After a 5-1 loss to the McGill Redmen last Sunday, the men’s hockey team was looking to bounce back at the Memorial Centre this weekend. After a miserable 8-2 loss to the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes on Friday night, the Gaels fought back on Saturday against Carleton, pulling out a 5-3 victory over the Ravens.
On Friday night, the Gaels got off to a great start against the Patriotes with high energy play that led to a goal by forward Scott Kenway in the opening minute. The rest of the period was a battle between goaltenders Mackenzie Ball and UQTR’s Jean-Christophe Ballard.
The second period revealed a revitalized Patriotes team who peppered Ball with 14 shots, six of which found their way past him. Ball was replaced by rookie goaltender Christopher Feniak in the last minute of the second, and he remained in net for the rest of the game. Feniak allowed two goals on 12 shots on net in the third. Forward David Fitzpatrick potted his first goal of the season in the dying minutes of the game.
Captain Jon Lawrance said the Gaels didn’t play to their potential after the first period.
“We need to re-find our work ethic, which is the big key,” he said. “That’s what seems to come and go. We’re going to try to out-work [Carleton on Saturday] and play the full 60 minutes instead of just 20.” Assistant coach Andrew Haussler said he found some positives in his team’s play against UQTR, adding that Saturday’s game against Carleton would be beneficial.
“Obviously not the result or the effort we wanted. It’s early in the season and we will take what we can from it, learn and try to improve,” he said. “It’s fortunate that we have a game against Carleton, we don’t have to sit and stew about this for too long.”
The calls for better play by both the coaching staff and the team were challenged when Carleton scored two quick goals to open the first period on Saturday. However, the Gaels came back quickly with a goal by rookie forward Joey Derochie just over a minute later. Carleton made it 3-1 before rookie defenseman Robert Stellick scored a power play goal with a minute left in the first frame.
Queen’s tied the game at 3-3 with Derochie’s second goal of the night midway through the second period.
The Gaels went into the third period with a two-man advantage, during which Lawrance scored the game winner. Forward David Chubb added an insurance marker two minutes later to seal the win.
Derochie, who had a big night against the Ravens with four points, said the win was important for the Gaels’ confidence.
“We knew we had to bounce back pretty big after the tough loss yesterday,” he said. “I think we all responded pretty well. Everyone battled. We just took it one shift at a time.”
Head coach Brett Gibson said he challenged his team to bounce back from Friday’s loss.
“We faced a lot of adversity this weekend with the way we played last night,” he said. “I challenged every guy in the room. I thought that was the best effort we had all year.”
Gibson said there’s work to be done but the win over Carleton left him optimistic for the rest of the season.
“We just have to be ready,” he said. “There’s no easy night in this league and when you’re not ready, you get embarrassed by good teams. I thought we learned a good lesson and we just a beat a real good team so it shows that we’re right there with the rest of the league.”
The 2-2-0 Gaels travel to Montreal next weekend where they will play the McGill Redmen on Friday and the Concordia Stingers on Saturday.
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