Successful start to weekend for Queen’s hockey

Men’s and women’s hockey start season undefeated

Men’s and women’s hockey showed no signs of early-season pains this weekend.
Image supplied by: Journal File Photo
Men’s and women’s hockey showed no signs of early-season pains this weekend.

Homecoming weekend signalled the start to the men’s and women’s hockey team’s 2017/18 campaign. 

Women’s Hockey

It was a positive start for the Gaels in their sole game against the UOIT Ridgebacks. In a tightly contested matchup, Queen’s slipped by the Ridgebacks with a score of 2-1.

“It’s always nice to start the season off with a win, especially getting it in regulation to get the full three points,” head coach Matt Holmberg said.

The game was physical on both sides of the ice throughout, with the teams combining for 16 penalty minutes. Despite making it difficult to develop momentum, the Gaels did a comprehensive job of keeping focus. After a sluggish second period, Queen’s rallied in the final period and won off a tap-in by Cornell transfer Caroline DeBruin with 10 minutes remaining.

In her first game in a Queen’s jersey DeBruin impressed, recording two points.

“She gives 110 percent every shift — she’s a smart player…we’ve got a lot of players that can contribute offensively so there’s no pressure on her,” Holmberg said.

The women will hit the road on the weekend for their first overnight trip of the season, where they’ll take on Brock and Waterloo.

Men’s Hockey

There were few signs of slowing down for the 2016/17 OUA finalists, as the men’s hockey team took both of their weekend matchups against Laurentian and UOIT in their first home stand of the season.

“It’s the way we wanted to start the season so overall, I’m happy,” head coach Brett Gibson said,

In their first game against Laurentian, the Gaels came out slow but were able to pick it up after a blunt speech from Gibson in the first intermission.

“Our team’s slogan this year is “Karma” and in the first game karma did us in the first period. We didn’t practice well on Thursday and it carried over into the first period,” Gibson said.

Following a slow opening period to start the season, the weekend was smooth sailing for the Gaels. After beating Laurentian by a score of 5-2, Queen’s marched into the Memorial centre on Homecoming and handily defeated UOIT 4-0. The Gaels’ depth was a positive takeaway for Gibson, as the weekend saw goals from seven different players.

“The big thing for me is we not only got contribution from our first line, we got contribution from our whole lineup…last year we relied a little too much on our first line and to get scoring throughout the lineup on the first weekend is positive,” Gibson said.

The men will hit the road this weekend as they’ll make their way down to Toronto for a set of games against the University of Toronto and Ryerson with the priority of keeping a strong effort level up and down the lineup.

“I think those can be considered some of the top teams in the league, so I think it’ll be a good early test for us,” Gibson said.

Tags

Men's hockey, recap, women's hockey

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