RECAP: Men’s hockey suffers back-to-back losses over the weekend

The Gee-Gees men's hockey team lost both of their games over the weekend – a 3-2 defeat to Queen's in a shootout on the road Friday and a 5-4 decision to the Concordia Stingers at home on Sunday.

"We need to be able to play 60 minutes," said Gee-Gees head coach Patrick Grandmaître. "We were the better team at times, then we started not executing and not responding. If you put yourself behind the eight ball with that style of play, you do not deserve to win. The good part was when we turned it on, we were really good."

The Gee-Gees lead at multiple times in each game and have now lost four of their last five contests.

Ottawa and Queen's always seem to play tight matchups, and Friday evening was no different. The Gee-Gees led twice, with Marc Beckstead and Michael Poirier finding the back of the net, but the Gaels responded in turn with goals from Eric Margo.

The game would go to a nail-biting eight-round shootout, where Duncan Campbell finally solved Graham Hunt to give Queen's the extra point.

Hunt played well in his first action of the calendar year. He made 36 saves, plus seven stops in the shootout. The fourth year netminder has played twice this season, both times against the Gaels.

Sunday's matchup was a gut-wrenching one for the Garnet and Grey. Ottawa held three separate two-goal leads, only to have the Stingers score three unanswered goals to win 5-4. Adding to the pain for the Gee-Gees was that the Stingers didn't score an even-strength goal in the contest – they found twine twice on the power play and three times while shorthanded.

"If you have goals against on your power play like that, you should not win, you do not deserve to win," said Grandmaître. "It's incredible. I've never seen that as a player or as a coach. It can't happen."

The Gee-Gees pressed late, but were stonewalled by Concordia goaltender Sébastien Lefebvre, who made 37 saves in relief of starter Kyle Jessiman.

Kevin Domingue scored the third Ottawa goal, jamming in a Jacob Hanlon drive that got through Jessiman. The goal was Domingue's 68th of his career, which is the most goals by a single player in the 130-year history of the men's hockey team.

"I'm grateful to the program and everyone who brought me here," said Domingue. "I scored the 68th goal in a loss, but I'm happy and I have to say thank you to all those players who passed me the puck and have been there since day one."

Ottawa (15-7-3) have clinched home ice for the first round of the playoffs, but they must earn five points out of their final three games to fend off McGill (14-8-2), who are charging hard for third place. McGill trail by three points while having played one less game.

The Gee-Gees will continue a three-game homestand, welcoming RMC (7-16-1) to the Minto Sports Complex next weekend. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 2.