The Queen's Gaels are headed to the Baggataway Cup semifinals for the first time in over a decade after standout goaltending led them to a 10-3 win over the host Brock Badgers in the second quarterfinal Friday evening at the Kiwanis Field in St. Catharines.
Quinton Greenfield was sensational in making 24 saves, and Reed Allen and Jacob McLean each scored hat tricks to lead the Gaels to the semis, where they have not advanced since the 2013 tournament held in Montreal.
McLean opened the scoring for Queen's, who had finished 5-5 in the regular season then downed Carleton 6-3 on Super Qualifier Weekend. A goal by Bryan Poetker with four minutes to play in the first quarter made it 2-0 at the first break, and the Gaels continued to stun the home crowd by getting the first 2 goals of the second quarter, as well.
Brodie Thoms took a pass from Mitch Zulian and converted for Brock's first goal 3:56 before half time, but the Gaels responded with a run of 3 straight power play goals, including a par from Allen, in a stretch of 43 seconds to extend their lead to 7-1.
Another Thoms from Zulian goal two seconds before the half gave Brock hope they were generating some momentum, but the Gaels and Greenfield continued to prove to be too difficult to score on for Brock. Queen's got the only 2 goals of the third quarter and Allen's third of the game off the opening faceoff of the fourth made it 10-2. Brock would not score again until Avery Steinbach-Parker connected 27 seconds before the final buzzer.
Queen's advances to Saturday's 4 pm semifinal against the Guelph Gryphons, the West #1 seed who went 10-0 in the regular season.