Strong offence by O’Brien lifts Gees past Queen’s Gaels
The University of Ottawa Men’s Hockey team picked up a crucial fourth-straight win on Feb. 9 against Queen’s University Gaels. The team is fighting for playoff position in the final weekend of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) regular season, currently sitting in fifth place in their division.
It was an inauspicious start to the game, with the Gees running into penalty trouble early. Kyle Domingue was sent off for tripping six minutes into the first. The Gees have had a strong penalty killing unit as of late, and managed to generate some offence on the PK, with Jacob Hanlon speeding off on a breakaway before being stopped by the Queen’s goalie.
But the Gees wouldn’t be so lucky on the penalty kill later, as Queen’s put one home on the power play with seven minutes left in the first.
In the second period, both teams played defensively, eliminating many scoring chances. However, with only two minutes left in the period, a slapshot by Gee-Gee Jacob Sweeney beat the Queen’s netminder and tied the game up at one apiece.
It had been a fairly quiet game after two periods, but that would all change in the final frame. Seven minutes into the third, Gee-Gee Quinn O’Brien scored his 14th goal to give the Gees the lead. It was his fifth goal in four games.
But O’Brien wasn’t done yet. Just two minutes later, he potted his second goal of the game to give the U of O a two goal lead halfway through the final period.
Finally, Kevin Domingue would put the game on ice by scoring an empty net goal. His 19th goal of the year puts him among the league’s top goal scorers, tying him with Concordia’s Anthony Beauregard, second only to RMC’s Riley Brandt, who has 21.
It was a slow start to the game, but a fiery third period would give the Garnet and Grey a 4-1 win on home ice.
At the time this article was written, the U of O sits fifth in the OUA eastern conference, with 34 points. Concordia sits in fourth with 37 points, and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) sits in sixth with 33 points. McGill leads the conference with 43 points. Ottawa is currently on the longest winning streak of any team in the division, at four games.
