Box Score The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team fell 3-2 in double overtime to the visiting Ottawa Gee-Gees in Game 1 of the OUA playoffs on Wednesday, February 13 at Varsity Arena.
 
It’s do or die as the Blues head to Ottawa on Friday night (Feb. 15) for Game 2 at 7 p.m. Game 3, if necessary is scheduled for Saturday night, also at 7 p.m. in Ottawa. Both games will be streamed live via SSN Canada.
 
Despite the loss, the Blues got heroic efforts from a couple of blueliners in Tim Halloran (Scarborough) and Lane Werbowski (Winnipeg). The two defenceman both scored at critical points in the third period to tie the game. Robert Kay (Orono, Ont.) and Jeff Brown (Toronto) each had assists.
 
Sophomore goaltender Brett Willows got the start in net and was stellar, making 31 saves to give the Blues a chance to win. The Rivers, Man., native finished the regular season ranked third in the country with a sparkling .930 save percentage over 16 games.
 
Willows was particularly solid in the first, with the Gee-Gees outshooting the Blues 12-8. Ottawa managed the only goal of the period however, opening the scoring with just over five minutes remaining on a powerplay goal by Matthieu Tanguay-Theriault, who redirected a point shot past Willows.
 
A scoreless second period saw the Blues turn up the pressure on their opponents to no avail despite 11 shots.
 
Their fortunes turned midway through the third however, when Kay stole a puck along the board and fired it on goal, allowing Halloran to skate in from the point and bury the rebound off the post and in to tie the game at one.
 
The Gee-Gees pulled in front again with just 1:10 remaining in the game on a goal from Craig Moore, who skated down the right wing and beat Willows over the shoulder to make it 2-1 in favour of Ottawa.
 
The game looked all but over, but the Blues got a faceoff in the Gee-Gees zone, and with Willows on the bench for an extra attacker, the puck came to Werbowski at the point, who faked a shot, stepped around a sprawling Gee-Gees forward and fired it through several bodies and into the back of the net, tying the game with just 21 seconds left.
 
Werbowski’s heroics sent the game into overtime, where the Blues developed several quality chances to end the game, including a chance for Paul Van De Velde (Mariapolis, Man.), who found himself alone in the slot but was unable to beat Ottawa netminder Russell Abbott.
 
The two teams would battle through the first overtime period and into a second, before Tanguay-Theriault’s second of the game would lift the Gee-Gees to victory.
 
A miscommunication at the offensive blueline at the tail-end of a Blues powerplay allowed Tanguay-Theriault to exit the penalty box and skate in alone on a breakaway. The Ottawa forward deked around Willows and scored to put the Gee-Gees up 1-0 in the series.
 
Tanguay-Theriault’s two goals led the charge offensively for the Gee-Gees, while Abbott made 39 saves in the win.

 
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