Gee-Gees take Game One of Round One in the Queen’s Cup playoffs
Time after time this season, Franky Lapenna has been a brick wall in the Gee-Gee’s net — so it wasn’t much of a surprise that he once again stepped up in a big way when the OUA East playoffs began on Feb. 14.
The third-seed Gees were in Oshawa to take on the sixth-seed Ontario Tech Ridgebacks in a Valentine’s Day playoff matchup; however, there was certainly no love lost between the foes. Scrums occurred after seemingly every other whistle, making it clear that this was indeed playoff hockey.
After a Ridgeback’s turnover in the neutral zone just a couple dozen seconds into the game, the puck found its way onto first-year Gee Anson McMaster’s stick. The defenceman took an innocent-looking shot from the right circle which found its way past OTU netminder William Desmarais’s blocker and into the back of the net. The goal was the first of McMaster’s U SPORTS career.
“After stepping up and causing the turnover, I saw I had some room to skate and am glad Poulin was able to get me the puck,” the Sisika, AB native said postgame. ”I didn’t see anyone across from me, so I decided to shoot and thankfully it went in.”
The early lead wouldn’t last long. After a David Lafrance interference penalty left the Gees shorthanded, the underdog Ridgebacks would tie the game up just over a minute later. But just a couple of minutes later, it was once again the Gees’ turn to pounce, as third-year defenceman Peter Stratis utilized a screen and sent a shot past Desmarais’s blocker.
Midway through the opening frame, Gees leading scorer Max Grondin sent a Ridgeback player into the boards from behind, earning him a two-minute penalty for checking from behind and a ten-minute misconduct. The hit, while not overly aggressive, still left the referee little choice but to call the penalty.
“Playoff hockey is always a bit more physical, and emotions are high.” Gee-Gees head coach Patrick Grandmaître said postgame. “There will always be some penalties. The message is always clear with our players that we don’t want to take penalties — but they will happen. We always try to stay level-headed and kill the penalties we do take.”
After a Ridgebacks penalty partway through the second period, Grondin used his speed and strength to chip the puck to Gees points leader Luka Verreault, who was streaking down the right wing. Verreault used the time and space to snipe it home past Desmarais’s outstretched glove hand, growing the lead to 3-1.
A few minutes later, Gees captain Anthony Poulin took a charging penalty, resulting in yet another post-whistle scrum, and of course an OTU powerplay. Lapenna would make perhaps his biggest save of the night on the man advantage: a blocker save on a Cullen McLean shot, resulting from a two-on-two rush.
And after the penalty was killed, once again an OTU turnover would result in a goal for the Gees when Grondin tucked in a rebound halfway through the third frame to make it 4-1 Gees.
With the Ridgebacks back on the powerplay a few minutes later, they pulled Desmarais in favour of a sixth skater. They would almost make good on their two-man advantage, but a few big saves from Lapenna and a key blocked shot from Poulin would keep them from reclaiming a stake in the game.
Gees winger Aaron Brown would pot his second of the year on the empty net a few minutes later, solidifying the final score at 5-1.
The Ridgebacks managed to outshoot the visiting Gees 47-to-32, but of course, the Gee-Gees had the OUA’s G.A.A. and save percentage leader in net to weather the storm. “[Lapenna] was our best player again, he made some key saves,” Grandmaître said of his first-year netminder.
Grandmaître agreed the game may have been closer than the score seemed to indicate. “We felt like we were in control most of the game, but we also had a five-minute sequence in the second period where we were not good. [I’m] overall happy with the game and the outcome, but also cognizant that we can play a more complete game.”
The Gee-Gees will welcome the Ridgebacks to the Minto Sports Complex on the weekend, where they will first attempt to end the underdog’s season on Feb. 16. If the Ridgebacks take game two of the three-game series, the rubber match will go the following afternoon.
Grandmaître explained that the team’s mindset going into the weekend was simple. “Be ourselves, play a good team game, stay out of the penalty box and outwork them.” As McMaster sees it, “our mindset doesn’t change going into Saturday. Obviously, we would like to clean up a few things, but keeping it simple and using our speed has helped us to get to where we are now.”
Tickets for the game are $7 dollars for students and are available online or at the door.
