RECAP: Men’s hockey halves opening homestand

The Gee-Gees men's hockey team showed good resolve to bounce back after a disappointing home opener with an encouraging win over the Nipissing Lakers. 

Nicolas Ouellet and Max Grondin each scored a pair of goals in a convincing, 6-2 win over the Lakers Friday evening at the Minto Sports Complex. The win followed a 5-1 opening night loss to Ontario Tech. 

"The boys bared down and bounced back," said assistant coach Patrick White after the Friday victory. "A big thing is effort and grit. We played a much more physical game and it made us tougher to play against today. The attitude on the bench was positive, and that reflects on the ice." 

Mathieu Desgagnés scored the lone Gee-Gees goal in the home opener, as Ridgebacks goaltender Leif Hertz turned aside 25 of 26 shots he faced. 

Ottawa flipped the script the next night, backstopped by Jean-Philippe Tourigny. Tourigny made 29 saves and wasn't beaten until the third period to pick up the win in his first career OUA start. 

In addition to Ouellet and Grondin, Bradley Chenier and Charles-Antoine Roy scored for Ottawa. A number of Gee-Gees earned their first career regular season points on the weekend, including Grayson Ladd, Tommy Bouchard, Kaiden Bryant and David Lafrance. 

The Ottawa penalty kill was a perfect 10-for-10 on the weekend.

The Gee-Gees then faced Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. on Saturday evening. Anthony Poulin scored in a 5-1 loss, and the Gee-Gees enjoyed a pregame visit with University of Ottawa alumnus Andrew Karolyi, who now serves as the Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. 

Poulin was named as the team's captain prior to the season opener. The 2022-23 leadership group also includes Bradley Chenier, Jean-Robin Mantha, Adam Sandstrom and Peter Stratis. 

Ottawa is back in action next week for a Kingston road swing featuring matchups with Queen's (Oct. 21) and RMC (Oct. 22). The next Gee-Gees home game is Friday, Oct. 28 against RMC. Tickets are on sale at tickets.geegees.ca.