KINGSTON, Ont. (February 11, 2020) - The opening round of the OUA playoffs in men's hockey is set to begin this Wednesday night and the Queen's Gaels will host game one of their series with the UQTR Patriotes.
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS
The Gaels are the defending Queen's Cup champions having won the title in 2019 for the first time since 1981. Last season Queen's defeated Concordia (2-0), Ottawa (2-1) and Carleton (2-0) to advance to the championship game where the Tricolour took down Guelph 4-1.
The Gaels roster is filled with championship players as the majority of the roster feature players from the 2019 team.
SEASON SERIES
Queen's and UQTR met twice this year with both games taking place in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. On November 15 the Patriotes skated to a 5-2 victory behind two goals from Jordan Martel. The following night the Gaels secured a 4-3 win in overtime with
Eric Margo scoring the game winner at the 5:05 mark.
Queen's has won four of the last five matchups between the two sides dating back to 2017-18.
LAST PLAYOFF MEETING
Queen's and UQTR last met in the OUA playoffs during the 1999-00 season when the Patriotes defeated Queen's 3-1 in the OUA semi-final on March 11 to advance to the Queen's Cup championship. UQTR won that game 3-2 over Western and then lost in the national semifinal to the eventual champion Alberta Golden Bears.
STAT LEADERS
This season the Gaels were led by
Jared Bethune offensively as the sophomore finished with a team high nine goals while teammate
Mason Kohn paced the Tricolour with a total of 19 points.
Graeme Brown and
Patrick Sanvido paced the Gaels on defence with 10 points apiece.
In net
Luke Richardson saw action in all 28 games this season finishing with 12 wins, a 2.58 GAA and 0.908 save percentage with three shutouts.
UQTR was led on offence by Jordan Martel who scored a team high 14 goals while Julien Tessier led the way with 31 points including 11 power play assists.
On defence Loik Leveille scored nine goals and added 14 assists for 23 points.
In net the Patriotes are led by veteran netminder Sebastian Auger who appeared in 23 games finishing with 14 wins, a 2.22 GAA and 0.933 save percentage along with three shutouts.
SCHEDULE
Game 1: Wednesday Feb. 12 | UQTR at Queen's | 7:30 pm
Game 2: Saturday Feb. 15 | Queen's at UQTR | 7:00 pm
Game 3: Sunday Feb. 16 | Queen's at UQTR | 7:00 pm (if necessary)
