Brianna Gaffney's hat trick propels Lakers into semi-finals

The Nipissing Lakers Women’s Hockey Teams’ quest for the McCaw Cup took a giant step forward after securing a 3-1 win in their must-win quarterfinal game against the Ryerson Rams on Saturday night at Memorial Gardens.  

Ontario University Athletics had to restructure the post-season format due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing games to be cancelled during the season. The end result is a three-game sprint to the nationals, with teams having to win a quarterfinal, semi-final and McCaw Cup final all in do or die situations.  

Brianna Gaffney played the hero offensively for the Lakers scoring all three goals for a playoff hat trick.  

“I couldn’t have done it without my linemates and teammates and we’re just hoping to bring this kind of energy into our next game,” says Gaffney.  

It didn’t come easy for the Lakers though, as Brooklyn Gemmill opened the scoring for the visiting Rams with a power play goal just 5:41 in to the game.  

“When a team goes down 1-0 in the first it can really set you back, but we just rallied together and stayed positive and it turned out in our favour,” says Gaffney.  

The Lakers then started to rally with all four lines getting good chances in the offensive zone before Gaffney forced a turnover at the Rams blue line and found herself on the odd-player rush with Maria and Mallory Dominico flanking her on a 3-on-1 attack.  

Gaffney took the shot herself and it went up and over the shoulder of goaltender Rachel Seeley to tie the game at 1-1 10:09 into the first period.  

The Lakers took the lead shortly after getting a power play opportunity early in the second period. 

Katelyn Heppner’s point shot bounced of the stick of Jetta Derenoski in the slot and redirected to a wide-open Gaffney who put it over the goal line for her second of the game.  

She would add an empty net goal with 0.2 seconds remaining in the third period to finish off the scoring.  

“I have to give a lot of credit to the team. Chloe Marshall, her play was unbelievable,” says Gaffney referring to the Lakers starting goaltender who made 24 saves in the contest.  

The Lakers will now travel to Toronto to play the number one team in the East Division, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in a semi-final matchup on Wednesday – and a trip to the McCaw Cup finals on the line.  

“It’s a bit nerve wracking,” says Gaffney about the playoff format this year.  

“But we’ve got the momentum off the big win at the end of the regular season against U of T and we are just going to try and carry that through the playoffs.” 

The Lakers handed the Varsity Blues a 3-2 overtime loss in the regular season finale, at Memorial Gardens. U of T are the defending 2020 McCaw Cup Champions and they played like it all season long. That loss to the Lakers was only the second loss of the season for the Varsity Blues as they picked up at least a point in every single game they played, only failing to record wins against the Lakers in overtime and to the Queens Gaels in a shootout in November.  

Gaffney is one of five graduating players with the Lakers and says there is a lot of motivation for that class, knowing the post-season window is so short.  

“We just need one more win to be in a spot where we could be pushing for the nationals,” says Gaffney. “Our eyes are on our next game against Toronto and we’re just going to rally together as a team and push as hard as we can in these playoffs.”