TORONTO — The fifth-seeded Ryerson Rams are set to take on the fourth-place Brock Badgers in the best-of-three OUA quarter-final matchup beginning Thursday at the Seymour-Hannah Centre in St. Catharines. 

The Rams wrapped up their 2019-20 regular season campaign with a fifth-place conference finish after earning three straight regulation wins, two of which came on the road last weekend against the Windsor Lancers and the Western Mustangs.

Second-year forward Erika Crouse's (Kirkland Lake, Ont.) league-leading 15 goals established a new single-season program record, as did Lauren Nicholson's (Dresden, Ont.) 13 goals on the year.

Nicholson also led the league with seven power play markers, with Crouse's five extra-player goals ranking second. Both numbers also set new program records. 

Among standout season-long performances is goaltender Rachel Seeley (Ottawa, Ont.).  Seeley's 0.924 save percentage and 1.76 goals against average were new career-highs for the fourth-year goalie, while her 11 wins on the year were crucial to the Rams' regular-season success. 

Ryerson's stars will be called upon Thursday night as the team heads south to St. Catharines to face off against the Brock Badgers in game one of the OUA quarter-final. 

The fourth-seeded Badgers boast a 14-7-3 record on the year, most recently suffering a 4-0 loss to the Nipissing Lakers. Nevertheless, the Badgers are 7-3 in their last ten matchups and pulled off a few significant upsets in second semester, including a 2-1 win over the No. 3 Toronto Varsity Blues back in January. 

The Rams and the Badgers exchanged wins this season but neither contest was decided in regulation; a 2-1 shootout win for the Rams on February 1 overshadowed the team's previous 4-3 overtime loss back on January 16. The two teams are quite evenly matched, with the Badgers holding an edge defensively and the Rams exceeding Brock's goal-scoring capacity. 

Brock goaltender Jensen Murphy is a key component of the Badgers' success, boasting a 1.60 goals against average, 0.948 save percentage and an OUA-best 646 saves on the year. Murphy is beyond capable of single-handedly winning games for her team and will be heavily relied upon to tame the Rams' goal-scoring duo of Crouse and Nicholson. 

The Quest for the McCaw Cup is set to begin on Thursday afternoon at 1:00 p.m., with the series returning home to the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Saturday night at 7:15 p.m. If necessary, game three will be played at 7:15 p.m. on Sunday in St. Catharines. Tune into OUA.tv at puck drop to catch the action.