Slewfoot costly as Redmen give Varsity the Blues
By Earl Zukerman
TORONTO â Co-captain Eric LâItalien of Ste. Foy, Que., was credited
with the game-winner and was one of six different McGill players to
score as the Redmen doubled Toronto 6-3 to sweep a best-of-three
OUA East semifinal series in menâs hockey at Varsity Arena,
Saturday.
The Redmen tied a school record for most goals scored in a playoff
road game, which has stood since Feb. 26, 1975, when McGill lost a
wild sudden-death semifinal 9-6 at Loyola College.
The result avenged the Varsity Bluesâ shocking sweep â by scores of
1-0 and 2-0 â over a much more potent McGill squad in the 2007
playoffs.
McGill went 2-for-3 on the power play and successfully killed off
all five shorthanded situations.
âThe referee (Jonathan Wallace) let both teams play a lot more than
the earlier games weâve had in the playoffs,â said Martin Raymond,
in his 14th season as head coach of the Redmen. âThey have
dominated us on special teams this year but we felt confident that
we could beat them in 5-on-5 situations. Our defence came up big
tonight and we blocked a lot of shots (18, including nine in the
final period).â
Freshman Andrew Wright of Toronto and sophomore Guillaume Doucet of
Anjou, Que., both tallied in the first period, at 3:41 and 12:43,
respectively, to put McGill ahead 2-0. But Byron Elliott, a
high-scoring rookie from Burlington, Ont., replied for U of T in
the 15th minute of play.
Alexander Picard-Hooper, a rookie from Boucherville, Que., made it
3-1 early in the second frame when he surprised Russ Brownell, the
Varsity Blues starting netminder, with a nifty, unassisted effort
off a faceoff at the 1:41 mark.
LâItalien then connected on a power play five minutes later, to
give McGill a 4-1 stranglehold. They upped that to 5-1 when U of T
right winger was penalized for âslew-footingâ â a rarely-called
infraction that is not even listed in the penalty codes â and
Serbian senior Marko Kovacevic clicked on the man-advantage
situation with just under three minutes remaining in the
period.
The Blues came to life when the game was all but out of reach,
getting goals from Sean Fontyn and Claudio Cowdrey but it was a
case of too little, too late. They had a 14-9 margin in shots
during the third period but rookie âkeeper Kevin DesfossĂ©s of
Beauport, Que., came up big, especially when he snuffed out a
breakaway by sniper Joe Rand with 1:37 remaining.
Desfossés ended up with 29 saves for the win as the Redmen had a
33-32 edge in shots.
Vincent Lambert, a junior from Ste. Therese, Que., completed the
well-dispersed McGill attack with an empty-netter.
McGill owns a 24-13-2 record overall, including a 4-1 dossier in
post-season play, and is just two wins away from qualifying to
compete at Nationals for the third time in four years. They are in
the OUA East Conference finals and await the winner of Sunday
nightâs Carleton-UQTR semifinal rubber match in Trois-RiviĂšres. If
UQTR prevails, then the Pats would host McGill at Le Colisée on
Wednesday. Should the Ravens win, they would tentatively open the
OUA East final series at McGill on Thursday. The Redmen are unable
to open at home on Wednesday, as planned, since the top-ranked
McGill womenâs team will be hosting their playoff opener against
Concordia that night.
REDMEN RAP: The game was played before a relatively small crowd,
which appeared to feature more McGill fans than those of the home
team⊠Among the former Redmen players spotted in the crowd were
current RMC coaches Adam Shell (1999-03) and Chad Blundy (2000-05),
plus Shawn Shewchuk (2003-08), Stephane Angers (1993-97), Jean-Guy
Daigneault (1994-96), Paul Barber (1981-86), Mike Bean (1984-86)
and Steve Mendelssohn (1979-82)⊠Daigneault, a licensed
chiropractor in East Lansing, Mich., was pressed into service
during the second intermission, to straighten out a back problem
with a staff member in the McGill entourage.
SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 6 at Toronto 3
(Feb 28, 2009 - Varsity Arena)
FIRST PERIOD:
1, McGill, Andrew Wright 1 (Daneau), 3:41.
2, McGill, Guillaume Doucet 2 (Picard-Hooper, Kovacevic),
12:43.
3, Toronto, Byron Elliott 2 (Cowdrey, Kliewer), 14:32.
Penalties
(none)
SECOND PERIOD:
4, McGill, Alexandre Picard-Hooper 5 (unassisted) 1:41.
5, McGill, Eric LâItalien 2 (Verreault-Paul, Turcotte), 6:50
(pp).
6, McGill, Marko Kovacevic 1 (Doucet, Turcotte), 17:01 (pp).
7, Toronto, Sean Fontyn 1 (Dupont, Rand), 19:38.
Penalties
Snetsinger Tor (roughing), 2:05;
Snetsinger Tor (slashing), 5:22;
Verreault-Paul Mcg (high sticking), 6:53;
Cowdrey Tor (high sticking), 6:53;
Dorion Mcg (boarding), 11:16;
Brewer Tor (slewfooting), 15:05;
Langelier-Parent Mcg (interference), 17:23;
Turcotte Mcg (roughing), 18:24;
Ventura Tor (roughing), 18:24.
THIRD PERIOD:
8, Toronto, Claudio Cowdrey 1 (Kliewer, Ventura), 2:22.
9, McGill, Vincent Lambert 1 (LâItalien), 19:26 (en).
Penalties
Verrilli Mcg (interference), 4:39;
Turcotte Mcg (holding), 11:55;
Turcotte Mcg (high-sticking minor, 10-min. misconduct),
19:56;
Nagribianko, Tor (high-sticking ), 19:56;
SHOTS BY PERIOD:
McGill 15-9-9 -- 33.
Toronto 9-9-14 -- 32.
GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 2-3-1 -- 6
Toronto 1-1-1 -- 3
POWER PLAY OPPORTUNITIES:
McGill 2 of 3;
Toronto 0 of 4.
PENALTIES (No./Mins.):
McGill 8/24;
Toronto 6/12.
Goalies
McGill,
Kevin Desfosses [W, 4-1, 32 shots, 29 saves; 60:00);
Toronto,
Russ Brownell [start; L, 0-2, 24 shots, 19 saves, 39:58);
Andrew Martin [ND, 8 shots, 8 saves, 18:24);
Empty-net [1 shot, 1 goal against; 0:38]
Attendance: 204
Time: 2:08
Referee: Jonathan Wallace.
MOLSON CUP THREE GAME STARS:
1. Alex Picard-Hooper, McGill
2. Kevin Desfosses, McGill
3. Vincent Lambert, McGill
McGILL LINEUP:
----------------------
FORWARD:
Lambert, Verreault-Paul, LâItalien
Kovacevic, Picard-Hooper, Doucet
Wright, Marcotte, Daneau
Vossen, Langelier-Parent, Verrilli
DEFENCE:
Morin, Stilling
Turcotte, Dorion
Valente , Gazdic
GOAL:
Desfosses
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: Sam Bloom (serving one-game suspension)
F: Tim Drager