The 1984-85 Gee-Gees captured the Quebec University Athletic Association championship by defeating the UQTR Patriotes in a best of three semifinal and then the Chicoutimi Inuk in a best of five conference final.
Ottawa posted a 10-8-2 regular season record to finish second in the conference before going on a playoff tear. The Gee-Gees would play a total of 11 playoff games, defeating UQTR 2-1 (2-3, 8-6, 7-2), Chicoutimi 3-1 (6-2, 6-3, and 4-3 in the victories), and UPEI 2-0 (2-1, 3-2) before advancing to the national semifinals, where they were narrowly defeated by York 2-0 (3-5, 5-6).
It was the second season under head coach Michel Boucher.
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RECAP: Gee-Gees win Quebec hockey title on disputed overtime goal
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees won the Quebec hockey championship Saturday on a disputed overtime goal that left the University of Quebec Chicoutimi Inuks smashing their sticks in frustration.
The Gee-Gees' hard-fought victory before 1,355 spectators at Hull's Robert Guertin Arena clinched the best-of-five Quebec University Athletic Association final 3-1 and gave U of O its first provincial hockey title, completing a two-year ascent from last place.
"Michael Naud worked the puck out of the corner to the slot and then Jocelyn Bolduc took a shot and it deflected off my pants," said U of O right-winger Jean-Maurice Cool who was credited with the winning goal 6:53 into overtime. "The goalie (Pierre Dionne) caught the puck but it was behing the line."
The net was knowed off its moorings on the play and Dionne and his teammates stormed after referee Luc Lachapelle when he ruled the goal was good.
"I was sure," said Lachapelle, whose uniform was ripped by Dionne's stick in the crush of Chicoutimi protesters. "The puck was in and then an Inuk player knocked the net off its post."
Inuks' coach Gilles Delisle didn't agree: "It was a very good game, but the net was off."
The teams had returned to the ice just 16 hours after Chicoutimi's last-minute 8-7 victory Friday and for two periods didn't play with the emotion expected of a championship.
Richard Heile opened the scoring midway through the first period then combined with Daniel Lemay, who struck on a three-on-two rush to give the Inuks a 2-0 lead heading into the second.
Ottawa's Rodolphe Turgeon replied with the only goal of the second period at 4:58. The Gee-Gees' power play, one of the best in the league during the season with a 29 per cent success rate, was unable to score in seven opportunities during the first two periods, including a minute with a two-man advantage.
Jean-Pierre Allard scored what appeared to be a decisive goal for Chicoutimi, skating in alone and sweeping the puck past two defenders and U of O goalie Tony Martino at 4:49 of the third period.
But then impressive goals by Ottawa's Jean Poulin and Naud a minute apart midway through the period tied the score and brough tboth the Gee-Gees and spectators back to life.
"That second goal was very important, we got our confidence back for the rest of the game," said Cool, a former captain of the major junior Verdun Junior Canadiens.
The teams were evenly matched in the overtime session.
"I thought it would be an overtime game," said Ottawa coach Michel Boucher, who felf at least one of two Ottawa goals disallowed in the first period was legitimate. "They were more ready than we were last night (Friday). We were in exams all week while they had study break to prepare and we were nervous. But they hadn't lost a game on the road all season. They had to lose sometime and it was today."
"We lost Lemay with a shoulder unjury at the end of the first period and we were skating with eight forwards," Delisle said. "That's probably the reason we were tired at the end of the third period. They have a good team and we respect them. They have a good chance of winning the CIAU championship."
Ottawa's victory ended a 10-year QUAA reign by Montreal's Concordia Stingers. Either Loyalist or Sir George Williams colleges, which combined to form Concordia, had won the old Ottawa-St. Lawerence conference for 11 years before the formation of the QUAA.
The Gee-Gees now play host to the second-ranked University of Prince Edward Island Panthers in the best-of-three Eastern final starting Friday at Gatineau's Baribeau Arena. The Panthers won the best-of-three Atlantic championship 2-0 Saturday with a 2-1 overtime win over third-ranked Moncton Blue Eagles.
The survivor advances to the CIAU finals at the University of Toronto starting March 15.
Note: this article originally appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on March 4, 1985. It was written by Rick Mayoh.
Poulin comes home to Hull as Gee-Gees shoot for title
Jean Poulin, the Hull Olympiques' all-time leading scorer, returns to Robert Guertin Arena Fiday with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees where an expected 2,500 spectators should make his homecoming an emotional one.
One of the the most popular players ever to skate for he major jumior Olympiques, Poulin will be out to help his U of O teammates capture the Quebec University Athletic Association title against the University of Quebec-Chicoutimi Inuks.
Ottawa leads the best-of-five final 2-0 following 6-2 and 6-3 wins in Chicoutimi last weekend. A fourth game is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Robert Guertin Arena, if necessary, and a fifth would be played Monday in Chicoutimi.
The winning team advances to meet the Atlantic champion in a best-of-three series here March 8-10. Ottawa jumped from 10th to seventh in the national rankings after the weekend wins while the Inuks fell from second to sixth.
A professional hockey career is no longer the goal for Poulin, 23, a second-year criminology student who wants to join the RCMP and work with juveniles.
But Gee-Gees' coach Michel Boucher says Poulin is a more complete player now than he was as a junior when he scored 160 goals and 198 assists for 358 points, team records, in a little more than four seasons at right wing with the Olympiques.
"He was always considered to be just a goal-scorer but I never looked at him that way," Boucher said. "He's an all-around hockey player and one of our best two-way checkers. I was told he didn't hit but he has been hitting everybody. I think he's a lot better player now than he was in junior."
Poulin is indicative of the calibre of university hockey. "It's very serious hockey," he said. "Some people from Hull still come to see me and I still try to play my best. If we played the Hull Olympiques, I think we could beat them. But they're in a little better shape because they're younger and play more. Now the guys are faster and always play the man. You can't do the job individually."
The Lachine native scored 54 goals and had more than 130 points for Hull as an 18-year old. "I really thought I was going to make it," he said," But then I didn't get drafted. I went to the Los Angeles camp the next year and saw I wasn't big enough at five-foot-10 and 165 pounds."
"Satisfaction is their only motivation now," said Boucher, who feels university hockey has become comparable to major junior. He has 13 players with major junior experience.
"They're proud and they want to show people they're proud."
Poulin had 22 points in 20 games and is second to rookie linemate Pat Lahey in league playoff scoring with four goals and seven assists in five game.
Lahey tied for sixth in the QUAA with teammate Jean-Maurice Cool with 31 points. He has three goals and 11 assists in the playoffs and aspirations beyond collegiate hockey.
"When I was first thinking about university hockey, I was kind of skeptical, I thought it might be a step down," said the six-foot, 180-pound centre from Nepean who turns 21 Saturday. He scored 30 goals and 50 assists in his second season with the major junior Soo Greyhound last year and was selected by Detroit in the eighth round of the 1982 draft after a year with the Windsor Spitfires.
"It's just as quick and every team is good," said the recreology student. "Maybe the depth isn't there and the attitude is different, but the skills are there. My fourth year is 1988, the same year as the Olympics in Calgary, and my main goal is to get a shot with the Olympic team," he said.
"Maybe I still have a glimmer of a shot at the NHL."
Note: this article originally appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on February 28, 1985. It was written by Rick Mayoh.
RECAP: Gee-Gees win thriller to lead Eastern final
Two signs taped to the Bob Guertin Arena press box told the unprecedented playoff progression of the University of Ottawa hockey Gee-Gees.
Beside the bedsheet reading "Gee-Gee's No. One" was the playoff box score. Solid check marks were placed next to Trois Rivières and Chicoutimi, the Gee-Gees' victims in the Quebec Universities Athletic Association playoffs.
A dotted check mark rested beside the University of Prince Edward Island, ranked second in the country.
The Gee-Gees, ranked fourth in the nation, can connect the dots tonight, after a thrilling 2-1 win over the Panthers in the opening game of the Eastern Canada Interuniversities Athletic Union finals Friday before 2,196 spectators.
Ottawa can clinch the best-of-three final with a victory tonight and qualify for its first national championship tournament. The game is scheduled for 8 p.m.
If a third game is necessary, it will be played Sunday at the Guertin Arena at 8 p.m.
The hard-working Roch Voisine score two identical goals for the Gee-Gees, the second coming with three seconds remaining in the game.
Ron Carragher, a Hardy Cup champion in 1981 and two-time Centennial Cup finalist, gave the disciplined and patient Panthers 1-0 lead at 4:28 in the third period.
That goal looked like it would stand alone as Panther goaltender Tony Haladuick was outstanding, stopping 38 shots by the Gee-Gees.
"Our guys must be pressured," said Voisine, who scored both his goals after stealing the puck from behind the Panther net.
On the first goal, which came at 11:46, he caught Haladuick going the wrong way. On the second, he scored off his own rebound at 19:57.
"When we know we have to score, we play better," Voisine said. "We're used to the pressure. They were slow and disciplined and we were fast. We knew they'd get tired and we had to wait to get our chances."
Gee-Gees coach Michel Boucher screamed in joy and threw up his arms in the dressing room when Voisine ripped a page to reveal the number one, indicating one more victory would send the Gee-Gees to the national championship.
"We had to get a couple of breaks to score," Boucher said. "P.E.I. was disciplined and very patient. We had to beat them by being more patient. We were disciplined tonight. The players did exactly what I asked and followed my calls from the bench. We're a proud team. Pride can take you very far."
The Gee-Gees started the QUAA season slowly, facing a number of problems. But a Christmas trip to France brought the team together and the Gee-Gees have won 11 of their last 13 games.
"Winning that first game was crucial," Voisine said. "We had to get ahead and tell P.E.I. we're ready and that we're not a Cinderella team. That was a warning. We're fast and we hustle. That's what champions are made of."
Note: this article originally appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on March 9, 1985. It was written by Martin Cleary.
RECAP: Gee-Gees make it to nationals
For the second consecutive week, the upstart Gee-Gees hockey club have put a higher-ranked team on the sidelines.
And for the first time, the Gee-Gees find themselves on the road to the four-team Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union hockey championship tournament beginning Friday in Toronto.
Centre Jocelyn Bolduc's second goal at 1:51 of the final period lifted the Gee-Gees to a thrilling 3-2 win over the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers Saturday night in front of 2,450 spectators at the Hull Arena.
The victory, coupled with Ottawa's 2-1 win over the Panthers Friday, gave the Gee-Gees the best-of-three eastern CIAU final, 2-0.
A week ago, the victims were the University of Chicoutimi Inuuks, who were ranked among the top five. P.E.I. headed into the weekend ranked second in the nation, while the Gee-Gees moved up the rankings - from seventh to fourth - with their upset of Chicoutimi.
"I've used the word pride a lot this season and that's exactly what's winning games for us," said Gee-Gees coach Michel Boucher. "I said back in September that we had a good team but we were losing a lot and people were asking me why. The reason was that we weren't playing as a team."
"Tonight we went out there and played our game, not theirs," he said. "We showed a lot of patience and that's what we had to do."
P.E.I.'s Randy Muttart scored the only goal of the first period as both teams played cautiously.
Bolduc tied the score midway through the second period but, with Ottawa centre Pat Lahey in the penalty box, Greg Gravel scored to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead at 12:35.
Former Hull Olympiques start Jena Poulin, the Gee-Gees' captain, scored to tie the game at 2-2 at 18:18 of the period when he drilled a shot past P.E.I. goaltender Tony Haladuick.
"I think we were overconfident in the first," Bolduc said. "I could sense it in the warmup that we weren't concentrating on the game as much as we shoul dbe and it showed in our play early. The second period we came out and played our game and started to play as a team."
Both teams enjoyed numerous scoring chances in the third period before Bulduc picked up a loose puck just inside the Panthers' blueline, turned and blasted a slapshot past a partially screened Haladuick.
"We were tired and we didn't want to have to play a third game," said Bolduc, who missed much of last year due to injuries. "And that crowd - it was like having an extra man out there for us. They were great. They really got us pumped up."
The Gee-Gees leave Wednesday afternoon for Toronto where they will join the host University of Toronto Varsity Blies, the Ontario champion York Yeomen, who eliminated Western 5-2 Sunday in the deciding game of the Ontario final, and the Alberta Golden Bears, who ousted Manitoba 6-5 in overtime Sunday to win the western final two games to one.
Ottawa will face York Friday and Saturday while Alberta and the Varsity Blues play both days. The winners advance to Sunday's final.
Note: This article originally appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, March 11 1985. It was written by Don Campbell.