KINGSTON, Ont. (February 14, 2011) – After finishing the season with the fourth most points in team history, the Queen's men's hockey team (14-11-3) will face off against the Nipissing Lakers (17-8-3) in the first round of the OUA Playoffs this week.
Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday night, February 16, at the Kingston Memorial Centre.
The Gaels 31 points during the 2010-11 season has only been matched or bettered by three other Queen's teams, including the 1982-83 squad (31 points), the 1979-80 squad (36 points) and the OUAA Championship team from 1980-81 (33 points).
Queen's enters the playoffs as the No. 5 seed in the OUA East thanks to posting a 9-3-1 record after the holiday break. The Gaels, winners of their last four games coming into the post-season, are one of the hottest teams in the league in their last 10 games (7-2-1), with only Nipissing and McGill posting better records (8-2-0) in the conference during that stretch.
With the team having lost a number of key offensive players due to injury, the team has rallied around the inspired play of team captain Jonathon Lawrence of Steinbach, Man. The fourth year forward has matched his career highs in both goals (10) and points (25) this year and has been red-hot down the stretch, scoring four goals and adding four assists in the Gaels last seven games.
Other Gaels to watch during this series include last year's co-leading scorer
Jordan Mirwaldt of Winnipeg, goaltender
Steele De Fazio of Georgetown, Ont., and rookies
Kelly Jackson of Toronto, and
Alexi Pianosi of Halifax, N.S.
Mirwaldt once again finished the season as the team's leading scorer despite missing two games due to injury. The sophomore forward has 10 goals and 17 assists on the year and will be a key player against the Lakers.
De Fazio, the Gaels starter in seven of their last nine games, won six of those games, posting a 2.66 GAA and a .907 SV% over that time.
As for Jackson and Pianosi, they have been offensive catalyst's all season long with Jackson leading the Gaels in goals with 11 and Pianosi leading all defencemen in scoring with 20 points.
Meanwhile, the Gaels opponent, the Nipissing Lakers, boast the potent offensive trio of Andrew Marcoux of Rockwood, Ont., Ryan Maunu of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Dan Watt of Winnipeg.
Marcoux, last year's OUA Rookie of the Year, leads the team in scoring with 30 points while Watt is the Lakers top goal scorer with 17 this year. Maunu, who has just four goals on the year, acts as the setup man for the two snipers as he has 21 assists this season.
Queen's and Nipissing met on three different occasions this year. The Gaels won their first meeting 3-2 in a shootout back on October 16 at home. De Fazio made 36 saves between the pipes for Queen's while
Payton Liske of Welland, Ont., scored the shootout winning goal.
Nipissing won the final two games of the season series on their home rink three weeks ago as they recorded a 5-2 victory and a 3-2 shootout win.
Puck drop for Game 1 will be at 7:30 PM Wednesday night. Tickets are $5 for students/youth and $10 for adults.
