Gee-Gees continue successful season with 6-1 victory
Coming off a two-game Southern Ontario road trip, the Gee-Gees men’s hockey team was back in action at the Minto Sports Complex on Nov. 2 to take on the RMC Paladins.
Anthony Brodeur got his second straight start following the Gees’ 3-1 win against the Guelph Gryphons, in which he played a pivotal part, stopping 33 out of 34 shots.
The Gee-Gees started off slow, taking a couple penalties early, but their defence was solid on the penalty kill, keeping the game at 0-0.
The Gees’ offence then turned on the jets when centre Brendan Jacome beat RMC backup goaltender Austin Hannaford with a bar-down shot 12 minutes into the first to give them a 1-0 lead. Kevin Domingue and Cody Drover were credited with the assists.
A couple minutes later, U of O forward Antoine Pouliot would score his first goal, redirecting a Jacob Hanlon pass from the corner into the net to give the Gee-Gees a 2-0 lead. The Gees would take that lead into the dressing room.
In the second, the Garnet and Grey would get a two-man advantage early for almost a full two minutes, but failed to capitalize despite numerous good scoring chances.
A minute after the power-play, defenceman Mike Poirier was left open at the edge of the circle, where Jean-François Plante fed him a nice pass, which he would convert into a goal.
The Gees failed to capitalize on some golden chances following the Poirier goal, including a breakaway from Jacome, while defenceman Medric Mercier would hit the post on a shot from the point.
Near the end of the period, the Paladins would fail to score on a pair of power-play chances.
The third frame started with RMC forward Samuel Cameron getting a breakaway of his own off a big hit on Mongo, but Brodeur would make the save. In spite of that, the Paladins would score a minute later, with Deric Boudreau netting his second of the season off the rush to cut the Gees’ lead to 3-1.
It wouldn’t last long, as two minutes later the Gee-Gees took back their three-goal lead when Nicholas Gibson beat Hannaford with a nice shot over the glove. Marc Beckstead collected an assist on the goal.
Towards the midpoint of the period, the Gees, down a man, would intercept a pass off a cycling RMC team, giving Mongo and Jacome a two-on-one chance, which Jacome would bury to give the Gees a 5-1 lead.
Beckstead would add another goal for the Gee-Gees with six minutes remaining to give them a whopping 6-1 lead, which they would carry to the end.
The Gee-Gees men’s hockey team will be in Northern Ontario next weekend for a Friday night matchup against the Nipissing Lakers on Nov. 9, and then a Saturday night in Sudbury against the Laurentian Voyageurs on Nov. 10.
