KINGSTON, Ont. (March 1, 2019) - The No.8 Gaels (6-1) defeated the No.4 Carleton Ravens (4-3) with a 4-1 victory Friday night and a series sweep 2-0. Queen's now advances to the Queen's Cup next Saturday night at 7:30 pm at the Memorial Centre in Kingston.
The Gaels will meet the winner of the OUA West series that has the Western Mustangs ahead 1-0 in their best-of-three with the Guelph Gryphons.
Queen's has also now qualified for the University Cup national championship in Lethbridge Alberta.
GAME FLOW
Looking to advance to the Queen's Cup for the first time since 2017 and host for the first time since 1981 the Gaels made the first period count. At the 14:53 mark of the opening period the puck came around to
Stephen Gibson who fired a shot on net from the half boards, the puck bounced off Ravens netminder Francois Brassard and
Luke Edwards banged home the rebound for his first of the playoffs.
With 58 seconds left in the period, the Gaels captain
Spencer Abraham wheeled around from the blue line to the centre of the ice and fired a shot through Brassard for his fourth of the playoffs to give the home side a 2-0 lead after the first.
In the second period, the Ravens stepped up their offensive game finishing the frame with 21 shots on Gaels starting netminder
Justin Fazio. At 7:06 into the second a rebound kicked off the pad of Fazio found its way to Aaron Boyd who got the Ravens within one of Queen's.
In the third period, the Ravens continued to pepper the Queen's net with shots as they threw another 14 on goal and countless more towards the goal in an attempt to tie the game.
Much like in the clinching game against the Gee-Gees it was once again
Jared Bethune clinching a Queen's victory. At the 16:56 mark of the third, Bethune broke down the left wing one-on-one and slipped the puck past the Ravens defender. He then closed in on goal and was able to regain control of the puck and tuck it past Brassard with a deke to the backhand to put the Gaels ahead 3-1.
An empty-netter from
Duncan Campbell at 17:48 sealed the win and the Gaels swept the series 2-0 with a 4-1 game two victory.
The Gaels now advance to the Queen's Cup for the first time since 2017 and will look for their first Queen's Cup victory since 1981. The Tricolour have also qualified for the U SPORTS University Cup in Lethbridge Alberta.
QUEEN'S CUP
The Ontario University Athletics Conference Men's Hockey Champions receive the Queen's Cup, first presented in 1903 by Queen's University.
The Queen's Cup is a trophy awarded annually to the champion in men 's ice hockey of the Ontario University Athletics conference of U SPORTS. It has been awarded since 1903 to the champion between Ontario and Quebec universities. It is the second-oldest ice hockey trophy still being awarded, after the Stanley Cup.
For the 1902–03 season, McGill University, Queen's University and the University of Toronto founded the Canadian Intercollegiate Hockey Union. The Queen's Cup, emblematic of the CIHU championship was donated by Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario. The Queen's Cup was not presented during the war years of 1915-16, 1916–17, 1917–18, 1918–19, 1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943-44. 1944-45.
The first winner other than the founders was the Université de Montréal in 1949. By the 1960s, other universities, including Ontario Agricultural College (Guelph), McMaster, Waterloo and Western were granted membership and became eligible to win the Cup. Other universities have since joined the CIHU, now known as the OUA conference. The original Cup was retired in 2000 to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
MUST SEE
FINAL SAY
UP NEXT
The Gaels will host the Queen's Cup for the first time since 1981 next Saturday night at 7:30 pm at the Kingston Memorial Centre. Tickets are now available at www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets. The game will also be streamed live on OUA.tv.
