MONTREAL -- Goaltender
Tricia Deguire posted a 31-save shutout and head coach
Peter Smith collected his 500th career victory as McGill blanked the Ottawa Gee-Gees 2-0 in RSEQ women's hockey at McConnell Arena, Sunday.
First period goals by
Jade Downie-Landry of St. Jean, Que., and
Kellyane Lecours at 8:39 and 19:00 held up as both teams played a strategic stalemate the rest of the way. It was the team-leading fourth goal for Lecours, a sophomore from St. Christophe, Que., who was making a return to the lineup after missing five games with an undisclosed injury.
Deguire, a 5-foot-8 kinesiology junior from Sherbrooke., Que., registered her league-leading fourth shutout in nine games. She also leads the Quebec conference in wins (7), goals-against average (0.99) and save percentage (.964).
"I thought it was a good game regardless of what number it was in terms of victories," said Smith, a native of Lachine, Que., in his 19th season as bench boss of the Martlets. "We did a terrific job of getting out of the gate early and had them in their own end a good part of the first period, and that was really a positive factor.
"I haven't given it a lot of thought. (I may) get the credit for 500 wins but in reality, it's about the players and the people that I work with," added Smith, who improved his overall record behind the McGill bench to
500-208-33 overall. "It's nice to reach a milestone and I'm proud of that but it's about those (others)."
A varsity swimmer while earning a bachelor's degree in physical education (1979) from McGill, followed by a master's in sports psychology (1986), Smith becomes the third coach in U SPORTS women's hockey history to reach the 500 plateau, joining former Concordia Stingers bench boss
Les Lawton (626) who accomplished the feat in 2003 and current Alberta Pandas coach
Howie Draper (567), who reached the milestone in 2016.
"I coached against both of them for a long time and (they were responsible for producing) two outstanding programs," noted Smith, who has guided McGill to four national championships and helped Canada win gold while serving as an assistant coach at the Vancouver Olympics. "To be included in that group is obviously an honour."
"Hockey has always been in my blood, I started playing very young and I played to a certain level and always wanted to be a teacher. Coaching and teaching are synonymous and it kind of evolved into that... I'm looking forward to the next game and hopefully it will be No. 501."
Smith, who had the rare opportunity to coach both of his daughters with the Martlets, is the second McGill head coach across all sports to reach the 500 mark, joining volleyball's
Rachele Beliveau, who currently has 628 victories in her 28 seasons.
McGill went 1-for-4 on the power-play and was perfect on all three penalty-kills. They now have the second-best PP in the league (18.5 per cent) and are tops in PK (88.9).
The host team outshot Ottawa 40-31 and improved their record to 98-20-7 in 125-lifetime meetings with the Gee-Gees.
Ottawa netminder
Maude Levesque-Ryan made 38 saves in a losing effort as her record fell to 2-5.
Next week is the final one before a month-long break for exams and holidays. Ottawa (2-7-0) plays at Carleton (1-7-1) on Nov. 30, while McGill (7-2-0) will faceoff against Concordia (5-2-2) on Dec. 1 at the Ed Meagher Arena, in a 7 p.m. puck drop.
LINK TO SCORING SUMMARY
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U SPORTS COACHING ALL-TIME WIN LEADERS FOR W. HOCKEY
(updated on Nov. 25, 2018)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
626
Les Lawton (Concordia) 34 seasons (
626-392-75; 1983-2015)
567
Howie Draper (Alberta) 22+ seasons (
567-148-11; 1997-present)
500
Peter Smith (McGill) 19+ seasons (
500-208-33; 1999-present))
415
Rick Osborne (Laurier) 15 seasons (
415-155-20; 2003-2018)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McGILL COACHING ALL-TIME WIN LEADERS
(updated on Nov. 25, 2018)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
628*
Rachele Beliveau, Volleyball (W) 28 seasons (1991-present)
500*
Peter Smith, Hockey (W) 19 seasons (1999-present; took sabbatical in 2009-10)
293
Martin Raymond, Hockey (M) 14 seasons (1994-2009)
258*
Ryan Thorne, Basketball (W) 16 seasons (2003-present)
256*
Marc Mounicot Soccer (W) 16 seasons (women's coach (222 wins): 1998-2012; men's coach (34 wins: 2013-present)
247*
Kelly Nobes, Hockey (M) 9 seasons (2010-present)
193
Ken Schildroth, Basketball (M) 15 seasons (1984-91, 1992-00)
190
Hubert Lacroix, Basketball (W) 9 seasons (1978-87)
180*
Tim Murdoch, Lacrosse (M) 16 seasons (2003-present)
173*
David DeAveiro, Basketball (M) 9 seasons (2001-present)
150
Butch Staples, Basketball (M) 7 seasons (1974-81)
137
Chris Hunter, Basketball (W) 7 seasons (1987-94)
137
Dr. Bobby Bell, Hockey (M) 10 seasons (1929-37, 1942-43, 1944-45)
130
Ken Tyler, Hockey (M) 9 seasons (1979-88)
124
Charlie Baillie, Football (M) 29 seasons (1972-2000)
122
Jean Pronovost, Hockey (M) 7 seasons (1988-94)
118
Lisen Moore, Basketball (W) 9 seasons (1994-2003)
112
Vince deGrandpre, Rugby (W) 14 seasons (1998-2011)
102
Gord Gow, Soccer (W) 11 seasons (1976-86)
*coaches currently active with McGill
2018-19 RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
| 1 |
Montreal |
10 |
8 |
2 |
0 |
16 |
0.800 |
27 |
14 |
5-0-0 |
8-2-0 |
56 |
| 2 |
McGill |
9 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
14 |
0.778 |
25 |
9 |
1-0-0 |
7-2-0 |
48 |
| 3 |
Concordia |
9 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
12 |
0.667 |
24 |
16 |
4-0-2 |
5-2-2 |
50 |
| 4 |
Ottawa |
9 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
4 |
0.222 |
12 |
30 |
0-3-0 |
2-7-0 |
86 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
9 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
0.167 |
12 |
31 |
0-2-1 |
1-7-1 |
100 |
