AN EVENTFUL FINAL PERIOD FOR THE GEES, HOLDING ONTO DEAR LIFE TO KEEP THE LEAD
The second game of the Colonel By Classic between the men’s hockey, Gee-Gees vs Ravens, was an absolute nail biter of a game.
Despite the Gee-Gees going into the final period with a 4-1 lead, all fans rose to their feet when the Ravens finally got on the board nearing the end of the second period. The Raven’s third period surge brought the game to a one goal difference with five minutes remaining, but was spoiled by the games standout, Max Grondin.
The Gees win both Colonel By Classic games, backing up the Women’s team with a 6-4 victory over the Ravens.
The game got scrappy immediately, both teams showing their mutual hatred for each other.
Fast break opportunities are the best opportunities for the Gees — they were off to the races against Ravens defender James Mayotte, where Elliot Dutil slid it through to Marc-Antoine Séguin for a quick goal, starting it off strong.
The first period came to a close as the Gees fended off the penalty kill, having the upper hand as they outshot the Ravens 9-3, but would get a power play themselves with less than a minute remaining.
During the brief power play, Séguin received the puck from Zach Giroux at the top of the circle, sniping it bardown past Dylan Meilun for his second goal of the game.
In the eighth minute of the second period, a scramble for the puck in the corner resulted in a loose puck, and all alone was Maxim Grondin with a wide-open shot, shooting it in for the Gees’ third goal of the game.
A few minutes later, defenseman Peter Stratis was carrying the puck up the ice, where he was suddenly blindsided in a brutal knee-on-knee collision with Peter Amanatidis. Stratis went down with an injury, and Amanatidis picked up a five-minute major penalty.
The Gees capitalized quickly on the power play, number 59 Mitchell Martin avenged Stratis and let the Ravens hear it loud and clear. The Gees had a massive 4-0 lead, and the Ravens simply had no answer.
Nearing the end of the period, the Ravens in fact did have an answer as Nick McCarry was finally able to sneak it by Franky Lapenna.
Fear entered the veins of the Gees fans once more in the final period, as Alex Johnston beat Lapenna for the Ravens’ second goal of the game, now only down 4-2.
Right back at them, the rookie Gee Ethan Montroy fought for a hustle goal, pushing it in for his third of the season, putting the Gees up 5-2 with a little over half the period to play.
Luckily for the Ravens, on their powerplay, Lapenna wasn’t playing like his usual self — Reese Belton dangled through several Gees before tucking it carefully to the right of Lapenna for their third goal of the game.
Just a minute later, the Ravens responded to their previous goal, where Felix Bedard made scoring look easy. Just like that, in no time, the Gees’ comfortable lead was now slim, nerves definitely rattled, trying everything to fend for the lead late in the Colonel By Classic.
The Ravens were desperate for a goal, pulling their goalie to get an extra man on the ice. Lapenna, in need of revenge, shot it all the way down the ice. He could have had a goal for himself, but Grondin had to make sure, icing the game 6-4 for the Colonel By Classic winners.
Nevertheless, it was a bitter sweet win for the team, as they lost their captain, Peter Stratis.
Head coach Patrick Grandmaître commented, “I was pretty cool [when our lead started to slip.] I mentioned before the game, these games whether its Panda, Capital Hoops, or Colonel By, there’s always something that happens to create animosity or adversity. You just don’t know how it’s gonna happen… I took a timeout to remind them who we are, and to refocus. But we found a way to win.”
He noted that the game was bitter sweet, “I’m also quite disappointed losing our captain, we’re hoping it’s not major. It taints our victory because he’s an important part of our team.”
Although Lapenna struggled to shut down the Ravens in the final period, he sure made up for it in the clutch as he helped put the game away with a cross ice assist to Grondin. Post-game, the star goalie stated during an on-ice interview: “The day we stop having fun is the day I stop playing.”
With the Colonel By Classic flag recaptured, the Gee-Gees men’s hockey team caps off the semester with their tenth win of the semester, maintaining their second place rank in the OUA East.
