RECAP: Men’s hockey narrowly falls to Stingers in offensive showdown

The Gee-Gees men's hockey team and the Concordia Stingers engaged in a back-and-forth battle for the ages on January 4 at the Ed Meagher Arena in Montreal, with the Stingers emerging 8-7 victors in overtime.

The contest featured six lead changes and the Gee-Gees forced overtime with 2.6 seconds remaining the third period.

"We gave up only 26 shots, but a lot of them were grade A scoring chances," said Gee-Gees head coach Patrick Grandmaître. "That's very unlike ourselves. I liked our energy level and that we came back and we can look at that in a positive way."

It was a seesaw battle from the outset, with the Stingers scoring twice in the first frame and the Gee-Gees responding in turn. Mathieu Newcomb potted his third of the season, while Matt Dunlop pounced on a Kevin Domingue rebound. The goal was extra special for Dunlop, as the fourth-year defenceman was appearing in his 100th career regular season game on Saturday evening.

"The boys gave me lots of attention today and scoring a goal was fun," said Dunlop. "We're happy that we could pull a point out of that with coming off the holiday break. We got some rust out, which was needed."

The Gee-Gees took their first lead of the contest five minutes into the second period. Daniel Hardie broke in alone and beat goaltender Sebastien Lefebvre through the five-hole. However, the Stingers would tie the game at three heading into the second intermission.

The back-and-forth affair continued in the third, with a flurry of goals at each end. The Stingers held leads of 6-4 and 7-5, but the Gee-Gees battled back. After a shorthanded marker by Jacob Hanlon with two minutes to go, Nicolas Mattinen's desperation clapper from the point found a way through, tying the game at seven with just 2.6 seconds remaining.

The 15th and deciding goal wouldn't take long, as Carl Neill scored on a breakaway 29 seconds into overtime to give Concordia the victory.

"Our neutral zone play was not good tonight," said Grandmaître. "They beat our forecheck even though we changed it halfway through the game. The whole team was here tonight, but mental mistakes cost us."

Domenic Graham got the start and gave up five goals on 19 shots and Anthony Brodeur took over midway through the third period. The Gee-Gees outshot the Stingers by a 45-26 margin.

Ottawa's power play was stymied, going 0-for-5, but their conference-best penalty kill was 3-for-3 and is now at 92.3 percent on the season.
The Gee-Gees travel to take on the RMC Paladins on Wednesday, January 8. Ottawa returns to the Minto Sports Complex for a pivotal back-to-back with the UQTR Patriotes on Saturday, January 11 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, January 12 at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets are available now at tickets.geegees.ca. Stay up to date during the game by following @GeeGeesMHKY on Twitter.