While men’s hockey picked up a win and a loss against the UOIT Ridgebacks, they were less than satisfied with their overall performance.

The Gaels defeated the Ridgebacks 4-3 on Saturday, after a disappointing 5-3 loss at home Friday night. Both games saw poor defensive performance from Queen’s, giving the Ridgebacks leads as large as 4-0 and 3-1 respectively.

After Darcy Greenaway gave Queen’s a 1-0 lead early on Saturday, the Gaels were losing 3-1 going into the third period. Jordan Coccimiglio scored the Gaels’ second goal, followed by Spencer Abraham’s power play marker with seven seconds left in the third to tie up the game. 

Greenway’s second goal of the game in overtime lifted the Gael’s to a 4-3 win. Starting goalie Jacob Brennan secured the victory, making 24 saves on 27 shots.

Greenaway was disappointed with his team’s performance Friday.

“We came out slow,” he said after the loss. “We weren’t ready, we played okay in the last period, but you can’t play 20 minutes and expect to win.”

After falling behind 4-0 on Friday, Queen’s made a comeback, with contributions from Peter Angelopoulos, Slater Doggett and Andrew Wiebe, although it wasn’t enough to salvage a win. 

Head coach Brett Gibson wasn’t impressed with his player’s performance Friday. 

“We took a night off,” Gibson said.

Though the Gaels eventually came away with the win, it’s unlikely Gibson was too pleased with his team falling behind 3-1.

Despite the stumble on Friday and Saturday, Gibson said he’s very impressed with his team’s overall effort this season, as the Gaels now sit 6-2-0.

“We’ve had a fantastic start,” he said. “We’ve been one of the top teams in the league, and the thing is when you have a target on your back, every teams going to come in and play right from the get-go.” 

The team will be at home against the Concordia Stingers this Friday. Concordia currently holds a record of 3-5-2, and is in eighth place in the Eastern division, whereas Queen’s is in third place.