MONTREAL -- Rookie
Marika Labrecque of Lac Etchemin, Que., returned to the lineup and proved to be a lucky charm for McGill, which snapped a three-game slide with a hard-fought 2-1 upset over second-place Ottawa in RSEQ women's hockey at McConnell Arena, Sunday.
It was the first victory in three meetings versus Ottawa this season, as the Martlets improved their lifetime record to 95-19-7 in 121 games overall with the Gee-Gees.
"That was big. We've played some good games over the season but for whatever reason, didn't come out on top," said a relieved
Peter Smith, head coach of the Martlets. "We adhered to our structure today from start to finish. We made a few mistakes, here and there, which is normal in any game but overall, I give our group a lot of credit for buying into the structured style that we want to see for a full 60 minutes, When you play real well, you deserve to win. We did that today and it will do a lot for our confidence. I think that probably a light bulb went on (in our collective heads) this weekend in terms of the things we need to do in a game. The attention to detail is so important because all the games in our conference are so close."
Sophomore
Kate Devries, a 5-foot-11 defenceman from Dollard des Ormeaux, Que., opened the scoring for McGill, jamming home a rebound on a power-play at 15:32 of the first period. It was only the second goal scored by a McGill blueliner this season. Ottawa disputed that the play had been offside but the officials overruled. The goal proved to be the first career marker in regular season play for Devries and her third in 29 games overall.
Labrecque, a 5-foot-5 forward who returned from an automatic suspension incurred from a penalty at the Theresa Humes tourney last week, upped the count to 2-0 with her second of the season at 9:19 of the second period. The 19-year-old elementary education freshman fired a rocket from the blueline into the top right corner, past screened Ottawa goalie
Maude Levesque-Ryan.
"I thought that was Marika's best game as a Martlet," said Smith. "We've moved her (from wing) into the middle of the ice and she controls the puck real well there. She didn't turn over the puck very much, got a number of shots on net, was good on faceoffs and solid in our end of the ice."
Both McGill goals were assisted by the same duo,
Stephanie Desjardins and
Nicole Howlett.
Ottawa narrowed the gap to 2-1 early in the third when sniper
Melodie Bouchard of Sept-Iles, Que., hit paydirt on a power play for her league-leading seventh goal. With 11 points on the season, Bouchard now sits second in the RSEQ scoring race, one point behind McGill's
Olivia Atkinson, who has a 6-6-12 record in 11 games.
Ottawa survived a first period 14-3 disadvantage in shots to outshoot McGill 29-27 in the game but struggled to solve a strong outing from McGill rookie netminder
Amanda Hadwin, who was making her first official league start and second appearance in as many nights to even her record at 1-1. In eight games overall, she has a 4-2 record.
"Amanda got the hard-hat that the players award in the room after the game," Smith revealed. "She had a real good performance and its so nice to see a young player step up when they get an opportunity to play. Good on her."
The Martlets went 1-for-3 on the power-play, while the visitors were 1-for-4. McGill, which struggled to score on the PP for much of the season, tallied 11 PP goals in their first 19 games overall. But they have shown much more consistency of late, with seven PPGs in their last six contests.
"We played with a shortened lineup (due to injuries) this weekend and in many ways, I felt that we truly got the most from everyone," explained Smith. "We were hungry and harder to defend. And that even made a difference on the power-play as well since we had to utilize different players there and they came through."
Ottawa dropped to 7-3-1 in the Quebec conference, while McGill (4-5-2) moved to within five points of the Gee-Gees. The Martlets will now turn their focus on preparing for the Montreal Carabins, who lead the conference with a 7-1-4 record. The next game, slated for Sunday, Jan. 14, at 2 p.m., is technically a home affair for U de M, but has been relocated to the Complexe Sportif Thibault in Sherbrooke. This is the second time that the Carabins have opted to host an annual game outside of Montreal in a bid to promote their program.
MARTLET MURMURS: Watching from the stands was McGill's No.1 'keeper
Tricia Deguire, who arrived late in the third period directly from an overseas flight out of Germany, where she played for the Canadian national development team at the Nations Cup tournament. Canada lost their two preliminary games, 2-1 to Finland and 2-0 to Russia, then rebounded for a 5-1 win over Germany to finish fifth of six teams. Deguire started against Russia and allowed just one goal, at 18:25 of the final period (the other goal was an empty-netter). The sophomore from Sherbrooke, has started in 27 of 31 regular season games since joining the Martlets last year... McGill, which has been hampered by a plethora of injuries, had another one added to the list early in the middle stanza when senior forward
Marie-Philip Lavoie was tripped by an Ottawa defenceman and fell awkwardly into the goalpost. She skated off hunched over and did not return until the third period. On one of her first shifts back, while killing a penalty, she fed Labrecque on a high breakout pass and the duo found themselves on a 2-0 breakaway but they made one pass too many and failed to get a shot on net. Lavoie is the team's third-leading point-getter with seven assists in 11 games.
LINK TO BOXSCORE
2017-18 RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
| 1 |
Montreal |
12 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
18 |
0.750 |
31 |
21 |
4-0-1 |
6-1-3 |
96 |
| 2 |
Ottawa |
11 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
15 |
0.682 |
25 |
23 |
0-1-0 |
6-3-1 |
82 |
| 3 |
Concordia |
10 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
14 |
0.700 |
29 |
23 |
3-0-0 |
7-3-0 |
78 |
| 4 |
McGill |
11 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
10 |
0.455 |
27 |
29 |
1-0-0 |
4-4-2 |
94 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
12 |
3 |
9 |
0 |
6 |
0.250 |
15 |
31 |
0-7-0 |
2-8-0 |
110 |
