KINGSTON, Ont. (February 19, 2016)- For the second game in a row, the Queen's Gaels men's hockey team went to overtime with the UOIT Ridgebacks in the OUA conference quarter-finals. For the second game in a row, the visiting team notched a victory. Ryan Doucette scored the overtime winner, and UOIT forced a third and deciding game by slipping past the Queen's Gaels 4-3 at the Memorial Centre on Friday evening, tying their playoff series 1-1.
 
Doucett's marker, which came just 22 seconds into the extra period, undid a third period comeback by the Gaels, who scored three unanswered goals in the last 20 minutes of regulation to force overtime.
 
Game 3 of the conference quarter-finals between the four and five seeds in the OUA East will go on Sunday afternoon back in Oshawa.
 
GAME FLOW
Things were looking positive for the home side early on in the contest after Alex Yuil picked up a five-minute major and game misconduct for charging at the 4:31 mark of the first. The Gaels failed to take advantage, however, picking up two consecutive minor penalties that negated four minutes of power-play time throughout Yuel's major infraction.
 
With 10 seconds left in the four-on-four on the Gaels second minor penalty, Jason Shaw picked up a pass from James Woodcroft, who did some good work along the side boards and found Shaw streaking down the middle. Shaw's wrist shot snuck past the outstretched glove of Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) to give the Ridgebacks a 1-0 lead.
 
After UOIT failed to connect on a power-play quickly following Shaw's marker, the guests would double their lead at 12:58 of the first. Ben Blasko buried the puck short-side on Bailie after one-timing a quick pass from Nate Mitton, who was stationed behind the Gaels net.
 
The Ridgebacks outshot Queen's 20-3 in the opening 20 minutes, and took a 2-0 advantage into the first intermission.
 
The Gaels best opportunity of the second period came on the power-play just over five minutes into the middle frame. A nice deke move by Eric Ming (Williamstown, Ont.) gave the hosts an excellent scoring chance in close, but the Ridgebacks penalty killers collapsed to the net in desperation and were able to block the first shot, which led to a goal mouth scramble. The hosts could not find an open shot, and UOIT was able escape the penalty without surrendering a goal.
 
That kill proved vital, as the Ridgebacks went up by three late in the second. After a turnover on a breakout attempt in the Gaels zone put the puck on the stick of Mark Petaccio, the winger made no mistake, zipping the puck above Bailie's blocker to the top left corner at 16:38 to give UOIT a commanding lead heading into the third period.
 
For just under 48 minutes, the Ridgebacks looked poised to send the series to a deciding third game, but after Shaw was assessed a tripping penalty, Darcy Greenaway (Wilton, Ont.) tipped in a Ming slapshot to get the hosts on the board. Greenaway found the net once again just 56 seconds later, shoveling home his second in less than a minute after a crease scramble in front of UOIT goalie Brendan O'Neill, and suddenly the hosts were threatening to even the game with still over 10 minutes left in the third.  
 
UOIT seemed to recover over the next few minutes, and the play settled heading into the latter stages of the period. The hosts, however, would not be denied their tying marker. On an offensive draw to the left of O'Neill, Patrick McGillis (Calgary, Alta.) let loose a low shot from a sharp angle that seemed to elude the Ridgebacks netminder, who had the puck fall off his blocker and in behind his pad. Shawn Boudreau (Kentville, N.S.) jumped on the loose puck and tapped it home to tie the game 3-3.
 
All of the momentum the Gaels built in the third was quickly dashed when Doucette snapped the game-winner underneath Bailie's blocker just 22 seconds into the extra frame.
 
FINAL SAY
"We didn't start well enough, and at this level you can't play 20 minutes of hockey and expect to win," said Head Coach Brett Gibson. "Our focus wasn't there and (UOIT) was a desperate hockey team. Now we have two desperate hockey teams. These are two really evenly matched teams, as we've played two overtime games. So it's going to come down to who wants it more. I have a lot of confidence in this group of kids that they will bounce back."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
56- The amount of seconds between Greenaways first and second goals of the game
37- Kevin Bailie stopped 37 of 41 shots, and holds a .910 save percentage overall in two playoff games
3- Three of the four games between UOIT and Queen's (including two regular season games) have gone to overtime
 
UP NEXT
Game 3 between Queen's and UOIT takes place on Sunday afternoon at the Campus Ice Centre. Puck-drop is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.