Game, Doucet and Match, Redmen knock off Pats
By Earl Zukerman
MONTREAL – Guillaume Doucet of Anjou, Que., scored the game-winner
as McGill rallied with a pair of third-period goals to defeat
fifth-ranked Trois-Rivières 2-1 before a standing-room only crowd
of 1,079 at McConnell Arena, Friday.
McGill swept the OUA East Conference best-of-three final series and
have qualified for the CIS national championship tourney for the
third time in four years – each time, the Redmen defeated UQTR to
win the conference title.
McGill, which has now won four straight games from their bitter
provincial rivals, has only captured three of 14 lifetime playoff
series against the perennial division champions.
After a scoreless first period, Francis Charland broke the ice with
a power play at 12:43 of the middle stanza to give UQTR a 1-0 lead.
Rookie Marc-Andre Dorion, a rearguard from St. Hubert, Que., evened
the score on a power play at 3:24 of the final period.
“This group is a special one,” said McGill co-captain Ken Morin, a
senior from St. Prosper, Que. “It was a learning process for us
this year. We lost nine veterans to graduation last year and had a
lot of new faces, so we struggled at the start of the year and lost
our first five games.
“But that fifth loss, in overtime at UQTR, was a turning point. We
outworked them and outplayed them and it was a morale victory.
After that we just kept working hard every game and never gave up.
The young guys came in and stepped up big time. The second and
third-year guys took a leadership role, which made things easier
for the seniors and the coaching staff has worked wonders. We’re
having fun and when you do that, you play well and good things
happen.”
The Redmen ran into penalty trouble late in the first period and at
one point, played shorthanded for over seven minutes, including a
high-sticking major to senior Sam Bloom, the hard-luck sniper from
Toronto who was trying to avoid being beheaded on the play by a
heat-seeking missile disguised as a Pats forward. Referee Pascal
St-Jacques initially called for a double minor to Bloom as the Pats
player was cut but one of his linesman skated over to discuss the
incident and the penalty was changed to a major -- Bloom’s second
such stick infraction this season -- which means it will be
reviewed and his third league-imposed suspension is imminent.
The Redmen penalty-killing unit, which struggled through most of
the first semester, held the vaunted Pats league-leading power play
to just one goal in six chances in the game and 1-for-10 during the
two-game series.
“I didn’t recognize my team out there for the first two periods,”
said long-time McGill head coach Martin Raymond, who had a number
of stern discussions with the referee. “I told them in the second
intermission that we we’re only down one goal and if we lost, we
still had another game to go in the series – so let’s show up in
the final period and we did just that.
“ٱڴDzé came up with another strong effort in net, Doucet did a
great job filling in for Bloom and scored yet another key goal.
Also, I can’t speak enough about Ken Morin and Eric L’Italien, our
co-captains who provided some great leadership tonight.”
UQTR outshot McGill 30-27 but was held at bay by Redmen netminder
Kevin ٱڴDzé, a freshman from Beauport, Que., who stoned the
Pats on a couple of breakaways and made a few acrobatic game-saving
saves in the final period. Trois-Rivières back-up netminder Michael
Dupont started for the sixth straight game and took the loss.
It was university hockey at its finest that had the crowd on the
seat of their pants until the dying seconds.
“I would love to have the chance to have 28 games like this one
during the regular season,” said a disappointed Jacques Laporte, in
his 10th season as bench boss of the Patriotes. “None of our
players should leave here with their head down. The Redmen are a
very good hockey team. I’m convinced that our league will be very
well represented at the Canadian championships.”
McGill improved their record to 26-13-2 overall, including a 6-1
mark in post-season play. Before heading to the Nationals in
Thunder Bay, Ont., the Redmen will attempt to capture their second
successive Queen’s Cup league championship, a one-game,
sudden-death affair on March 14 against the winner of the OUA
Western Conference final between Western and Laurier. Western
leads that series 1-0 and Game 2 is set for Saturday. Both OUA
finalists will advance to the dance.
REDMEN RAP: After the game, Paul Grech, a former teammate of Martin
Raymond who toiled for the Redmen from 1987 to 1991, called the
coach to offer his congratulations… Grech is now a helicopter pilot
in the Northwest Territories… Among the many former Redmen spotted
in the crowd to witness the epic battle was Mathieu Poitras and
Jean-Michel Filiatrault, both goaltenders from last year’s
championship squad. Others on hand included Louis-Simon Allaire
(’08), Teddy Kyres (’07), Mathieu Leclerc (’08), Dave Gourde (’00),
David Grenier (’00), Jay McMullan (’84), Herb Madill (‘72), Mike
Richards (’63), Charlie Hayward (’49), Charlie Lafontaine (’49) and
Stephane Marcoux (’89), a native of Boucherville, Que., who has
been living in Columbia for the past decade… Marcoux, who operates
his own sporting equipment store in the South American country,
will coach the Columbian national roller-skating team at the world
championships in Italy, July 2-10.
SCORING SUMMARY
UQTR 1 at McGill 2
OUA East Conference Semifinal, Game 2
(Mar 6, 2009 at McConnell Arena)
FIRST PERIOD:
(No Scoring).
Penalties-
Joanisse Uqtr (boarding), 4:39;
Kovacevic Mcg (hooking), 13:25;
Gazdic Mcg (tripping), 14:56;
Bloom Mcg (major-high sticking, GM-53), 17:35;
Demers Uqtr (interference), 18:29;
Lambert Mcg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 18:29.
SECOND PERIOD:
1, UQTR, Francis Charland 4 (Joanisse, Breton), 12:43 (pp).
Penalties-
Joanisse Uqtr (tripping), 1:23;
Bellefleur Uqtr (checking from behind, game misconduct),
2:10;
Blais Uqtr (slashing), 9:41;
Langelier-Parent Mcg (boarding), 12:19.
THIRD PERIOD:
2, McGill, Marc-Andre Dorion 3 (Picard-Hooper, Gazdic), 3:24
(pp).
3, McGill, Guillaume Doucet 3 (Kovacevic, Turcotte), 10:39.
Penalties-
Boutin Uqtr (tripping), 1:22;
Chicoine Uqtr (slashing), 2:41;
Valente Mcg (hooking), 3:45;
Daneau Mcg (tripping), 12:41;
Gravel Uqtr (interference), 14:30.
SHOTS BY PERIOD:
UQTR 10 - 8 - 12 -- 30.
McGill 12 - 7 - 8 -- 27.
GOALS BY PERIOD:
UQTR 0 - 1 - 0 -- 1
McGill 0 - 0 - 2 -- 2
POWER PLAY OPPORTUNITIES:
UQTR 1 of 6;
McGill 1 of 7.
PENALTIES (No./Mins.):
UQTR 9/26;
McGill 8/27.
Goalies-
UQTR:
Michael Dupont [L, 2-2, 27 shots-25 saves, 59:03];
Empty-net-- (0 goals, 0:57)
McGill:
Kevin ٱڴDzé [W, 6-1, 30 shots-29 saves; 60:00].
Attendance-1,079
Referee-Pascal St-Jacques.
MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 31 Kevin ٱڴDzé
2. MCG - 22 Guillaume Doucet
3. MCG - 6 Marc-Andre Dorion
McGILL LINEUP:
----------------------
FORWARD:
Lambert, Verreault-Paul, L’Italien
Kovacevic, Picard-Hooper, Bloom
Doucet, Marcotte, Daneau
Vossen, Langelier-Parent, Verrilli
DEFENCE:
Morin, Stilling
Turcotte, Dorion
Valente , Gazdic
GOAL:
ٱڴDzé
McGILL LINEUP SCRATCHES:
------------------------------------------
G: Danny Mireault (dressed but DNP)
G: Hubert Morin
G: Jake Jarvis
D: Spencer Brennan (injd)
D: Ben Morse
D: Glenn Tindle
F: Benoit Arsenault (injd)
F: Andrew Wright
F: Tim Drager
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications & Publications Officer
Dept. of Athletics & Recreation
㽶Ƶ
475 Pine Avenue West
Montreal, QC H2W 1S4
CANADA
514-398-7012 (tel.)
514-398-1956 (fax)