OTTAWA --
Kellyane Lecours potted a pair of goals and added a couple of assists as No. 4 ranked McGill skated to a 4-1 triumph over Ottawa in RSEQ women's hockey at the Minto Sports Complex, Saturday afternoon.
McGill outshot the Gee-Gees by a whopping 56-21 margin, including a 23-5 edge in the third period. The result avenged a 2-0 loss against Ottawa on Jan. 13 as McGill improved their head-to-head record to 99-21-7 in 127 lifetime meetings.
"This was our best game of the new year and we finally got back to playing the way we were before the Christmas break," said McGill head coach
Peter Smith. "It was very rewarding to see that. All of our lines were working well today, it was a good tem effort."
The Martlets (11-3-0) are now tied for first in the Quebec division with Montreal (11-2-0), which holds a game in hand.
Lecours, an education sophomore from Victoriaville, Que., scored back-to-back goals in the third period, one on a power-play at 14:16, the other at 16:47. The red-hot forward now sits fourth in the RSEQ scoring race with 13 points, including seven goals, in nine games.
"Lecours is skating so well, its unbelievable," said Smith. "She was injured early in the season and has come back real strong. That line, with
Lea Dumais and
Jade Downie-Landry, has been clicking real well. They were all over the ice."
Taylor McGaughey scored the lone Ottawa marker at 1:22 of the opening period, which put the Gee-Gees ahead 1-0 heading into the second.
Dumais, a 5-foot-6 forward from Beaconsfield, Que., scored her first of two goals at 1:09 of the middle period to tie the score at 1-1, then made it 2-1 with the game-winner on a power-play at 7:45. The management junior ranks second among the league's goal-scoring leaders with seven. She is also third in the scoring race with 14 points in 14 games.
McGill went 2-for-6 on the power-play and erased all four Gee-Gee PP chances, including a 5-on-3 situation in the second period.
Martlets netminder
Tricia Deguire, a junior from Sherbrooke, Que., saved 20 of 21 shots for the victory, improving to 11-3 on the season. The 5-foot-10 netminder ranks second in the nation with a lofty .955 save percentage. She continues to lead the Quebec conference in every major statistical category, namely wins (11), goals-against average (1.28), shutouts (4), games (14) and minutes played (846:27).
Maude Levesque-Ryan, Ottawa's fifth-year 'keeper, turned aside 52 of 56 shots in a losing cause as her record tumbled to 3-7.
The Gee-Gees (3-10-0) host Concordia (6-4-3) on Sunday (Jan. 20) at 2 p.m. McGill (11-3-0) will host Concordia on Friday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. in McConnell Arena. Head coach
Peter Smith will be honoured in a pre-game ceremony celebrating his 500th career victory achieved last semester.
MARTLET MURMURS: The team had bus problems for the second straight day. The cold weather played havoc with the diesel engine, which refused to start when the Martlets were about to head to the rink. Coach Smith had to scramble and managed to find a random food delivery truck who offered to help deliver the equipment to the arena. Taxis were used to deliver the team, which arrived 90 minutes before puck drop (about a half-hour later than normal) but the sticks didn't arrive until an hour before the opening faceoff as the driver had gone to the wrong arena.
SCORING SUMMARY
2018-19 RSEQ Women's Hockey Standings
| 1 |
Montreal |
13 |
11 |
2 |
0 |
22 |
0.846 |
39 |
18 |
8-0-0 |
8-2-0 |
106 |
| 2 |
McGill |
14 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
22 |
0.786 |
41 |
18 |
2-0-0 |
7-3-0 |
78 |
| 3 |
Concordia |
13 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
15 |
0.577 |
35 |
27 |
1-0-1 |
5-2-3 |
68 |
| 4 |
Ottawa |
13 |
3 |
10 |
0 |
6 |
0.231 |
16 |
40 |
0-1-0 |
3-7-0 |
120 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
13 |
2 |
9 |
2 |
6 |
0.231 |
18 |
46 |
0-2-1 |
2-6-2 |
154 |
