Despite their 31st consecutive defeat at the hands of the McGill Redmen, men’s hockey head coach Brett Gibson was impressed by how the Gaels handled themselves this weekend.

“There is no shame in the effort that we had. McGill’s been resting all week, waiting for us,” Gibson said of the 3-2 loss.

The Gaels started off well in their visit to Montreal. Andrew Wiebe scored quickly, followed by a power play goal by forward Patrick McGillis, sending Queen’s into the intermission up 2-0.

Although the Gaels were outshot 21-13 in the first, goaltender Kevin Bailie put on a show and held back the Redmen.

Coming out of the first intermission, Wiebe took a roughing penalty. This led to a turnover for the Gaels, resulting in a power play goal for McGill. 

“We took a bad penalty and they took advantage,” Gibson said. “We turned the puck over, which is something that you don’t see from us often.”

Mathieu Pompei delivered another goal for McGill, tying the game at 2-2.

After two back-to-back penalties by the Redmen in the third period, Queen’s had a five-on-three advantage.

If the Gaels had executed, the story may have turned out differently. But nothing seemed to get past McGill goaltender Joe Fleschler. With four minutes left, Redmen Pompei sealed his second of the night, putting McGill up by one.

It marked the second loss of the year against McGill after a 3-2 loss at home in late November.

“They scored an unlucky goal, and that’s been the story so far with McGill. We have opportunities to win the games, but we aren’t able to get those chances into the back of the net,” Gibson said.

On a more positive note, Queen’s managed a Friday night home victory this weekend, defeating Carleton 2-0 with goals from Andrew Wiebe and Braden Mercier.

Although they were outshot, Kevin Bailie delivered his third shutout of the season.

“We got off to a good start,” Gibson said. “All together it was one of our best performances of the year. Kevin had to make maybe five key saves, but the rest were from the perimeter.”

As the Gaels prepare for the annual Carr-Harris Cup at the K-Rock Centre against RMC this Thursday, Gibson said the team has set their sights higher.

“The Carr-Harris Cup is great to win, but more importantly, we’re looking for the two points,” he said. “We’re looking towards bigger things, bigger trophies.”

RMC comes into the game with just three victories in 19 games this year. Queen’s defeated RMC 5-1 in last year’s game, as well as defeating the team 7-1 earlier in the season.