The Varsity Blues Women’s Hockey team started their pre-season on September 19 with a successful exhibition match against the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) Panthers. Their first foray of the season was successful, and the Blues defeated the Panthers with a final score of 6–2. 

What happened? 

In the first period, veteran forward Emma Elders was the first to score. Shortly after Elders’ goal, the Panthers were able to respond with a goal to tie up the game at 1–1. Trading blow for blow, forward Christina Alexiou secured another goal to make it 2–1 in favour of the Blues in the final minutes of the first period. 

The second period started off slowly, with neither team able to score for the majority of the time. After 19 minutes of play without either side making any ground, the Blues exploded and scored two successive goals in under 30 seconds. Both goals were made by rookies, with forwards Emma Lambert and Petra Kilmes scoring the first and second goals respectively, bringing the score to 4–1 at the end of the second period. 

The Panthers retaliated at the beginning of the third period by scoring a lightning-fast goal in the first minute, bringing the score to 4–2. Although the Panthers fought hard to recover in the final period, the Blues maintained their healthy lead for the rest of the game. Lambert secured her second goal in the final period, followed by Elders scoring the final goal of the game and securing the victory at 6–2. 

In a post-game interview with The Varsity, Lambert spoke about her performance and thoughts on the upcoming season. “Honestly, it was a great game… I didn’t expect to score today, but I was super excited and hyped.” Lambert also emphasized her high hopes moving forward in the season, following a solid playoff run by the Blues last year. “I’m excited to keep winning and hopefully win the championship.” 

What’s next? 

The Blues continued their pre-season schedule with a match against the York Lions on September 20, where they shut them out with a 4–0 win. They will play the University of Windsor and St. Francis Xavier University this weekend, followed by their last pre-season exhibition versus the University of Guelph on October 3. The Blues Women’s Hockey Team’s first official OUA match will be versus the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on October 10.