RECAP: Domingue delights, men’s hockey earns three points in weekend road trip

The Gee-Gees men's hockey team secured three of a possible four points on their northern road swing this weekend. The Gee-Gees fell in a shootout to the Nipissing Lakers by a score of 4-3 on Saturday, November 23, but rallied to defeat the Laurentian Voyageurs 5-3 the following afternoon.

"I think we played well in five out of the six periods this weekend," said Gee-Gees head coach Patrick Grandmaître. "Our lone bad period was our second at Nipissing and it ended up costing us a point. This road trip is never easy as it is our longest and we have very few hours of recovery playing a night game follow by an afternoon matchup."

Kevin Domingue paved the way with four goals during the two contests, including the game-winner against the Voyageurs. Cody Drover also enjoyed a four-point weekend, all of which were assists.

Ottawa had to play catch-up against the Lakers on Saturday night. Entering the third period, they found themselves trailing 3-1, but goals from Yvan Mongo and Domingue pulled the Garnet and Grey even and forced overtime.

The Gee-Gees dominated the third period and the extra frame, outshooting Nipissing 20-8 during the stretch. However, a shootout would be needed to decide things. Jacob Hickey of the Lakers beat Domenic Graham, while the three Ottawa shooters couldn't solve netminder Francis Asselin, handing the Lakers a 4-3 win.

"Following the disappointing shootout loss, our message was 'positivity,'" said Grandmaître. "I did not want to focus on the outcome of our Nipissing game, I wanted the players to remember our great start, our comeback and our multiple scoring chances. The message was well received as the boys came out hard and had a great first period."

The Garnet and Grey rebounded nicely on Sunday afternoon to the tune of five unanswered goals to send off the Voyageurs.

Laurentian opened the scoring, but Domingue tied the game moments later with a power play marker set up by Mathieu Newcomb and Drover.

The second frame was one-way traffic for the visitors, as Ottawa outshot the Voyageurs 15-6. Jacob Hanlon found the back of the net twice, with Domingue and Marco Azzano both adding to the lead before the period was over.

Laurentian pushed back in the third with two goals in quick succession, but Ottawa hung on for the 5-3 win. Anthony Brodeur made 30 stops in net to pick up his first win of the season.

The Gee-Gees (8-4-1) now sit in third place in the OUA East, tied with McGill. Ottawa still holds between one and three games in hand over their divisional opponents. They are seven points behind the second-place UQTR Patriotes (11-2-2) and 11 points behind the top-seeded Carleton Ravens (14-2-0).

Domingue's four-goal weekend now gives him nine markers on the season. The senior forward has upped his game in November, with points in all six of the team's games and seven goals during that stretch.

"'Dingo' is a shooter," said Grandmaître. "Goal scorers can be streaky, but they always end up getting on a roll at some point, which is the case right now. He's shooting well and his teammates are finding him in good spots. When he's skating and creating opportunities, he's hard to contain for a full 60 minutes."

Drover extended his point streak to seven games this weekend. The Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L., product leads the Gee-Gees with 17 points (3-14-17).

The Gee-Gees were 1-for-9 on the man advantage during the weekend, while their penalty kill was 8-for-9. Ottawa's penalty kill percentage is now 89.4, good for second in the OUA.

BUSY WEEK AHEAD

The Gee-Gees are in the midst of a sequence of six games in eleven days. After logging nearly 1,000 km on the road this weekend, the team will play their next three games at home.

Ottawa continues their busy schedule on Wednesday, November 27 against the Queen's Gaels (6-9-0). Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. at the Minto Sports Complex.

Queen's and Ottawa have plenty of history, as the Gaels ended the Gee-Gees 2018-19 campaign in the second round of the OUA playoffs. The Gaels would go on to capture the Queen's Cup.

However, Queen's have been a shell of their former selves this season. Having lost both of their goaltenders and 2018-19 OUA East MVP Slater Doggett, the Gaels are averaging a mere 2.53 goals-per-game, the third-lowest mark in the Ontario conference.

Freshman goaltender Luke Richardson has started every game for the Gaels this season and is second in the OUA in minutes played. Queen's is paced offensively by Ryan Cranford and Mason Kohn, who each have nine points. Cranford, Jared Bethune and Matthew Hotchkiss are tied for the team lead with five goals apiece.

For in-game updates, follow @GeeGeesMHKY on Twitter. The games are streamed on OUA.tv. Tickets to all Gee-Gees home games are available at tickets.geegees.ca.