By Mia Ines 

With the quest for the Queen's Cup scheduled to begin for the blue and gold this week, the No. 9 ranked Lancer men's hockey team is prepped and ready to go for the opening round. The Lancers finished the OUA regular season with an 18-6-3 record and a second-place finish in the OUA West conference. The team takes on the Brock Badgers who enter the series ranked just below the Lancers in the OUA West division. 
 
Head coach Kevin Hamlin states, "Our team is feeling confident and rested. We worked extremely hard to earn the bye and it truly helped us become as healthy as we have been all year. We are playing an excellent opponent, so we are excited for everyone to be able to witness a great series." 
 
Brock is a highly versatile team that accumulates a lot of shots, especially on the powerplay. The Lancers won their regular season series against the Badgers this year 2-1. 
 
Lancer forward Matt McNamara who finished the regular season with 5 goals and 11 assists talked about the blue and gold's defined and clear goal this year that has helped propel the squad forward up to this point. "I think having the bye allowed us to reset and get some much-needed rest, but we are excited and ready to get round one underway," explains McNamara. "We have had the goal of winning the Queen's Cup from day 1 of training camp and that has been our mindset entering every single game and we will do whatever it takes to accomplish that."  
 
Windsor is very much capable of winning this match-up, yet the Badgers will put up a fight as none of their head-to-head matchups were easy affairs. 
 
"Any team that wins at this time of the year plays a consistent, high tempo, yet structured game," discusses Hamlin. "We cannot chase the game, so the start of each game is truly important. I don't think anyone wins at this time of the year without excellent goaltending and timely scoring. We have been dominant at home this year. That said, playoffs present a new scenario, and we are approaching this as a different season." 

McNamara explains their Brock opponent will pose a good challenge, yet the team will remain focused on what they need to do to win and the hard work and dedication that they have put into this season. As the Lancer's approach the post season, it is no wonder coach Hamlin defines the team as 'selfless' to generate some action.