RECAP: Women’s hockey suffer 3-2 loss to McGill

The Gee-Gees women's hockey team kicked off the second half of their schedule with a Saturday evening matchup with the McGill Martlets.

Both goaltenders were solid in the opening minutes, but it was the visiting McGill squad who struck first. A direct shot from the slot put the Martlets on the board.

Moments later, a miscue in the front of the net costed the Gee-Gees another goal as Cassidy Stasiuk stole the puck and tipped it in to establish a 2-0 lead in favour of the Martlets.

McGill added to their lead with a powerplay goal partway through what was an otherwise quiet second period. 

With a four-minute man advantage, the Martlets nearly found the mesh again to start the third period. The Gee-Gees were able to kill off the penalty while finding some scoring chances.

"We're proud of our penalty kill unit," said Gee-Gees co-coach Greg Bowles. "We have a lot of confidence in it."

It wasn't until the action-packed final minutes of play that the Gee-Gees got on the board. Florence Lessard recorded the goal with less than two minutes left on the clock. 

A McGill penalty gave the Gee-Gees the edge in the final moments. Ottawa played with urgency, Maëlle Laplante tipped the puck in for another goal to make it 3-2.

The Gee-Gees only had 10 seconds to work with, and were unable to find a tying goal, ultimately falling 3-2 to the Martlets.

"We were a bit sloppy in the first period and we settled down and we started playing Gee-Gees hockey," said Bowles.  "It goes to show that the league is so strong that if you're not playing your best hockey you're just asking to come out on the losing end."

The team is back at home on Jan. 12 to take on Bishop's University. Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. puck drop are available at https://teams.geegees.ca/tickets.