early goal in the second, capitalizing on their 5-on-4 advantage.

Alyssa Biesenthal (12:13) and Healey (12:26) added two more goals to the Ottawa total before the end of the second period.

In the third, Gagnon added a fourth and final goal to make it 9-1.

"We had a good game as a team, good forecheck and lots of success getting pucks to the net."

The Gee-Gees will move on from their 2-0 opening weekend with confidence knowing that they host another pair of games next weekend. Ottawa hosts Toronto on Friday night and Guelph on Saturday night. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.geegees.ca