Nobody was anything but ecstatic to be back on the field, court, or ice for OUA action last season. After interuniversity athletics were paused in 2020 due to the pandemic, every Golden Hawks coach, student-athlete, and fan were grateful for the return to play in 2021.

It was, however, a strange year. Reduced schedules, restricted travel, and a mid-season shutdown for some teams marked a season that will be remembered as much for the constant strangeness and uncertainty as it will for the wins and losses.

As the start of the 2022-2023 season approaches, the Golden Hawks are looking forward to a return to normalcy. Necessary precautions will, of course, still be in place to ensure everyone's safety, but that's only one more among the many reasons to be optimistic about this year for university athletics.

Second-year football quarterback Taylor Elgersma is excited his team will have more opportunities to showcase their ability, with the team back to playing a full eight-game schedule.

"We have a group that's hungry and excited for this coming season," he said. "There is a belief that we're going to make explosive plays in all three phases of the game. I think our locker room knows that we have the pieces needed to do something special this year."

The football team will also benefit from a post-pandemic realignment, as the OUA returns to a single pool, and the Golden Hawks will not have to compete solely against the powerhouse programs in the western half of the province.

Men's Rugby head coach Phil Murphy is also happy to see the conference do away with travel restrictions, saying, "I like the fact that we're back to a single pool. It gives us more opportunity to see different teams than the than the four that we've been seeing in recent years."

Overall, Laurier's student-athletes are "excited to be more or less back on track and see the Golden Hawks thrive," said women's soccer second-year student-athlete Jyanessa Sealy. "We, as athletes and as a community, have faced a lot of obstacles throughout this pandemic. Getting back to normal training sessions and game play has never felt so sweet."

Men's and women's soccer kick-off their seasons on September 2, with football and women's rugby beginning the following day. Men's and women's lacrosse open their seasons on September 11, while men's rugby starts September 17.