RECAP: Evan Boucher scores lone shootout goal to earn victory over McGill
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ottawa
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
|
McGill
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Team Stats
McGill
| Game Statistics | McGill | Ottawa |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 0 for 2 | 0 for 3 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 3 (6) | 2 (4) |
| Shots on Goal | 38 | 36 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
The Gee-Gees capped off the opening half of the OUA season an important win on Tuesday night. Taking McGill to a shootout, the men's hockey team earned a 2-1 win on home ice.
Tightly contested from start to finish, both teams benefited from momentum swings throughout the game. It took until the first minutes of the third period before the puck crossed the goal line on either side of the ice.
Ottawa's Luka Verreault dealt the first blow, giving the Gee-Gees the upper hand. McGill responded, logging a goal at 14:35, and ultimately sending the competition into overtime.
Overtime didn't resolve the game, and a shootout was required.
The first two Redbirds shooters were unable to get past Franky Lapenna. Evan Boucher was up second for the Gee-Gees, confidently scoring.
Lapenna stopped McGill's third attempt, clinching the 2-1 victory over McGill. The netminder improved his already league-leading goals against average by stopping 37 of 38 shots.
"These stats are largely inflated by the guys in front of me," Lapenna said. "The boys have been doing an excellent job all season long and so I want to do mine as well as I can."
While the contest went in favour of the Gee-Gees, it wasn't without a challenge and lots of intensity.
"It felt like playoff atmosphere, and these are the games we love to play," Lapenna continued.
Gee-Gees head coach Patrick Grandmaître reeled in the excitement.
"We have to fine tune a couple of details, I thought the game could've gone either way," Grandmaître said. "I'm satisfied with the effort my players gave. This was a huge for us as it slots us into second place in our division."
"The holiday break is well timed as we have a couple of injuries to deal with. I think the focused during the time off will be on maintaining conditioning and healing our bumps and bruises."
Ottawa ends the 2023 portion of the season with a five-game win streak and will be back home for OUA regular season action on Jan. 7th, 2024. Before then, the Gee-Gees are headed to Canton, NY for an exhibition matchup with St. Lawrence on Dec. 30.