TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams women's hockey team is approaching arguably its most important weekend to date this season. They will be taking on the Guelph Gryphons on Friday and the Brock Badgers on Saturday, the two teams directly above them in the OUA standings. 

With the playoffs quickly approaching, a pair of wins this weekend would see them move from seventh to fifth in the OUA standings, with only four games left to play this season. 

Ryerson's first opponent of the weekend is the U SPORTS defending champions Guelph Gryphons, who sit in fifth place and two points above them. The Rams dropped a 7-3 game against the Gryphons earlier this season, having been up 2-1 in the third period then giving up five penalties which led to Guelph putting six goals past them to end the game. 

Gryphons forward Karli Shell leads her team in points with 12, including a three-point performance against the Rams in that 7-3 win. 

The Rams will look to snap their three-game losing streak this Friday on Mattamy Home Ice, a place where the Rams have in fact never defeated the Gryphons. 

As for Saturday's matchup against the Badgers, it is another relatively even matchup, with Brock sitting just one point above the Rams in the OUA standings. The Rams saw the Badgers just a few weeks ago, claiming a point but losing 4-3 in overtime. 

Ryerson's defence will look to shut down Brock's leaders in points Annie Berg and Cassidy Maplethorpe, who have racked up 16 and 13 points this season, respectively. 

As for the Rams players to watch, forward Lauren Nicholson (Dresden, Ont.) is coming off a hat-trick against the Varsity Blues and will be looking to keep her offensive prowess going and to, more importantly, translate her goals into wins.  

Game time on both Friday and Saturday will be at 7:15 p.m. from the Mattamy Athletic Centre and be available on OUA.tv.