KINGSTON, Ont. (February 25, 2017) - The Queen's Gaels took a 2-1 victory over the visiting No.10 Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday night in Kingston at the Memorial Centre. With the win, the Gaels force a third and deciding game in their OUA quarter-final series with the Varsity Blues Sunday night at 7pm.

GAME FLOW
The opening period was a tightly contested defensive effort from both sides with only 11 total shots on net between the two teams. The Gaels Stephanie Pascal (Sudbury, Ont.) stopped all five she faced while Valencia Yordanov turned aside the six shots from Queen's.

In the second period, the action picked up. Toronto found themselves in penalty trouble but managed to kill off a pair to start the period. At the 9:10 mark of the second period Addi Halladay (North Augusta, Ont.) broke the deadlock as she snuck past Toronto all alone and beat Yordanov blocker side to give Queen's a 1-0 lead. Just 20 second later, though, Toronto returned the favour. Taylor Day skated past the Queen's defence and beat Pascal on a second chance off her pad to even the game at 1-1.

MUST SEE- Gaels defeat @Varsity_Blues 2-1 thanks to GWG from @Kaatrinam
Deciding GM3 goes Sun at 8pm in Toronto on https://t.co/9xTOznwjCF pic.twitter.com/j6g5WYEJgY

— #ChaGheill (@queensgaels) February 26, 2017

Another penalty to Toronto put the Gaels powerplay back to work. Jessica Wakefield (Lucan, Ont.) fired a point shot that was juggled by Yordanov in the air. Katrina Manoukarakis (Scarborough, Ont.) tapped the puck out of mid-air past Yordanov to put the Gaels in front again 2-1.

In the third period, the penalties continued for both sides, which included a pair of five on three opportunities for Queen's. In the end, the Gaels hung on to take a 2-1 win and force a third and deciding game Sunday night.


FINAL SAY
"It was a playoff game, you've got two very evenly matched teams. The first period was a lot of five on five and the second and third period saw a bunch of different calls, the play was fairly even, and thankfully we gutted it out. Right now we've certainly got some confidence heading into tomorrow, and I'm sure it will be another close one-goal game, but hopefully, we will be on the right side of it." - Matt Holmberg.

BY THE NUMBERS
4 - Points for Wakefield in the playoffs, tied for 1st in the OUA
25% - Gaels PP efficiency in the playoffs, 2nd best in the OUA
24 - Penalty minutes for Toronto in the game compared to just six for Queen's

UP NEXT
Queen's travels to Varsity Arena in Toronto to take on the Varsity Blues in game three of their best-of-three quarter-final Sunday night at 7pm. Catch the action live on OUA.tv.