Gee-Gees drop clash at TD Place, remain unbeaten in regulation
The University of Ottawa men’s hockey team and their forever-rivals the Carleton Ravens met for the second time this season in the third annual Colonel By Classic at TD Place, Nov. 16. On the menu, big hits and big saves.
Entering the game, the Gee-Gees were undefeated in regulation, sitting in first place in the OUA with a record of 9-0-1, while Carleton sat in fifth with a weaker 6-3-2 record.
Last time these two teams met was on opening night when the U of O defeated Carleton 3-2 in a hard-fought affair that had to be solved by a shootout.
In this one, both teams came out of the gate hungry and ready for a tough match.
This led to what a lot of coaches like to describe as east-west hockey, or physical, neutral- zone hockey. Although both teams failed to capitalize on a couple of Grade-A scoring chances, Gee-Gees goalie Anthony Brodeur did have to make one particularly amazing save on a Carleton 2-on-0.
In spite of this, the Gees would outshoot the Ravens 9-4, taking a certain momentum into the dressing room.
The middle frame would open up in the same fashion as the first, with intense hockey on both sides and a healthy dose of non-threatening shots.
With seven minutes left in the period, Gees forward Kevin Domingue, cutting to the net from his opposite wing, managed to beat Ravens goalie Francois Brassard low on the glove side for his fifth goal of the season to give them a 1-0 lead.
The Garnet and Grey would add to their lead four minutes later when Quinn O’Brien, leaving the penalty box, received a crisp pass from Mark Beckstead for the breakaway and beat Brassard on his blocker side. At the end of two, the Gees led 2-0, but were just barely out-shooting the Ravens 20-19.
In the third, the Ravens finally took flight, scoring on the power-play from the point on a Josh Burnside screened shot about eight minutes in, cutting the U of O’s lead in half. It was short-lived, as the Gee-Gees answered right back, scoring about a minute later on the power-play following a nice bar-down Cody Drover wrist shot.
Carleton did not relent, scoring with four minutes left to give themselves a shot to tie things up, and that they did after Jake Smith put one past Brodeur to tie it up to force overtime.
In OT there was nothing doing for either side, so just as they did earlier this season, the Gees and Ravens headed to yet another shootout.
Carleton ended up holding on in the shootout when Yvan Mongo got a chance to tie it up on the final shot, but unfortunately for the rookie, Brassard made the stop to give his team the win.
“It’s a game of momentum. It was an up and down game for us, and for them at times,” Gee-Gees head coach Patrick Grandmaitre said. “We were the good team at times, having a two-goal lead with I don’t know how much time, you know usually we bear down and get the job done.”
Gee-Gees defenceman Jacob Sweeney commended his team’s play.
“I think we came out hard, we played a pretty good game for the most part, but little details led to our demise,’’ Sweeney said.
The Gee-Gees will back in action on Nov. 17 as they take on the Concordia Stingers at Minto Sportsplex, 7 p.m. Both teams will meet again Nov. 23 at the Carleton Icehouse at 7:30 p.m.
