Men's Hockey 3/12/2011 12:00:00 PM

Redmen tame Mustangs, capture centennial edition of Queen's Cup

(PHOTO BY GEOFFREY McMURRAY, COURTESY UWO SPORTS INFO)

LONDON, Ont. - Andrew Wright of Toronto scored once and added a pair of assists as No.2-ranked McGill skated to a one-sided 6-2 victory over the Western Ontario Mustangs before a crowd of 3,068 at Thompson Arena, Saturday, to capture the centennial edition of the Queen's Cup, emblematic of the OUA men's university hockey championship.

It marked the third league title in five years for the Redmen and their 16th Queen's Cup victory since it was first presented, also to McGill, in 1903. The Cup, which was initially donated by Queen's University, is the world's second-oldest hockey trophy still up for grabs - behind only the Stanley Cup.

McGill, which led 3-0 after the opening period and 5-2 after two, had a 35-23 edge in shots. Special teams played a big role, as the Redmen went 2-for-6 with the man-advantage and snuffed out all five Western power plays. Both teams tallied a shorthanded marker.

"We were a little bit tentative to start. But we stuck with our game plan. We wanted to make sure we were good defensively and then start moving our feet and get the puck deep," Redmen head coach Kelly Nobes said. "We were very opportunistic in the first period, there's no doubt."

For the second straight game, the Redmen got goals from six different players. McGill, which now owns a 7-1 record in post-season play, has had at least five different goal scorers in five of their seven playoff contests.

Joining Wright on the scoresheet was Patrick Belzile of Saint Eloi, Que., Evan Vossen of Swift Current, Sask., Alex Picard-Hooper of Boucherville, Que., Simon Marcotte-Legare of Longueuil, Que., and defenceman Marc-Andre Dorion of St. Hubert, Que., who tallied a shorthanded goal into an empty net. That play, which resulted from a faceoff won deep in the McGill zone by Maxime Langelier-Parent, travelled an estimated 170 feet.

Jason Swit of Mississauga and London native Jason Furlong (shorthanded) replied for the Mustangs.

"We really wanted to get that first goal to get the crowd out of it. Those first three goals really helped," said Wright, a 21-year-old economics junior, who was named as the Harrow Sports player of the game for the second straight year in the league's title match.

"We were really aggressive on their defencemen in their zone to create turnovers. We got some quick shots off and the goalie didn't expect it. We always stressed our defensive play first before getting to the attack," added Wright.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound right-winger scored on the power-play at the eight-minute mark to give the Redmen a 2-0 lead, then assisted on McGill's fourth and fifth markers to make the score 4-1 and 5-2, respectively. Wright ended up as the OUA playoff scoring champion with a 6-13-19 record in eight games, three points ahead of Picard-Hooper (4-13-17), who also finished second last year (8GP: 2-13-15) to teammate Francis Verreault-Paul.

Redmen netminder Hubert Morin improved to 7-1 in the post-season and Mustangs goaltender Anthony Grieco was saddled with the loss, allowing five goals before being replaced after the middle period by Josh Unice, who saved all seven shots he faced.

Both McGill (36-4-3 overall) and Western (29-12-2) will participate at the CIS national championship in Fredericton, a six-team tourney set for Mar. 24-27, but the Redmen will go in as a higher seed. Unless top-ranked UNB is upset by St. F.X. in the Atlantic conference finals, McGill will likely remain No.2 in the rankings and would be grouped with the third and fifth-seeded teams, expected to be Alberta and St. F.X., respectively while the other pool would likely feature UNB (No.1) with Western (No.4) and Calgary (No.6).

REDMEN RAP: To mark the historic event The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, presented McGill captain Evan Vossen the Queen's Cup championship trophy... McGill is now 14-13-3 lifetime against the Mustangs... The Queen's Cup victory marked the ninth time in 13 years that a Quebec-based team had captured the Ontario championship. The Quebec conference dissolved in 1986 and merged with the OUA, after dwindling down from 11 teams in the early 1970s to only three squads by the mid-1980s... The Redmen improved to 61-71 lifetime in post-season play, including a 29-8 playoff record since 2008.

(NOTE: UPDATED VERSION WITH QUOTES TO FOLLOW)

SCORING SUMMARY

QUEEN'S CUP CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

McGill 6 at Western 2

(Saturday, March 12, 2011 - Thompson Arena)

1st Period-
1, McGill, Patrick Belzile 1 (Max Langelier-Parent, MA Daneau), 7:04.
2, McGill, Andrew Wright 6 (Guillaume Doucet, Alex Picard-Hooper), 8:00 (PP).
3, McGill, Evan Vossen 3 (Guillaume Doucet), 11:37.

Penalties-
Furlong Uwo (interference), 7:36;
Verreault-Paul Mcg (inter. on goaltender), 16:23.

2nd Period-
4, Western, Jason Swit 1 (Steve Reese, Kevin Baker), 5:26.
5, McGill, Alex Picard-Hooper 4 (Andrew Wright, Patrick Belzile), 11:42.
6, Western, Jason Furlong 3 (Jason Swit), 14:31 (SH).
7, McGill, Simon Marcotte-Legare 6 (Andrew Wright, Christophe Longpre-Poirier), 16:30 (PP).

Penalties-
Langelier-Parent Mcg (hooking), 3:22;
Verreault-Paul Mcg (slashing), 6:30;
Swit Uwo (hooking), 8:16;
Verreault-Paul Mcg (inter. on goaltender), 11:20;
Greenside Uwo (roughing), 11:20;
Reese Uwo (inter. on goaltender), 12:40;
Aarssen Uwo (interference), 15:10;
McKee Uwo (high sticking), 18:22.

3rd Period-
8, McGill, Marc-Andre Dorion 2 (Max Langelier-Parent), 17:48 (SH EN).

Penalties-
Daneau Mcg (checking to the head minor, 10-minute misconduct), 3:18;
Unice Uwo (tripping), 10:53;
Verreault-Paul Mcg (cross checking), 17:43.

GOALS BY PERIOD
McGill 3-2-1 -- 6
Western 0-2-0 -- 2

Shots on Goal-
McGill 16-11-8 -- 35.
Western 9-8-6 -- 23.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 2 / 6;
Western 0 / 5.

Goalies-

McGill,
Hubert Morin (W, 7-1, 23 shots-21 saves; 60:00).

Western,
Anthony Grieco (start, L, 6-2-0 , 27 shots-22 saves; 40:00);
Josh Unice (7 shots -7 saves; 19:55);
Empty-net (1 shot -1 goal; 0:05).

Attendance-3068

Referee-Brent Holdsworth.