MONTREAL -- Rookie
Kellyane Lecours scored twice in the final three minutes and sophomore
Tricia Deguire earned her 10th career shutout as No.9 McGill blanked eighth-ranked Universite de Montreal 2-0 in a crucial RSEQ women's hockey confrontation at Arena CEPSUM on Friday.
The Martlets collected their second consecutive win, improving to 2-4-0 on the season after halting a shocking 0-4 start, and now hold a 44-19 lifetime record in 63 overall meetings with U de M.
"Overall it was a good, solid performance," said a relieved McGill head coach
Peter Smith, who improved his all-time record behind the McGill bench to 479-193-32 in 704 games overall. "It was a real grind-it-out kind of game and that's exactly what we did. We really did grind it out from start to finish and we stuck with it. There were a lot of good things and we stayed out of the penalty box, which is something that we wanted to improve on over the last couple of games. So overall I give them real good marks for the effort today."
McGill outshot their hosts 35-26 but it was a battle of the goaltenders until Lecours, a 5-foot-5 forward from Victoriaville, Que., opened the scoring with just 2:52 remaining in the game. The tally came after senior
Marie-Philip Lavoie of Pohenegamook, Que., passed the puck from the left-hand side and Lecours, a righty, lifted a shot over the goalie's pads. Freshman
Stephanie Desjardins of Grand Falls, N.B., picked up her first league point on the play.
"Kellyane was good," praised Smith. "That line of Lecours, Desjardins and Lavoie as a whole was very good. They created a lot of scoring chances and scored a great goal on a 2-on-1."
The 20-year-old Lecours followed it up with an empty-netter with just 28 seconds remaining to seal the victory after intercepting a Carabins pass attempt and racing the length of the ice.
"She got the puck at the defensive blue line and skated it all the way in -- right through the crease down at the other end -- to put it into the net," Smith chuckled.
Martlets goaltender
Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., turned away all 26 shots faced as bettered her record to 2-4 on the season and improved her career totals to 31-20 in 51 appearances overall. Her Montreal counterpart,
Maude Trévisan, made 33 saves in a losing effort and dropped to 1-3.
"Tricia was outstanding," Smith emphasized. "She made big saves and just looked so confident in net. She really did. She's worked hard and to be able to see the team to score a couple goals in front of her was huge. She played very well."
Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play in a game that featured just eight penalty minutes.
"We've done a lot of good things but we haven't been winning games, and now we've won a couple in a row," said Smith. "That's a good thing. We get a chance to do it all over again tomorrow night at home with our alumni on hand."
McGill returns to the ice against Carleton (3-2-0) on Saturday (Nov. 18) at 7 p.m. at McConnell Arena. The Carabins (3-1-3) will host Concordia (4-3-0) on Sunday.
LINK TO BOXSCORE
| 2017-18 RSEQ Women's Hockey Standings • Classement de la saison régulière du RSEQ |
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