KINGSTON, Ont. (February 13
th, 2019) – The No.10 Queen's Gaels Men's Hockey Team (1-0) and third seed in the OUA East defeated the sixth seeded Concordia Stingers (0-1) by a score of 3-2 in game one of the first round of the OUA East playoffs.
GAME FLOW
After being eliminated by the Stingers in overtime of game three of the OUA East semi-finals last season, the Gaels entered the first round of the playoffs this year looking for redemption. During the 2018-19 regular season, the Gaels and Stingers split their season series, with each team securing a 4-3 win on home ice.
In the opening ten minutes of the game, the Gaels and Stingers tested each other physically but didn't look too eager to take any unnecessary chances, with both teams playing a tight checking defensive style.
Things would slowly begin to open up in the second half of the period however, as the Gaels best chance of the frame came with a little more than five minutes remaining when
Jared Bethune narrowly missed his short-side shot attempt on an odd-man rush. Only moments later, Concordia would open the scoring as two Gaels defenders failed to clear the zone and Charles-Eric Legare took the puck to the slot, wiring a shot over the shoulder of
Justin Fazio. The Stingers would take a 1-0 lead to the first intermission.
The Gaels got off to a dream start in the second, equalizing within the opening two minutes when
William Brown scored his first career OUA goal on a screened point shot. The Gaels leading goal scorer on the season,
Slater Doggett, recorded the primary assist on the goal, drawing two Stingers defenders to him before dishing it up to Brown at the point.
At 11:20 of the second period, the Stingers re-gained the lead on the power-play when a long distance shot from Bradley Lalonde snuck through Gaels netminder
Justin Fazio and dribbled over the goal line.
In the closing stages of the second period, the Gaels captain and all-time leading point scorer as a defenceman,
Spencer Abraham, tied the game up at 2-2 after jumping in from his point position in the offensive zone and ripping a wicked wrist shot past Stingers goalie Anthony Dumont-Bouchard. The Gaels would head to the second intermission with the game tied 2-2.
There were few scoring chances for both sides throughout most of the third period, but when Phillipe Sanche was called for his second minor penalty of the evening at 11:55 of the period, the Gaels seized their opportunity. Only 10 seconds into the Gaels power-play, Doggett found himself all alone in the slot after a
Jaden Lindo face-off win, and Queen's leading scorer made no mistake, roofing the puck past Dumont-Bouchard.
The Stingers would pile on the pressure as time wound down, pulling their goaltender with 1:28 remaining and having a few good opportunities bounce over their sticks at key moments. In the end, Concordia failed to equalize, and Doggett's third period power-play goal proved to be the difference as the Gaels skated away with a 3-2 win on the night and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
MUST-SEE MOMENTS
Abraham dekes and fires a wrister for a goal.
Doggett waits out the goalie to put Queen's ahead for good.
BY THE NUMBERS
35 – Saves for
Justin Fazio.
1 – Power-play goal for each team.
2 – Points for
Slater Doggett.
FINAL SAY
Coach
Brett Gibson spoke on how the Gaels found success and what they need to build on for game two: "I think I coached much harder than I normally do, they have a dynamic top-line and line-matching was a key for us. I'd like to see us continue to drive hard to the net in game two, our two goals at even strength were generated by driving the net hard and with speed, so we need to continue to create offence that way."
UP NEXT
Game two of the first round is scheduled for Friday (Feb 15
th) in Montreal, followed by game three (if necessary) back at the Kingston Memorial Centre on Saturday (Feb 16
th). Both games are set for 7:30 pm start times.
