HOME-OPENER SAW A VICTORY FOR GEE-GEES.
OCT. 6 — The Gee-Gees faced off against the UQTR Patriotes in their home opener at the Minto Sports Complex. They were able to defeat the Patriotes 5-1 and defended their barn in a phenomenal performance.
In the first period, captain Anthony Poulin was able to score off a beautiful rebound that was assisted by forwards Bradley Chenier and Mathieu Desgagnes to start the game up.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just a goal.” Poulin humbly said, when asked if his goal helped kick off the offensive dominance. “I stuck with it, took my rebound. It could have been anyone. But yeah, our line, we started pretty strong and I think we beat our team. It was a team win, everybody played hard, everybody played good, and that’s how we got here.”
Despite struggling to exit the zone throughout the period, forward Charles-Antoine Roy was able to score on the power play which was also assisted by Chenier and Desgagnes.
The team improved on exiting the zone in the second period. They were even more physical on the ice as our players were laying out big hits to rattle their opponents. Coach Patrick Grandmaitre explained how this shift happened, saying it was watching film and analyzing the situation that caused this.
“This is the benefits of having a pause between periods and reassessing what we’re doing, looking at a bit of video, and trying to counter their strategy. Some adjustments were made as we knew what they would come with. There’s a really good forecheck that they have, and they’re quite aggressive so we adjusted to that.”
Forward Evan Boucher was able to capitalize on another powerplay by scoring as Poulin and forward Max Grondin sent him the puck for a powerful slap shot from the point.
The offensive domination continued in the third period as more improvement was shown by the offense. The defence had a strong performance, as they were able to help goaltender Franky Lapenna handle a 4-on-3 situation on the penalty kill. Despite the Patriotes scoring a goal near the end, the team was able to end it with two more goals, as forward Vincent Labelle scored in front and Chenier got the empty net goal when the Patriotes pulled their goalie.
Everyone played incredibly well, but the standout had to be Lapenna in net for the Gee-Gees. He stopped 30 out of 31 shots with an athletic performance and phenomenal rebound control. It was mesmerizing to watch him make these immaculate saves, swat away and dove towards close shots, and go post-to-post during an intense penalty kill.
“I try my best,” Lapenna said about his performance, “My job is to keep the pucks out of the end. The guys did a great job in front of me, limiting the scoring chances and a little Kraft Dinner always helps.”
