As most of the Western student body packed their bags and headed home for reading week, the Mustangs women's hockey team were packing up their hockey bags, getting on a bus, and doing anything but relaxing as they prepared to take on the Nipissing Lakers in a best of three OUA Quarterfinal series with game one being played in North Bay, Ont.

Despite spending their reading week practicing and competing in the playoffs, the Mustangs were able to catch a break when they swept the Lakers out of playoff action by defeating the team 3-1 on Wednesday and 3-2 on Friday to knock them out of the playoffs in only two games rather than three.

In the first two games of playoff action the Gosling sisters, Cassidy Gosling and Katelyn Gosling continued to contribute to the Mustangs success with Cassidy collecting two goals and an assist for the purple and white while Katelyn racked up three assists. Despite missing the last five regular season games to compete with Team Canada at the Winter Universiade in Spain, Katelyn's return to the Mustangs lineup has been a definite advantage for the purple and white in their quest for a championship title.

After the quarterfinal victories, the Mustangs now advance to the OUA Semifinals where they will take on the Laurier Golden Hawks, with the first game of the series being played on Wednesday, February 25^th at Thompson Arena.

The Mustangs and the Golden Hawks have met twice already in the regular season in weeks one and four of OUA action. In their first match-up of the season, the Golden Hawks handed the Mustangs their first shootout loss as the purple and gold edged out the home team 2-1.

Just three weeks later the Mustangs avenged their early season defeat with a 3-2 win over the Golden Hawks on their home ice at Sun Life Financial Arena.

The Golden Hawks have certainly had to fight hard to put themselves in the OUA Semifinals after sweeping their Quarterfinal series against the Queen's Gales. On Thursday, February 19, the Golden Hawks battled their way through three overtime periods to pull out the 1-0 victory over the Gaels. The Golden Hawk's overtime victory can be attributed to the purple and gold's netminder Amanda Smith who kept the Gaels off of the scoreboard for 94 minutes of play while also turning away 49 shots on net.

On Saturday, February 21, the Golden Hawks travelled to Kingston, Ont., for game two of the series. Despite trailing 2-1 for the majority of the contest, the purple and gold rallied to pull off a 3-2 comeback victory as they scored two goals in the last three minutes of play.

Although both teams boast immense talent and skill and have fought hard to put themselves into the OUA Semifinals, only one team can walk away victorious and advance to the OUA Finals.

There is somewhat of a bitter playoff history between the two teams; in the 2011-12 season the Mustangs and the Golden Hawks went head-to-head in the OUA Championship series where the Golden Hawks swept the Mustangs with two consecutive victories to claim the championship title.

The following year Western and Laurier met again, this time in the OUA Semi-Finals. The Mustangs were determined to avenge their championship loss, and did just that, taking the series 2-1 to knock the Golden Hawks off of their quest for another championship title.

With a long history of these two teams one-upping each other in the playoff action, there is no doubt that things are shaping up for an exciting series. 

The series is set to start on Wednesday, February 25^th at 7:00 p.m. at Thompson Arena.

OUA Semi-Final Schedule

Game One - Laurier at Western - Wednesday, February 25 at 7 p.m. - Watch Live on OUA.tv; Listen Live on CHRW Radio
Game Two - Western at Laurier - Friday, February 27 at 7:30 p.m. - Watch Live on OUA.tv; Listen Live on CHRW Radio
Game Three (IF NECESSARY) - Laurier at Western - Sunday, March 1 at 4 p.m. - Watch Live on OUA.tv; Listen Live on CHRW Radio