The men’s hockey team played back-to-back games in Kingston last weekend, on Friday against the Waterloo Warriors, and Saturday versus the Laurier Golden Hawks. 

“I felt we actually played really well in both games this weekend,” head coach Brett Gibson said. “I wish we could have executed some more of our scoring chances but the guys I felt were good this weekend.” 

On Friday, the Gaels fell behind 2-0 in the first period, after being outshot 10-5. 

The Gaels got on the scoreboard in the second period with Graeme Brown burying his first goal of the season, making it a one-goal game. However, less than a minute later the Warriors replied, regaining the two-goal lead. 

Queen’s Eric Ming led the charge in the third, down 3-1. After 14 shots against Waterloo’s Mike Morrison, Ming was able to find a weak spot, scoring his seventh goal of the season. Down 3-2, head coach Brett Gibson pulled his goalie for an extra attacker, which led to two more goals for Waterloo and a final score of 5-2.  

Following only their third loss of the season, the Gaels had a shift in fortune on Saturday. In the first period, Queen’s tallied three goals, one from OUA-leading goal scorer, Ming, followed by Ted Hunt and later by Warren Steele. Although they came out strong, the Gaels’ defense had a couple of lapses leading to two goals against as the Gaels headed into their dressing room with a 3-2 lead. 

After Laurier tied the game at 3-3 in the second period, the rest of the game remained a draw that neither 4-on-4 nor 3-on-3 overtime periods could break. The game was decided in a shootout.

With the first shot for Queen’s, Slater Doggett used a fancy deke to fool the Laurier goalie, Colin Furlong. On the home side, goalie Jacob Brennan was able to stop two Laurier shooters, leaving the game on the stick of former Erie Otters defensemen, Spencer Abraham. Abraham faked to the left, stretching out Furlong, pulled the puck back to his backhand and lifted it past Furlong’s outstretched pad for the shootout win. 

Coach Gibson acknowledged his veterans for stepping up the Gaels’ play as of late. While he did mention Ming and Doggett for their offensive efforts, he made it clear that the men in net are the ones keeping the team together right now.

“Kevin and Jake give us a chance to win every night,” Gibson said, in praise of his goaltenders. 

Queen’s advanced their record to 5-2-1 this past weekend and head to Windsor to take on the Lancers on Friday evening, November 4th.