Varsity Athletics | 1/2/2025 10:00:00 AM

After the exam break and time spent with those held dearest, the York University Lions are back for the winter term, with the Lions hockey teams taking centre stage to open the 2025 portion of the varsity schedule.

Here's what's going on in the den this week:

REGULAR SEASON GAMES

MEN'S HOCKEY 

The Lions men's hockey team plays the first game of 2025 on Saturday at Lakehead. Despite a tough ending to the first half, the Lions continue to grow as one of the youngest teams in the province. The youth movement is led by second-year Keaton Oakley and rookie Hunter Brown, both of whom sit tied for tops on the team in goals with five. That, plus the emergence of goalie Alex Chu, whose tremendous save in the fall finale at Concordia earned him the No. 4 OUA Play of the Week for the period ending Dec. 1, the Lions have shown their growth and a glimpse of what the future may hold. They face a Lakehead team sits tied with Brock for the final OUA West playoff berth, and that finished the unofficial first half with losses to Windsor and Ontario Tech. Puck drop of Saturday's game goes at 7:00 pm, streaming live on OUA.TV.

WOMEN'S HOCKEY

The women's hockey team, meanwhile, looks to catapult itself back into the OUA West playoff picture as they welcome the Brock Badgers to Canlan Ice Sports on Sunday. The Lions sit tied with Brock with 15 points, which puts them eight points behind Laurier for the fourth and final playoff spot. This will be an extremely important game for York as they look to crawl closer to playoff positioning, as they open a three-game stretch against teams in fourth or lower in their respective divisions, which presents a great opportunity for York to make a statement early in the winter semester that they are a team to watch for a playoff spot. Sunday's game begins at 2:00 pm. You can purchase tickets here or stream the game live on OUA TV.

TRACK & FIELD

The track & field team kicks off the winter term on Saturday with at the Sharon Anderson Memorial Meet. The Lions will look to build off a solid opening meet at the York Holiday Open in the first of two meets at Toronto in the next three weeks. 

NON-CONFERENCE GAMES

MHKY: York at Lakehead – Jan. 3 (7:00 pm)