It's been 631 days since the last OUA action for the Ontario Tech women's hockey team. They are set to finally return to conference play on Thursday, Nov. 4 when they take on the Toronto Varsity Blues at the Campus Ice Centre.
 
"It's absolutely unreal," said Nicole Escano, who was named to the OUA and U SPORTS all-rookie teams after a standout first year with the Ridgebacks. "I feel like our whole team is more than excited to get things going again."
 
Although the 2019-20 season started with an overall record of 1-11, the Ridgebacks began to find their stride and won eight out of their last ten games with Natalie Wozney, Megan Johnston and Escano stepping up to help push them to their best season since 2013-14. With all three players back in the fold, the Ridgebacks are hoping they can continue where they left off.

"I feel like we're going to put up a really good fight this year," said Escano. "We have a lot of really good talent coming in this year, as well the players that came in last year who haven't had a chance to play yet."
 
Joining the Ridgebacks as first year players this season will be Emilie Simmons, Kayla Welk, Baie Marcantonio, Lauren Beaulieu and Zoe McGee.
 
Throughout the cancelled season head coach Justin Caruana and his staff kept the team engaged with the program through weekly team meetings and virtual training sessions but Escano admits the team was close anyway and were already used to communicating through group chats, so they fared better than most during the pandemic.
 
With preseason hockey already under way, including a 2-1 shootout win over Brock, Escano said she's looking forward to playing in front of the Ridgebacks crowd for the home opener.

"I can't wait, it's been so long," said Escano. "I feel like the atmosphere is going to be unreal."