RECAP: Gee-Gees sweep Ridgebacks, advance to OUA East semis against UQTR

The Gee-Gees men's hockey team logged a dominant series win in the OUA East Quarterfinals against Ontario Tech. Ottawa won game one in Oshawa 5-1 on Wednesday, before closing the series emphatically with an 8-0 win at home on Saturday night. 

In the first matchup, the Gee-Gees jumped out to an early lead scoring only 32 seconds into the game. The Ridgebacks responded just over a minute later with their lone goal scored in the series. Ottawa took control afterwards and never relinquished it, backstopped by an outstanding 46 save performance from Franky Lapenna, the Gee-Gees returned to home ice primed to close out the series. 

On Saturday, the Gee-Gees got started with Luka Verreault scoring on a penalty shot in the first period. In the second period, a blast from Nick Bowman doubled the Ottawa lead before Peter Stratis put Ottawa up 3-0 less than a minute later. 

Immediately after the goal, a fire alarm was triggered at the Minto Sports Complex, delaying the game for about 20 minutes before resuming action.

The Gee-Gees would keep their momentum going once the game got back underway, scoring once more in the second before adding four more goals in the third period to clinch the series.

Lapenna continued his outstanding freshman campaign with a 23-save shutout, while fellow rookie Luka Verreault logged an eye catching six points in the series on three goals and three assists.

What They're Saying:

"It's really good to have momentum going into the second round. I think UQTR will be the favourite, they're hard to beat in their home rink, but we're flying high right now, so hopefully that carries over. Our special teams were amazing today with power play and penalty kill, when you have that and a good goalie you always have a chance to win." – Patrick Grandmaître, Gee-Gees head coach.

Up Next: 

The Gee-Gees will travel to Trois-Rivières on Wednesday for the first game of the OUA East Semifinals at UQTR. The series will shift back to Ottawa on Friday night, before returning to Trois-Rivières for a third game on Sunday if necessary.

Puck drop for all three games are set for 7 p.m. and will be streaming live on OUA.tv. Tickets for game two are for sale at tickets.geegees.ca.