MONTREAL --
Alexandra Labelle scored the game-winner in double overtime as the 10th-ranked Montreal Carabins rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat McGill 3-2 in an RSEQ women's hockey thriller at McConnell Arena on Saturday.
The Carabins led 38-25 on the shot clock and improved their record to 20-44 in 64 lifetime meetings with the Martlets.
"It's a tough loss for sure," said McGill head coach
Peter Smith. "We didn't have a great first period but we had a good second. We made some mistakes and there's been a number of games where we've put a couple of mistakes together and given up a scoring chance. So we've got to keep doing those good things and eliminate the mistakes.
"When I look at the whole semester, the team has really progressed. We're young, now have a semester of experience under our belts, and I think we'll come back and be real good. That's what our expectations are."
Labelle's tally came 3:28 into the second five-minute extra frame.
Olivia Atkinson, a 5-foot-8 junior from Oakville, Ont., tallied twice for the Martlets and took over the RSEQ scoring race with 11 points, including five goals, in nine games.
Atkinson opened the scoring at 10:54 of the opening period, assisted by rookie
Christiana Colizza of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and sophomore
Jade Downie-Landry of St. Jean sur Richelieu, Que.
Atkinson added another, set up by Downie-Landry, on a 5-on-3 power-play just 44 seconds into the middle stanza, putting the Martlets up 2-0. That two-goal lead stood until near the midway of the third period.
Freshman
Kaleigh Quennec narrowed the gap to 2-1 at 7:04 of the third, setting the stage for a late-game heroics when the Carabins pulled their goalie and
Jessica Cormier found the back of the net with just 11 seconds remaining.
"On their tying goal we had a bit of an unlucky bounce," offered Smith. "
Shana Walker made an unbelievably great play in blocking a shot. Unfortunately she was injured on the play and they recovered the puck and got a shot through traffic that Tricia (Deguire) had no chance on -- she couldn't see it -- and it went in."
McGill outshot the Carabins 7-5 through the two overtime sessions before Labelle put an end to the contest.
Martlets netminder
Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., made 35 saves in a losing cause as her record dropped to 3-6 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage. Her Montreal counterpart,
Marie-Pier Chabot, stopped 23 shots as she improved to 4-2.
McGill was 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off both penalties taken. They enter the exam break with a sluggish 11.4 per cent success rate on the PP (4/35) and a stellar 94.6 rate on the PK (35/37).
The Martlets wrap up the semester in fourth place with a 3-4-2 record, four points behind third-place Concordia (6-3-0) and two ahead of last-place Carleton (3-7-0). McGill now has a three-week break before playing at the 50th annual Theresa Humes tournament, hosted by Concordia. The Martlets will face Les Etoiles de Montreal, a collection of former collegiate stars, on Dec. 29 at 1 p.m., followed by Ryerson on Dec. 30 (12 noon) and Guelph on Dec. 31 (11 a.m.). McGill resumes league play at home against the Stingers on Jan. 6.
The league-leading Carabins (6-1-4) visit Carleton on Jan. 7.
LINK TO BOXSCORE
LINK TO RSEQ LEAGUE STATS
2017-18 RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
| 1 |
Montreal |
11 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
16 |
0.727 |
30 |
21 |
3-0-1 |
6-1-3 |
88 |
| 2 |
Ottawa |
9 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
13 |
0.722 |
22 |
21 |
1-0-0 |
6-2-1 |
64 |
| 3 |
Concordia |
9 |
6 |
3 |
0 |
12 |
0.667 |
23 |
19 |
2-0-0 |
6-3-0 |
70 |
| 4 |
McGill |
9 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
0.444 |
21 |
22 |
3-0-2 |
3-4-2 |
82 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
10 |
3 |
7 |
0 |
6 |
0.300 |
15 |
28 |
0-5-0 |
3-7-0 |
92 |
