|
Source: Earl Zukerman, McGill Sports Info
MONTREAL - Kim Deschenes of St. Quentin, N.B., scored twice and
added a helper as the top-ranked Montreal Carabins doubled
No.2-McGill 6-3 before 478 fans at McConnell Arena, Saturday, to
claim the RSEQ women's hockey championship, winning the best of
three Quebec final series 2-1.
It was the second straight year that the second-place Carabins,
overcame a series-opening loss to division-leading McGill and
rallied for back-to-back victories to capture the league's Ed Enos
Cup.
There was a silver lining to the loss for McGill, however, as both
teams will advance to the CIS championship in Fredericton, March
13-16, The Martlets have earned a wild-card berth, thanks to the
Carabins, who snared their first-ever national crown last year. In
women's hockey, the winning conference merits an extra berth to the
CIS tourney the following season.
McGill dominated the Carabins for much of the game, outshooting
them 45-25, including a 38-18 advantage over the last two periods
but had a difficult time solving netminder Elodie Rousseau-Sirois,
a junior from Pohenegamook, Que., who made 42 saves.
Over the three-game RSEQ final, McGill had a 104-69 edge in shots
but Rousseau-Sirois kicked out 96 of 104 shots for a .923 save
percentage.
What cost the Martlets dearly was their normally potent power-play
unit, which went 1-for-7 in the game and 2-for-15 in the final
series. They failed to score on all three of their 5-on-3
situations.
Gabrielle Davidson of Pte. Claire, Que., opened the scoring on a
power-play just three minutes into the game for McGill and was in
on all three of her team's markers.
Deschenes responded with back-to-back goals, late in the first and
early in the second, to give the Carabins a lead that they never
relinquished. When Rika Pilon-Robert and Marion Allemoz scored 33
seconds apart to make it 4-1 by the 13:55 mark of the middle
period, it appeared that the game was over.
However, Katia Clement-Heydra, an industrial relations senior from
St. Bruno, Que., who was named ealier in the week as the
conference's player of the year, netted her league-leading fifth of
the playoffs to give the Martlets some life, narrowing the gap to
4-2 after two. Maude Gelinas regained the three-goal cushion for
UdeM at 13:22 of the final stanza.
McGill head coach Peter Smith elected to pull his goaltender for an
extra attacker with 3:02 remaining and it paid off when rookie
Jordan McDonell of East York, Ont., scored her second of the
playoffs at 17:31 but the Carabins snuffed out any hopes of a
Martlet comeback with an empty-netter from Elizabeth Mantha.
Andrea Weckman, a senior from Kitchener, Ont., started between the
pipes for McGill and collected just her second career playoff loss.
She conceded four goals on 15 shots before giving way to understudy
Taylor Hough midway through the second period. Hough, a sophomore
from Toronto, saved eight of nine shots over her 23:17 minutes in
the net.
Thus far, the cross-town rivals have split their eight-game series
over the season and the Carabins will go into the CIS "Final Six"
tourney as the No.1 seed. According to the seeding guidelines, the
top four seeds are all the conference champions and the two
remaining teams McGill and host St. Thomas, are most likely to be
seeded fifth and sixth, respectively. Since teams from the same
conference are not normally in the same pool, the bitter cross-town
rivals could meet again in the CIS gold medal game. Vengeance is a
dish best served cold.
MARTLET MURMURS: The official seedings and tournament draw for the
CIS championships is expected to be announced on Sunday
evening...The Martlets are tentatively scheduled to leave for
Fredericton via bus on Tuesday... Katia Clement-Heydra, who won the
RSEQ's regular-season scoring title with 13-27-40 in 20 games, also
captured the league's playoff scoring title with 5-6-11 in five
contests... She is fourth on McGill's all-time scoring list and
will enter the Nationals with a career record of 102-141-243 in 163
games overall
|
|
Source: Moncton Sports Information
MONCTON, N.B. - The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues
are the winners of the 2014 Subway AUS women's hockey championship
for a third time in their history.
Rookie goaltender Gabrielle Forget made 27 saves for Moncton in the
winner-take-all matchup.
Amélie Larivière (from Marika Lacroix and Manon
Lamarre) in the first period and Catherine Dumas (unassisted) in
the second, scored to lead the Aigles Bleues to a 2-0 win over the
Mount Allison Mounties in Game 3 of the best 2-of-3 Subway AUS
women's hockey championships final series, Saturday.
More than 1,300 spectators were in attendance at the
J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena.
The Aigles will now travel to Fredericton on Wednesday for the
Scotiabank CIS women's hockey championship being hosted by the St.
Thomas University Tommies.
Forget earned a shutout and Subway Player of the Game honours. Kate
O'Brien made 28 saves in the loss for the Mounties.
The game was hotly contested in front of a record crowd for women's
hockey in Moncton and possibly the AUS. Fans of each team supported
their respective teams throughout the game.
There was no third period scoring as each team missed a few scoring
chances, but the goaltenders had the last say.
Moncton missed three open nets in the last minute. The Aigles have
now won 16 of 19 games in the second semester, despite being in
seventh place and at risk of missing the playoffs following first
semester play.
It has been quite a few years since the arena vibrated as it did on
Saturday evening. Fans showed their appreciation for plays and near
misses and were supportive of the saves.
The Aigles received a standing ovation a few times during the game,
particularly in the dying seconds. The fans also remained for the
awards ceremony following the game. This was the third banner for
the Aigles Bleues, who last won it in the 2008-09 season and
2006-07. Moncton took home the CIS bronze medal in 2009.
"We had confidence in our means," said rookie goaltender Gabrielle
Forget, who was also named the championship MVP. "It was difficult
to concentrate at the beginning, but things were better after a few
minutes. I had confidence in my team and especially in the penalty
kill situations. We wanted the championship and the intensity was
there. This championship gives us confidence heading into the
national and we are happy."
"We came close twice in the last four years," said head coach Denis
Ross. "I must admit I was very nervous in this series. I knew the
power of the Mounties. We were able to better control the
middle zone tonight. This is my second championship and much better
than the first. The fans were outstanding tonight, the atmosphere
was incredible. They were our sixth skater on the ice. We had their
support and we could not lose this game. It was very much
appreciated and we must thank them."
|
