MONTREAL -- Valerie Audet was in on every goal and Tricia Deguire posted her third consecutive shutout as No.8 ranked McGill blanked Carleton 3-0 in RSEQ women's hockey at McConnell Arena., Saturday afternoon.
 
The Martlets, who improved their unblemished record to 5-0 atop the Quebec conference, have now extended their shutout sequence to 220 minutes and 40 seconds, all under the stewardship of Deguire, who was least beaten for a goal in the first period of a 3-1 win at Ottawa on Oct. 27.

Deguire, a 5-foot-8 netminder from Sherbrooke Que., made 28 saves for her 16th career goose egg in 79 games overall. The 21-year-old kinesiology junior improved to 5-0 on the season with a stingy 0.40 goals-against average and a .986 save percentage. She leads the league in minutes played, wins, GAA and save percentage.

"We coughed up the puck a couple times in our end and Tricia was there as usual. She was very sharp," said McGill head coach Peter Smith.

"It was a good win, there were parts of our game that were good but parts that we gotta keep working on. I like this team, they work hard, want to learn and they listen. When we are up a couple of goals they still want to know what to do better, which I think is the hallmark of a great team."
 
Valerie Audet, of St. Bruno de Montarville, Que., potted a pair of goals and assisted on the final marker, scoring at 10:23 of the opening period and on the power-play at 5:20 of the second. It was the first two career goals in a McGill jersey for the 5-foot-4 forward, a nursing student who sat out a full-year after transferring from the NCAA's Cornell University, where she played for two seasons.
 
"Val worked very hard and does all the right things," said Smith. "It was great to see the puck go in for her. She was due and made it happen. She started training back in the spring and in every game you see a little more of it coming back for her after taking a year off to work."
 
Jade Downie-Landry of St. Jean sur Richelieu, Que., added an empty-netter at 18:33 of the final stanza. It was only the second goal of the season for the 5-foot-9 power forward, who continues to lead the league scoring race with 11 points in five games.
 
McGill, which held a 41-28 edge in shots, went 1-for-4 with the man-advantage and killed off their only penalty. The Martlets improved to 2-for-14 on the power-play (14.3%) and their penalty-killing unit continues to operate at 100 per cent efficiency, erasing all seven shorthanded situations they've faced.
 
Carleton netminder Katelyn Steel kicked aside 38 of 40 shots faced in a losing cause as her record fell to 0-5.
 
McGill has now won six consecutive meetings with the Ravens, improving their head-to-head record to 95-4-1 in 100 games overall. The Martlets next test will be against the Carabins (4-2) on Sunday (Nov. 11, 2 p.m.) at Arena CEPSUM.

The Ravens (0-5) have a week to recover before playing Ottawa (1-4) at the Minto rink on Nov 16.

MARTLET MURMURS: The game served as a Martlet hockey Homecoming event and a plethora of grads were on hand, many of whom played on at least one of McGill's four national championship squads... Among the faces spotted in the crowd were Olympic gold medalists Kim St-Pierre and Charline Labonté and newly-inducted McGill Sports Hall of Famer Shauna Denis. Also on hand was Alyssa Cecere, Joanne Cagianos, Katia Clément-Heydra, Adrienne Crampton, Michelle Daigneault, Gabrielle Davidson, Emily Davies, Bianca Della Porta, Amey Doyle, Chantal Gauvin, Darragh Hamilton, Meg Hewings, Taylor Hough, Rebecca Martindale, Gillian Merrifield, Kelsie Moffatt, Leslie Oles, Britt Privée, Pamela Psihogios, Dana Rittmaster, Adriane Saba, Chelsey Saunders, Christina Smith, Gabrielle Smith, Natalie Smith, Brittany Smrke, Jasmine Sheehan, Amy Soberano, Andrea Weckman and Alexandra Wells.


2018-19 RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
 

Rank	TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	McGill	5	5	0	0	10	1.000	18	2	5-0-0	5-0-0	16
2	Montreal	6	4	2	0	8	0.667	15	7	1-0-0	4-2-0	36
3	Concordia	5	3	2	0	6	0.600	11	7	2-0-0	3-2-0	24
4	Ottawa	5	1	4	0	2	0.200	5	16	0-1-0	1-4-0	40
5	Carleton	5	0	5	0	0	0.000	3	20	0-5-0	0-5-0	44