Picard-Hooper scores shootout winner as Redmen roll Ravens before capacity crowd in Carnival contest
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(CROWDED HOUSE: REDMEN STORM NET BEFORE CAPACITY CROWD TO WIN CARNIVAL GAME FOR 10th CONSECUTIVE YEAR. PHOTO BY DEREK DRUMMOND)
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MONTREAL - Alex Picard-Hooper of Boucherville, Que., scored the only goal in a post-overtime shootout to give No.2-ranked McGill a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the visiting Carleton Ravens before a raucous capacity crowd of 1,039 in men's university hockey at McConnell Arena, Friday.
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It marked the 10th consecutive year that the Redmen prevailed in their annual faculty of management Winter Carnival game. As such, it was fitting that Picard-Hooper, a management senior, would tally the game-winner, although it doesn't officially count, as it occurred in the shootout.
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"I wasn't thinking about anything specific on the play other than to look for a small hole to shoot at," said Picard-Hooper, who was voted CIS player of the year last season. "I found a spot to aim for, took my shot and it went well. The crowd was great for us and it was fun to win it for them."
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Netminder Hubert Morin of St. Georges de Beauce, Que., celebrated his 100th career game with the Redmen by registering a 32-save shutout, improving to 9-3 on the season. It was the league-leading third whitewash of the season for Morin, who bounced back in fine fashion after a sub-par performance in a 4-3 loss at Toronto last week. He now tops all OUA goalies with a stingy 1.97 goals-against average, to go along with a stellar .923 save percentage. The civil engineering senior owns a lifetime 68-25-2 overall record with eight shutouts since he joined the Redmen in 2008.
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Carleton, which had a 32-25 edge in shots, kept the potent Redmen offence at bay, largely with the help of 21 blocked shots buttressed by a solid performance between the pipes from goaltender Matthew Dopud. The 5-foot-9, 200-pound native of Pte. Claire, Que., stopped all 24 shots faced but was finally beaten during the shootout as his record dropped to 7-9.
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"It was a big team effort in front of an outstanding crowd," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes. "It was a solid 65-minute effort and obviously Morin was a big part of it. We created a lot of offensive opportunities with good cycles and our D-men did a good job of keeping pucks alive in the offensive zone. But we needed to do a better job of getting pucks to the net and I think that was reflected by our low shot total and by how many shots Carleton blocked."
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The Redmen were 0-for-3 with the man-advantage and killed off the lone Ravens power-play opportunity. The McGill penalty-killing unit has now successfully snuffed out 20 consecutive shorthanded situations since they were last beaten on Jan. 7 (by Ryerson). ÌýMcGill is now ranked third in the league with an 86.8 PK success rate (killing of 92 of 106 PP chances).
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Carleton, which sits fourth in the OUA East with an 11-7-3 record, plays at Concordia (11-9-2) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
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McGill, which leads the OUA East with a 17-2-2 mark, needs one more victory to clinch a playoff berth for the eighth consecutive year. They will have to wait a week until their next game, however, when they host the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Jan. 27.
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REDMEN RAP: It was the lowest offensive output in a McGill game since a 1-0 overtime victory over UQTR on Oct. 14, 2006... The victory came a year and a day after McGill's last win over Carleton (a 4-3 win on home ice, Jan. 19, 2011), snapping a two-game losing streak to the Ravens. It also improved McGill's all-time series record between the rivals to 19-14-1.
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SCORING SUMMARY
Carleton 0 at McGill 1 (OTS)
(Friday, January 20, 2012 - McConnell Arena)
GOALS BY PERIOD:
Carleton 0-0-0-0-0 --
0
McGill 0-0-0-0 -1 -- 1
1st Period-
(no scoring)
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Penalties-
Barrett Carl (checking from behind, 10-minute misconduct), 2:58;
Daneau Mcg (charging), 8:45;
Taylor Carl (hooking), 17:32.
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2nd Period-
(no scoring)
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Penalties-
Stanisz Carl (slashing), 2:44;
Boudeau-Mifflen Carl (slashing), 14:47;
Verreault-Paul Mcg (slashing), 14:47;
Taylor Carl (roughing), 16:49;
Biniek Mcg (cross checking), 16:49.
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3rd Period-
(no scoring)
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Penalties-
Dopud Carl (roughing), 4:26;
Verreault-Paul Mcg (interference), 4:26.
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OT Period (5 mins., sudden-death, 4-on-4)
(no scoring)
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Penalties-
(none)
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Shootout -
Carleton 0 (Brandon MacLean NG, Andrew Glass NG, Joey Manley NG),
McGill 1 (Francis Verreault-Paul NG, Keven Dupont NG, Alex Picard-Hooper GOAL).
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Shots on Goal-
Carleton 8-11-12-1-0 -- 32.
McGill 6-9-7-2-1 -- 25.
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Power Play Opportunities-
Carleton 0 / 1;
McGill 0 / 3.
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Penalties-
Carleton 7 / 22;
McGill 4 / 8.
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Goalies-
Carleton, Mathew Dopud (L, 7-9, 24 shots-24 saves, SHO, 65:00).
McGill, Hubert Morin (W, 9-3-0, 32 shots-32 saves; SHO; 65:00).
Attendance: 1,039
Start: 7:01 PM
End: 9:30 PM
Length: 2:29
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Referee-Dominic Franc.
Linesmen-Jeremy Noreau, Alexandre Dubuc.
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MOLSON CUP THREE STARS
1. MCG - 9 Alex Picard-Hooper
2. MCG - 1 Hubert Morin
3. CARL - 1 Matthew Dopud
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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
earl.zukerman [at] mcgill.ca