parpho@rogers.com

The Queen's Men won back to back in Sudbury and will play McGill in the next round.


KINGSTON, Ont. (February 11, 2015) - The fifth seeded Queen's men's hockey team dropped the first game of their OUA East playoff series against the fourth seeded Laurentian Voyageurs 2-1 Wednesday night at the Memorial Centre.

The Gaels struck first capitalizing on their second powerplay opportunity of the opening frame. Darcy Greenaway (Wilton, Ont.) completed the tic-tac-toe passing play in front of the net as Andrew Wiebe (Thunder Bay, Ont.) and Spencer Abraham (Campbellville, Ont.) collected the assists.

The second period was a scoreless affair as goaltenders Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) of the Gaels and Alain Valiquette of the Voyageurs stood their ground and turned aside all shots fired on net.

The Voyageurs converted on the man-advantage for a powerplay tally of their own at the 2:03 mark of the final frame to knot the score 1-1. Both sides continued to battle hard, generating numerous scoring opportunities as regulation neared its end. Laurentian eventually broke through and found the back for the go-ahead goal in the final minutes of the game. The Gaels pulled Bailie in the last minute of the match but could not find the equalizer.

Final shots for the night totalled 26 to 25 in favour of Queen's. Bailie was charged with the 23 save loss while Valiquette earned the 25 save victory.

The Gaels will travel to Sudbury, Ontario Saturday night as they look to even the series and force a decisive third game. Game two will start at 8:30pm in Sudbury with Sunday's game scheduled for 7:45pm if necessary.