KINGSTON, Ont. (January 5, 2018) – After a long layoff over the holiday break, the Queen's Gaels (10-4-3) skated back into action on Friday night with a hard-fought 3-2 win over the UOIT Ridgebacks (10-6-1). The Gaels used the strong play of goaltender Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) and timely goal scoring of Slater Doggett (Oakville, Ont.) to get the victory. Doggett scored his team-leading 11th and 12th goals of the season to lead Queen's.
 
GAME FLOW
The Gaels came out flying to start the new semester as they took the action to the Ridgebacks from the opening whistle. Spencer Abraham (Campbellville, Ont.) opened the scoring at the 7:44 mark when he beat two UOIT defenders at the blue line before skating the puck to the slot and sniping his third of the season. The Gaels kept pressing and were rewarded late in the period when Doggett picked off a Ridgebacks cross-ice pass and went in all alone on UOIT netminder Tyson Teichmann before burying his team-leading 11th of the campaign.
 
The Gaels started the second period off on the wrong foot as they took consecutive penalties to go down on a 5-on-3 disadvantage. The Ridgebacks would take advantage and make the Gaels pay when Jesse Baird fired a shot past a screened Bailie to cut the lead to 2-1. The Gaels would continue to run into penalty trouble for the remainder of the period but would manage to survive the Ridgebacks attack with some timely saves by Bailie. Late in the frame, the tricolour would restore a two-goal lead when Doggett fired home his second of the game on a 3-on-1 rush.
 
The third period saw even action as the Gaels attempted to hold off the Ridgebacks and preserve the lead. UOIT would cut the Gaels led to 3-2 when Loren Ulett roofed a shot past Bailie at 9:11 of the frame. Queen's would shut things down from that point on and keep the Ridgebacks off the scoresheet to take the 3-2 decision.
 
Bailie picked up the win in net with 22 saves while Teichmann would take the loss with 31 saves of his own.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
3- Tonight marked the Gaels third win in a row, dating back to Nov. 29
12- Goals by Slater Doggett this season
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels are back in action tomorrow night as they host the UOIT Ridgebacks for the second consecutive night at the Memorial Centre in Kingston. Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm, to purchase tickets head to gogaelsgo.com/tickets and can be seen live on OUA.tv.