KINGSTON, Ont. (October 13, 2017) – The Queens Gaels (1-0-0) opened their season in style with a convincing 5-2 victory over the visiting Laurentian Voyageurs (0-1-0) at the Memorial Centre on Friday night to kick off Homecoming weekend. After a slow start, the Gaels were able to take over in the final two periods on the way to victory.
 
GAME FLOW
The first period was back and forth to begin, seeing both teams trade power plays early on. Big saves at both ends of the ice from Queen's goaltender Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) and Joel Vienneau on the Voyageurs side kept things close throughout the opening frame.
 
The Voyageurs opened the scoring at the 17:18 mark of the period when Dylan Fitze was able to beat Bailie with a backhander to take a 1-0 lead. The lead was short lived however as Gaels forward Luke Bertolucci (Montrose, B.C.) tied the game just 10 seconds later with a gorgeous individual effort.
 
Voyageurs forward Xavier Couture scored at the 17:55 mark to cap off a wild finish to the period and give Laurentian a 2-1 lead heading into the intermission.
 
Queen's was able to regain control of the game in the second period with two goals in the middle frame.
 
Slater Doggett (Oakville, Ont.) notched his first of the season on a juicy rebound to tie the game at the 11:35 mark with assists going to Brandon Prophet (Peterborough, Ont.) and Ryan Bloom (Calgary). Prophet added another tally 21 seconds later as the Gaels late period flurry gave them a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

MHKY - Gaels bounce back in the second period and take a 3-2 lead. Prophet with his first as a Gael #GoGaelsGo pic.twitter.com/dQEuydZ3I3

— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) October 14, 2017

The Tricolour kept things rolling in the third period when Doggett dropped a perfect pass to Eric Ming (Williamstown, Ont.) on a three on one to take a 4-2 lead at the 7:07 mark.
 
Doggett would also add an empty netter in the final minute, his second goal of the game, to seal the deal and finish the scoring on the evening.
 
Bailie earned the win in net for the Gaels with a 27 save performance.
 
FINAL SAY
"Anytime you start slow its usually preparation. We started slow tonight but we had a really good meeting between the first and second and put 40 pucks on net in the last two periods and really took over so I was happy about that." - Head Coach Brett Gibson
 
BY THE NUMBERS
2 – Number of goals scored by Slater Doggett
42 – Number of shots on goal for the Gaels

UP NEXT
The Gaels are back in action tomorrow night at the Memorial Centre when they take on the UOIT Ridgebacks at 7:30 pm.