MONTREAL -- It took five periods and 14 shooters to decide a winner but Ottawa goaltender
Maude Levesque-Ryan stole the show, turning away 39 shots and six of seven attempts in the post-overtime shootout as the visiting Gee-Gees edged ninth-ranked McGill 4-3 in RSEQ women's hockey, Friday, at McConnell Arena.
Levesque-Ryan made 35 saves in regulation, two in each overtime frame, and stoned all but one Martlets shooter through seven rounds as her record improved to 5-1.
Ottawa, which was outshot 42-25 (including an 18-3 margin in the second period), improved their lifetime record to 19-94-7 in 120 overall meetings with the Martlets. The Gee-Gees jumped into a 2-0 lead, then sat back and watched as McGill rallied for a 3-2 lead when
Kellyane Lecours, a freshman forward from Victoriaville, Que., scored her second of the soiree at 13:55 of the third period.
With less than a minute to go, the Gee-Gees attempted to pull their goalie but before she got to the bench, rookie
Alexe Drouin struck paydirt with just 50 seconds remaining to force overtime. The visitors then won a marathon 14-member shootout session -- the longest in McGill history -- 2-1, when
Sara Lachance finally ended it on Ottawa's seventh penalty shot.
"Tough loss, but the game tonight was a character-builder," said McGill head coach
Peter Smith, who wasn't pleased with his team's feeble-looking effort in the shootout, where every player tried to deke and few looked good at it. "Maybe now they'll get the message. It's something that's been talked about for quite a while in terms of what needs to get done in the shootout and I didn't think we got the job done.
"We did a lot of good things but made some mistakes, (notably) in the first period. However the team showed a lot of character in coming back from being down two goals. It was an unfortunate goal with 50 seconds to go that we gave up for them to tie it up but all in all, I think it's another step in our development."
Rookie
Christiana Colizza, a 5-foot-4 forward from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., potted the other regulation marker for McGill and was the only player to beat Levesque-Ryan in the shootout, scoring once on two attempts.
Mélodie Bouchard had gotten things started for the Gee-Gees at 6:24 of the opening stanza and teammate
Christine Deaudelin added another at 18:41 before Lecours tallied her first of the evening with 26 seconds left in the period.
After a scoreless second frame, Colizza tied things up at 9:17 of the third and Lecours put the Martlets ahead until the final minute.
Two five-minute extra sessions solved nothing, pushing the game to penalty shots. The first eight shooters failed to score. After Colizza's fifth-round marker, Bouchard buried her second of three attempts to keep the game alive and Lachance finally ended it.
McGill netminder
Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., stopped 21 of 24 shots in regulation as her record dropped to 3-5.
Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play.
Ottawa, which improved to 5-1-1, sit second in the RSEQ standings, one point behind Montreal (4-1-4) and will host the Carabins on Sunday (Nov. 26) at 2 p.m.
The Martlets (3-4-1), who sit precariously in fourth place, one point ahead of last-place Carleton (3-5-0), will host UdeM on Dec. 2 at McConnell Arena in the final game before the month-long exam break.
2017-18 RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
| 1 |
Montreal |
9 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
12 |
0.667 |
22 |
17 |
1-0-1 |
4-1-4 |
72 |
| 2 |
Ottawa |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
0.786 |
17 |
14 |
3-0-0 |
5-1-1 |
56 |
| 3 |
Concordia |
8 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
10 |
0.625 |
21 |
19 |
1-0-0 |
5-3-0 |
60 |
| 4 |
McGill |
8 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
0.438 |
19 |
19 |
3-0-1 |
3-4-1 |
78 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
8 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
6 |
0.375 |
13 |
23 |
0-3-0 |
3-5-0 |
86 |
