SERIES RECAP: Dream season for Gee-Gees Men’s Hockey comes to an end

For the second consecutive season, the third round of the OUA Queen's Cup playoffs was within reach for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees men's hockey team. But the reigning regular season champions came up just short, falling to the Queen's Gaels in the third game of a best-of-three series.

"We are crushed right now, with the season we had, and to have this magical season come to an end tonight is mind boggling to us," said head coach Patrick Grandmaître following the series.

Home ice advantage, something the Gee-Gees battled all season long to obtain, did not work in their favour over the course of the series. 

Opening game one on home ice, they dropped the game by a score of 3-2. Stymied by a hot goaltender between the pipes for Queen's, the Gee-Gees were only able to score on two of 36 shots, and were unable to find a tying goal late in the game. 

Facing elimination in Kingston, Ottawa carried forward with an aggressive style of play.

"I think for our team, we played very well for a long stretch of play in game one," forward Quinn O'Brien said ahead of game two. "The fact we battled right until the end, those are all positives to take away."

This time, the efforts of the Garnet and Grey were rewarded as they jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in the contest. They outshot the opposition again by a large margin, this time 46-26.

Graduating forward Jean-François Plante opened the scoring, while defenceman Cody Van Lierop scored a goal in back-to-back games.

Meanwhile in goal, the Gee-Gees turned to Graham Hunt after Anthony Brodeur started in goal to open the series.

Back on home ice, the Gee-Gees had the chance to complete the series comeback and move forward to the third round.

Queen's jumped out to an early lead, however. With three goals on only 10 shots within the opening 16 minutes of the game, it spelled the end of the night for Hunt, with Brodeur returning between the pipes.

The Gee-Gees eventually settled down, and began clawing back in the game.

Brendan Jacome opened the scoring late in the second period, while a power play goal from Eric Locke soon after restored confidence as they returned to the dressing room.

Just one minute into the third period, Locke scored his second of the night to tie the game.

Chaotic play ensued midway through the third period, as the two teams combined for five goals in less than three minutes. 

Queen's restored the lead before Michael Poirier replied for the Gee-Gees moments later.

The Gaels would then add another to gain the lead with a score of 5-4. As Ottawa pressured for another equalizer, their aggressive play caused a penalty and sent Queen's to the power play. 

Just seconds into the man advantage, an attempt by Ottawa to rim the puck around the boards took a bounce of the zamboni door and towards the front of the net. With most skaters expecting the puck on the opposite side of the ice, it landed squarely on a Gaels' stick in front of the net, and was promptly buried to extend the lead. 

Soon after, Jacob Sweeney rushed up ice to score and pull Ottawa back within one goal in a 6-5 contest. Unfortunately, that was as close as they could get. Unable to find an equalizing goal for the third time in the night, they dropped the game and bowed out of the playoffs.

"It's not the ending that we want, but very descriptive of the type of people we have," Grandmaître said. "We kept fighting back, but it's hard beating a team like that when you allow six goals. The start wasn't what we wanted."

Despite the difficult loss, there's still plenty to look forward to for the future of this program.

Fresh off a 22-2-4 finish at the top of the standings, the Gee-Gees will expect a nearly complete cast to return this season.

While only two players are graduating, they'll leave lasting legacies with this program.

Eric Locke, a medical student and captain for two seasons with Ottawa, racked up awards and accolades during his distinguished five year career. In addition to his contributions in all aspects of the game, he was also a tremendous leader and role model for the Gee-Gees on and off ice. 

Jean-François Plante, a Master of Science in Human Kinetics student, played one season with the Gee-Gees following four seasons at Université de Moncton. In addition to his successes academically, he was was of the best goal scorers in recent memory within university hockey. Over the course of 141 regular season games, he tallied 71 goals and added 54 assists.

—Cameron Penney