KINGSTON, Ont. (February 12, 2020) - The Queen's Gaels (0-1) dropped a 3-1 decision to the No.8 nationally-ranked UQTR Patriotes in the opening round of OUA playoffs at the Memorial Centre in Kingston on Wednesday night. The best-of-three series will shift to Trois-Rivières, Quebec with game two taking place Saturday night at 7 pm.
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.
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.
GAME FLOW
As the puck dropped for the Queen's Cup playoffs the Gaels got the games first real chance as
Alex Row came down the ice on a partial break, he waited for help but his pass was deflected out of harm's way.
UQTR appeared to open the scoring near the midway point of the opening frame but the goal was called back as the officials had blown the play dead due to a hand pass.
The Patriotes opened the scoring at the 12:35 mark of the period as Zachary Lavigne skated out of the corner with the puck and beat Gaels starting goaltender
Luke Richardson on the short side.
Near the end of the first Christophe Boivin broke in on the Gaels defence and snapped a shot top corner blocker side to put the visitors ahead 2-0.
In the early stages of the second period, the Gaels were able to get one back.
Jared Bethune picked up a loose puck at centre ice and stopped to cut back to the middle of the ice, working his way around a UQTR defender, then fired a shot top shelf for the Gaels first goal of the night.
Late in the second period, Gabriel Sylvestre was given a five-minute major for kneeing as Bethune was injured on the play. The Patriotes successfully killed off the full five-minute penalty.
Early in the third period, the Patriotes offence went to work again. Julien Tessier feathered a pass through the Gaels defence from the corner to Simon Lafrance in the slot who fired home his first of the playoffs.
The Gaels had chances in the remaining minutes but could not solve UQTR goaltender Sebastien Auger.
MUST SEE
BY THE NUMBERS
1 - Goal from
Jared Bethune for the Gaels, his first of the playoffs
2 - The Gaels will now need to win two games in Trois-Rivières to advance in the OUA playoffs
0 - No power-play goals scored for either team
SCHEDULE
Game 1: UQTR 3, Queen's 1
Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 15 | Queen's at UQTR | 7:00 pm | OUA.tv
Game 3: Sunday, Feb. 16 | Queen's at UQTR | 7:00 pm (if necessary) | OUA.tv
