OTTAWA --
Nicole Howlett of Delta, B.C., was credited with the shootout winner as McGill defeated Ottawa 2-1 in RSEQ women's hockey at the Minto Sports Complex on Saturday. After two five-minute overtime periods, it took a 10-player shoot-out -- which McGill won 2-1 -- to decide the game as the Martlets outshot their hosts 39-34 and improved their all-time record to 96-19-7 in 122 lifetime meetings with the Gee-Gees.
"I was real happy for the girls," said McGill head coach
Peter Smith, whose troops have put together a nifty 5-1-2 streak after opening the season with four consecutive losses. "We played two games in less than 24 hours, while the other team was fresh out there. We started to get a little bit tired, you could tell. But it was the kind of game that we needed to grind it out and we did. We showed a lot of character today."
The Martlets went 0-for-5 on the power-play and killed seven of eight penalties in a chippy battle that featured a whopping 15 infractions, including two in overtime. Nine of the calls were against McGill. The Martlets power-play is now third in the league and operating at 17.9 per cent (10/56), while their PK unit is second and operating at an 86.9 per cent efficiency (53/61).
Howlett, a six-foot forward and a psychology junior, was the fifth and final shooter for McGill. Freshman
Kellyane Lecours of Victoriaville, Que., also scored in the shootout for the Martlets, while
Shanie Deschatelets was the lone scorer of five shooters for Ottawa.
"It was a beauty," said Smith of Howlett's winning tally. "That was big."
Sophomore forward
Jade Downie-Landry of St. Jean sur Richelieu, Que., had opened the scoring for McGill with an unassisted marker at 10:08 of the second period. It was the fourth of the season for the 22-year-old psychology major who now sits seventh in the league scoring race with 11 points in 12 games.
"It was a real good individual effort on that goal," Smith said of his all-star forward who was unable to participate in the shootout after having been assessed a minor penalty with just 15 seconds remaining in the second overtime session. "She carried the puck over the blue line and went to her left before moving back into the middle of the ice just above the crease and sliding it beneath the goaltender."
Deschatelets tied things up on the power-play 72 seconds into the third period to force the tie-breaking procedures.
McGill goaltender
Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., saved 33 of 34 shots (in addition to four of five in the shootout) and evened her record at 6-6. Over the two road victories in the nation's capital during the weekend, she stopped 53 of 56 shots for a .946 save percentage. Her goals-against average dropped to 1.96 in league play, while her save percentage improved to .926.
"Tricia was terrific, solid all game long," said Smith of the 20-year-old kinesiology sophomore who recently returned from an overseas stint with the Canadian national development team. "She bailed us out when we got a little tired and was real strong in the shootout."
Gee-Gees netminder
Maude Levesque-Ryan turned away 37 of 38 shots in a losing cause as she dropped to 7-6.
Ottawa which dropped to 7-5-2 and now sits tied for third place with McGill in the RSEQ standings, will visit division-leading Montreal (9-2-4) on Sunday (Jan. 21) before engaging in a final rematch against the Martlets (7-5-2) at McConnell Arena on Friday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. Whoever wins t hat one will hold the tie-breaker, if needed, as the season series between McGill and Ottawa is deadlocked at 2-2 with each team scoring nine goals against each other.
With six games remaining on McGill's schedule, the Martlets find themselves three points in arrears of second-place Concordia (9-3-1) with two confrontations remaining against the Stingers (Feb. 2 at home and Feb. 10 on the road).
LINK TO BOXSCORE
2017-18 RSEQ Women's Hockey Standings
| 1 |
Montreal |
15 |
9 |
2 |
4 |
22 |
0.733 |
37 |
29 |
1-0-0 |
7-2-1 |
137 |
| 2 |
Concordia |
13 |
9 |
3 |
1 |
19 |
0.731 |
38 |
27 |
5-0-1 |
7-2-1 |
98 |
| 3 |
McGill |
14 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
16 |
0.571 |
39 |
33 |
4-0-0 |
7-1-2 |
134 |
| 4 |
Ottawa |
14 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
16 |
0.571 |
28 |
32 |
0-3-1 |
5-4-1 |
118 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
14 |
3 |
11 |
0 |
6 |
0.214 |
17 |
38 |
0-9-0 |
1-9-0 |
130 |
