Banner Season: Gryphons host Gee-Gees with eyes on redemption in second straight Queen's Cup finals appearance
Guelph, Ont. (by David DiCenzo) – It was in 1903 when the McGill Redmen won a shiny, new trophy called the Queen’s Cup. Well over a century later, two hungry teams – one that has never hoisted the hardware and another that has done just that on multiple occasions – will try write a new chapter in their school history. The No. 3 nationally-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees and the No. 4 Guelph Gryphons will battle for the Queen’s Cup.
2020 Queen’s Cup Men’s Hockey Championship Fan Guide
The Gee-Gees are making just their second ever appearance in the Queen’s Cup, 16 seasons after losing the 2004 finale 3-2 to the York Lions. The talented squad is eager to take it for the first time on the heels of a great regular season in which they went 17-7-2-2, good for third in the OUA East. Ottawa was aggressive in both ends of the rink in 2019-20, registering a league-best 41.4 shots per game and employing a penalty kill that ranked second in the OUA with an 88.4 per cent success rate.
Head coach Patrick Grandmaitre’s team was led by senior forward Kevin Domingue, a consistent goal scorer who has never netted fewer than 16 in his four years in the nation’s capital. Domingue finished second in the conference with 18 goals (four of them game-winners) in the regular season before blowing up in the playoffs. The net was anchored by first-year man Domenic Graham, who was great en route to posting a 10-5 record, but like Domingue, he has raised his game when it matters most.
The Gee-Gees needed three games to get past the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks in the opening round, though they finished the series in style with Graham posting a 25-save shutout in a 5-0 win. It looked grim for Ottawa after Game 1 of their round two matchup with the UQTR Patriotes, who took the first contest 2-1 at home. But the resilient Gee-Gees bounced right back. Domingue got what proved to be the game-winning goal into an empty net in a 5-3 win in Game 2, and even though they trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes in the deciding game, Ottawa pumped in four straight goals to advance.
The final hurdle was the Concordia Stingers and Ottawa did the job in the OUA East final, taking Game 1 3-2 in Ottawa and then putting in a dominant performance in a 7-2 victory. Domingue enters the Queen’s Cup leading all OUA players in postseason goals with seven, and 10 points in total, while Graham is 6-2 with a 1.99 goals-against average and .934 save percentage. Forwards Cody Drover (3-7-10) and Nicolas Mattinen (2-8-10) join Domingue to lead all playoff scorers.
The Gryphons, who dropped the lone meeting on the road against Ottawa, 5-4 in overtime, back on October 19, had a challenging postseason but found their way back to the Queen’s Cup for a second consecutive year. Guelph went 17-6-4-1 during the 2019-20 campaign, but as has been the case in recent history, found their groove as the playoffs got under way. The Gryphons were dominant offensively, pacing the conference in goals (127) and assists (228), while providing a potent powerplay (26.9 per cent, good for second in the league) that added to an already dangerous arsenal. Among those who contributed to the team’s lethal attack were former OUA West Rookie of the Year Todd Winder (16-23-39) and second-year forward Ryan Valentini (15-24-39). Veteran Andrew Masters and newcomer Brendan Cregan combined to take on the goaltending duties, with the first-year man finishing his 11 starts with a solid 8-3 record.
It looked like another lengthy playoff run was in the making for the six-time Cup winners, who fell 4-1 to the Queen’s Gaels in the 2019 championship in Kingston, and while that has come to fruition, it hasn’t happened without a few bumps in the road. Shawn Camp’s battle-tested crew weren’t sharp in their playoff opener on home ice, losing 3-1 to the Laurier Golden Hawks. But they came back with a big 6-3 win in Waterloo and then eliminated Laurier with a 4-2 victory in Game 3 with Bobby Dow tallying the winner, and Cregan turning away 18 of 20 shots.
It was on to face the rival Brock Badgers from there and Guelph gained some much-needed momentum in the second round. The Gryphons built a big 3-0 lead in the series opener and hung on for a 3-2 win before Luke Kutkevicius provided the Game 2 heroics with the OT winner in a tight 2-1 victory. Cregan was sensational in that game with 31 saves.
The nerve-wracking nights continued for Guelph in round three against another familiar foe, the Western Mustangs. The Gryphons eliminated Western in double overtime in the deciding game in London last season and Game 1 of the West Final was no different. Defenceman Stephen Templeton notched the deciding goal at 12:57 of the overtime period to put Guelph in the driver’s seat up 1-0. The Mustangs took Game 2 at Thompson Arena by a score of 4-3 and in the series finale, Coach Camp opted to go with the veteran Masters in between the pipes. Guelph scored first, though Western responded with two goals in the second period. But the resilient Gryphons came up big in front of their jam-packed home barn. Guelph scored three goals in a span of just under 10 minutes, capped by a Matt Kenney marker to eliminate the Mustangs with a memorable come-from-behind 4-3 win.
The Gryphons will certainly be looking to make up for the lost opportunity in the 2019 Queen’s Cup and take their first OUA banner since the 2014-15 season. Ottawa hasn’t had that feeling before. But they’re also just 60 minutes (and maybe some overtime) from hoisting the coveted Queen’s Cup in the 109th edition.
Fans looking to take in this Saturday’s highly anticipated championship can either purchase tickets to see the game live at Gryphon Centre Arena at 7:00pm or tune in to oua.tv to catch all of the Queen’s Cup action.
