Box Score  
OTTAWA – Defenceman Stacie Tardif of Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Que., scored the game-winner on the power-play with 32 seconds remaining in regulation time as the No.1-ranked McGill Martlets survived a scare and summoned a late rally for a 3-1 victory at Carleton, Friday, to sweep their RSEQ women's hockey best-of-three semifinal series at the CU Ice House Arena.

It was the 28th consecutive victory against CIS opponents for McGill, which routed the Ravens 9-0 in Game 1 of the series.
 
The Martlets outshot Carleton 53-18 but fell behind 1-0 at 2:25 of the middle period when rookie Tawnya Guindon of Clarence Creek, Ont., deflected a shot past senior goaltender Andrea Weckman of Kitchener, Ont..
 
The Ravens lead held up until midway through the final period when Melodie Daoust set up Leslie Oles of Beaconsfield, Que., who was left unguarded at the back-door of the goal crease. Oles redirected the puck into the empty side with her fourth goal in two playoff games to knot the score at 9:14.
 
Tardif, a fifth-year microbiology senior, then snuck in from the blueline and fired her dramatic winning marker from the top of the faceoff circle, converting passes from Oles and Chelsey Saunders. It was her 11th career goal in 193 games overall and her second goal in 31 post-season contests.

Saunders, who was playing in front of her hometown friends and family, followed with an empty-netter at 19:59.
 
Weckman made 17 saves to win her first career playoff start while Eri Kiribuchi, a senior from the Czech Republic, was saddled with the loss despite a superlative 50-save effort.
 
"In many respects, we probably had more scoring chances in this game than in the opener when we won 9-0," said McGill head coach Peter Smith. "We just couldn't seem to get the puck in back of the net and you've got to give credit where credit is due. First of all, I thought that Carleton played much better, with much more urgency than they did (in the opener)  last Wednesday. And secondly, their goaltender made some real good saves. She robbed us a couple of times on the power play and played real well."

"We talked about the situation at the end of the second period. We were down 1-0 and our kids were confident, knew that they had to stick with it and I thought they did. We've got a young team and at times when we've been in tight games or down by a goal, we get away from the game plan but we stuck with it the whole game tonight, did a real good job and ended up scoring on the power-play at the end. It worked out well for us and now we get a bit of a rest to get healthy from some of our nicks and bruises."

McGill, which improved to 26-0 against CIS opponents this season and 70-1-1 lifetime against Carleton, advances to the league championship series -- another best-of-three affair -- for the Ed Enos Cup, which begins at McConnell Arena on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. They await the winner of the other RSEQ semifinal series between Ottawa and Montreal. The Carabins won their opener 3-2 and will play Game 2 in the nation's capital on Saturday at 6 p.m.
 

COMPLETE SCORING SUMMARY AVAILABLE ONLINE AT:
http://www.leaguestat.com/qssf/femmes/en/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=438
 
 
 
SOURCE:
 
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
514-398-1956 (Fax)
MOBILE SITE: http://mcgillathletics.ca/mobile/index.aspx
WEBSITE: www.mcgillathletics.ca
E-MAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca