The cold weather didn’t stop the Gaels from heating up in their first playoff game of the season.
Men’s Hockey opened their playoff campaign on Feb. 26 at the Memorial Centre where they beat the Ottawa Gee-Gees 4-3 in Game one of a best-of-three OUA quarterfinal series.
The Gee-Gees sat just behind the Gaels in third place, going 19-9 through the regular season. The two teams split their season series, with Queen’s winning 4-2 on Oct. 27 and losing 1-5 on Nov. 1.
The first half of the opening period was tightly contested, with the Gaels controlling much of the play. However, a bouncing puck in front of the net took an awkward deflection, launching skyward and catching Queen’s goaltender Christian Purboo, ArtSci ’25, off guard before finding its way into the back of the net.
For the remainder of the first period and much of the second, Purboo stood tall, stopping 30 shots en route to the Gaels’ victory. While Queen’s effectively spread the ice and generated multiple dangerous scoring chances, they couldn’t break through until the Gee-Gees doubled their lead midway through the second period.
Recognizing the urgency of closing the gap in Game one of the OUA playoffs, forward Holden Katzalay, CompSci ’25, responded just two minutes later, rifling a short-side snipe past the Ottawa goaltender on the powerplay.
The Gaels continued to press, and their relentless pressure wore down Ottawa’s goalie. A misplayed from Ethan Larmand, ArtSci ’28, trickled across the goal line, tying the game at 2-2 with five minutes left in the second period.
From there, Queen’s didn’t let up. Purboo’s steady goaltending provided the team with much-needed stability, allowing the Gaels to focus on taking the lead in the third period.
Forward Daniel Michaud, ArtSci ’27, put Queen’s ahead just five minutes into the final frame, and shortly after, Cameron Tolnai, Comm ’27, doubled the Gaels’ lead, making it 4-2 with under 15 minutes to play.
Though the Gee-Gees managed to score once more, they couldn’t match Queen’s intensity, securing the Game one victory for the Gaels. Queen’s will look to close out the series on Feb. 28 in Ottawa at 7 p.m., aiming to put the Gee-Gees on ice in their home rink.
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