Box Score
Dec. 28, 2012 - 4:00 PM
Martlet Hockey vs Guelph (@ Laurier Invitational; Away)
WATERLOO, Ont. –
Leslie Oles shook off the rust of a 30-day layoff by scoring twice and adding three assists as No.1-ranked McGill rallied for a 6-4 victory over Guelph at the Laurier Holiday Classic women's hockey tournament, Friday. It improved McGill's record to 18-0 against CIS opponents this season.
The Martlets fell behind 2-1 midway through the opening period and trailed 3-2 after two but outscored Guelph 4-1 in the final stanza.
Oles, a third-year centre from Beaconsfield, Que., who was playing for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury Nov. 28, tallied twice in the final stanza, including the game-winner, shorthanded, to give McGill a 5-3 lead with six minutes remaining. Undaunted, the Gryphons made it 5-4 just 50 seconds later when defenceman
Gina Murray connected but Oles set up
Chelsea Saunders of Ottawa on the power-play for the insurance marker a minute later to snuff out any hope of a Gryphons comeback.
Oles, who assisted on
Michelle Daigneault's marker to even the score at 2-2 late in the first period, also set-up
Katia Clement-Heydra of St. Bruno, Que., to make it 3-3 at 3:07 of the final stanza.
“Oles was terrific; she was clearly our best player out there and was a real inspiration to the team,” said head coach
Peter Smith, who was standing behind the Martlets bench for the 500
th time, where he has posted a 344-125-31 record overall. “We definitely look a bit rusty but that was to be expected after a long break between games. However, I didn't like our second period. We looked frustrated and didn't compete. We addressed the issue in the second intermission and came back strong in the last period.”
Rounding out the scoring for the Martlets was rookie
Gabrielle Davidson of Pte. Claire, Que., who gave McGill an early 1-0 advantage before the game was nine minutes old.
Christine Grant and
Tamara Bell put Guelph ahead 2-1 with goals at 10:20 and 12:11, respectively. Teammate
Kaitlyn Mora restored the lead midway through the middle period.
The Martlets had a 23-17 edge in shots as netminder
Andrea Weckman of Kitchener, registered 13 saves for the victory. At the other end of the ice,
Brooke Siddall made 17 saves and took the loss.
McGill, which improved to 16-8 overall, will face the Kitchener-Waterloo Rangers of the Provincial Women's Hockey League, on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Martlets wrap up the tourney against No.5-ranked Laurier on Sunday.
MARTLET MURMURS – McGill is without the services of leading scorer
Melodie Daoust for the next two weeks as the All-Canadian forward is in Germany with the Canadian national under-22 team, competing at the Meco Cup tournament. Formerly known as the MLP Cup and Air Canada Cup, this tourney brings together the national U-22 development team and senior national squads from Germany, Finland, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland for a five-day international tourney... Another lineup scratch was starting rearguard
Brittney Fouracres, who made it back in time after spending the Christmas break with her family in Calgary. However, her equipment was misplaced by the airline and still in transit somewhere on the continent… Speaking of traveling around the continent,
Michelle Daigneault no doubt set some sort of world record for longest distance travelled during the Christmas break. The third-year rearguard from Hay River, NWT, flew a combined 9,000 kilometers, going home and back, then flying to visit a friend in South Carolina and back.
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
