While the men’s hockey team hoped to complete a perfect weekend in Waterloo, they fell short Sunday night in a match up against the Laurier Golden Hawks.
Defence has been the story of the year for Queen’s, with stellar play in net by Kevin Bailie, who holds the highest save in the league at .945.
Despite having the third best goals against average in the OUA, Queen’s goalies were forced to make plenty of saves this weekend. During their Waterloo road trip, the Gaels were outshot 98-70. In their first action against the Warriors, Queen’s won a hard-fought game 5-4 in overtime, but lost 4-3 against Laurier after squandering a 3-1 lead.
Getting let down in their own zone left the Gaels playing catchup throughout the weekend. The Gaels fell behind on three separate occasions, forcing them to be the aggressor late in games.
After scoring a hat trick in Thursday’s win against RMC, Eric Ming continued his strong play into the weekend, scoring the game winner in double overtime against the Waterloo Warriors. He also assisted his line mates three times, gaining four points on the night. Ming is now ranked seventh in the OUA in goals.
Queen’s got the upper hand within seven minutes on Saturday. Patrick McGillis netted his 14th goal for the season, with assists by Spencer Abraham and Patrick Downe. Not wasting any time, Warrior Chris Chappell responded by tying the game. Waterloo left the first outshooting Queen’s 17-12.
Queen’s got ahead in the second period, as Slater Doggett scored his sixth goal of the season to put the Gaels up 2-1. But sloppy play put the Gaels behind, and in less than seven minutes they were down 3-2.
Responding to the setback, the Gaels battled to keep their well-established road record. Rylan Bloom found the net for Queen’s and tied the game 3-3 before Waterloo scored their fourth of the night, putting them up by a goal. The Gaels chased from behind once more.
Ryan Bloom scored his second of the night with the extra attacker in the last minute of the third, tying the game at 4-4.
With no shots in the first overtime by Queen’s and four critical saves for Bailie, Queen’s pushed Waterloo to their second overtime and Ming scored the winner.
The next night, the Gaels fell into a similar pattern. The team got pushed to overtime once again after squandering a 3-1 lead in the third period against Laurier.
Neither team found the back of the net in overtime, but Derek Schoenmakers and Greg Cerilli scored in the shootout to seal the Laurier win.
Just six days after their last meeting, the Gaels travel to RMC Wednesday night for a game against the Paladins.
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