Gee-Gees show no signs of fatigue to get their third win in as many days
The Gee-Gees men’s hockey team improved to 4–0 in 2017 after going undefeated in their three-game weekend set. This hot streak was capped off by a win on Sunday, Jan. 15 at the Minto Sports Complex against the Laurentian Voyageurs.
After back-to-back victories against Lakehead University, the Gees came out and played a solid 60 minutes against a struggling Laurentian team to propel their record in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference to 11–7–3.
Four different Gees found the back of the net on Sunday, and a combination of good defensive play and strong goaltending shut down Laurentian’s offense.
The Gees were aggressive right out of the gate, being called for two penalties early in the first period. The Garnet and Grey looked dominant early, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Laurentian’s goalkeeper stood tall while making some great saves.
Defenseman Adam Beveridge finally put one past the Voyageurs’ goalie with an impressive shot that rang off the iron before hitting the back of the net at 12:32 in the second period.
Shortly after, centre Jacob Hanlon made a great play to intercept a clearing opportunity by the Voyageurs’ goaltender and deposited the puck in the empty cage. Gees goaltender Graham Hunt kept up his solid play to keep the score at 2–0 after 40 minutes.
Just over five minutes into the final period, centre Mathieu Dubois scored a beautiful breakaway goal to increase the Gees’ lead to three.
The Voyageurs had a breakaway of their own not long after, but Hunt made an impressive save on the attempt to help his team maintain their lead.
Left wing Cody Drover, the former Dieppe Commando, scored on another breakaway in dramatic fashion as well.
With just less than eight minutes left, and being down by four goals, Laurentian’s coach decided to pull his goalie while already on the power-play for a six on four advantage. The decision proved costly as Dubois deposited the puck in the vacant net with less than five minutes to play, making the final score 5–0 for the Gees.
📽| Highlights from today’s 5-0 #HorseHockey win over @VoyageursMHKY, presented by @YukYuksOttawa.
Some superb finishes. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/pAUekHYupM
— uOttawa Men’s Hockey (@UOttawaMHockey) January 15, 2017
The Gees fired an impressive 46 shots on the Laurentian goalie in total. Hunt stopped 36 shots on the way to his first shutout of the season.
“He’s been good, great at times,” head coach Patrick Grandmaître said of Hunt. “But I think we played a very good team game, limiting scoring chances. When we did have a bit of a lapse, that’s where he came in and kept us in there.”
The Gees are now 7–1–2 in their last 10 games. While there are going to be obvious growing pains for the young team, their strong hustle in early 2017 brings new hope and optimism to the future of the program.
“Everybody is participating right now. We aren’t relying on just one player, one line, or one goalie,” said Grandmaître. “We have been fortunate that everybody has been contributing.”
The next home game will take place on Jan. 18 versus the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes at the Minto Sports Complex. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. You can purchase tickets from the Gee-Gees’ website.
