MONTREAL -- Sophomore goaltender
Amanda Hadwen of Ottawa, Ont., made 23 saves to earn her first career shutout as No. 5 ranked McGill blanked visiting Carleton 3-0 in RSEQ women's hockey at McConnell Arena, Sunday.
The result marked McGill's ninth consecutive win over the Ravens, improving their head-to-head record to 98-4-1 in 103 meetings overall.
"I liked our first period, I thought we were good, controlled the play and were mostly in their end," said Martlets bench boss
Peter Smith. "In the second we let them dictate the pace but we discussed that after the period and in the third we returned to the pace and tempo that we wanted to play at."
The Martlets had a 40-23 advantage in shots but both goalies appeared to be unpenetrable fortresses and the game remained scoreless until the third period.
Marika Labrecque, an elementary education sophomore from Lac Etchemin, Que., opened the scoring at 1:28 of the final stanza with what proved to be the game-winning tally. Two minutes later, sophomore
Stephanie Desjardins of Grand Falls, N.B., capitalized on the power-play to give the home team a two-goal cushion at 4:31. Junior
Lea Dumais of Beaconsfield, Que., added an empty-netter at 18:41.
"I was pleased with our third period, not just because we scored three goals but because we bounced back to where we needed to be in terms of playing the right way," noted Smith. "Our focus has been on getting pucks to the net, battling hard and I thought our first two goals were exactly like that."
Veteran goaltender
Tricia Deguire was given a rare day off -- after 19 consecutive regular season starts -- which presented an opportunity for Hadwen to step up and the 5-foot-7 neurological science major merited her first win in her only start of the season. It was just her fourth career start in two years and her 14 career appearance in a McGill uniform overall as her career record improved to 5-5.
"I think it's great that we had two shutouts over the weekend with two different goalies," said Smith. "Goaltenders deserve a lot of the credit in a shutout but it's a team effort and we defended very well in both games. That's what you need down the stretch and in the playoffs."
It's the third time this season that McGill has posted back-to-back shutouts but in each of the previous instances, including one sequence in the preseason, the Martlets came up with a third straight whitewash.
Katelyn Steele, the Ravens fifth-year netminder, turned aside 37 of 39 shots in a losing cause as her record tumbled to 2-14.
McGill was 1-for-1 on the power-play, while Ottawa went 0-for-2.
With one game remaining, McGill can finish anywhere from first to third. The first tie-breaker in the RSEQ conference is winning percentage, followed next by head-to-head records. The Martlets sit third in the Quebec conference with a 13-6-0 record, two points behind the division-leading Montreal Carabins (14-4-0) and one point in arrears of Concordia (12-4-3). McGill will host the Carabins on Feb. 15 at McConnell Arena in a 7 p.m. start. The Martlets are 1-3 against UdeM thus far, winning the first meeting 3-0, followed by three straight setbacks (2-1, 3-1 and 5-3).
Carleton (2-12-3), which still has a longshot at catching Ottawa for the last playoff berth, will close out their schedule against the Gee-Gees (5-13-0) on Feb. 14 and Montreal on Feb. 16.
MARTLET MURMURS: Team captain
Alison MacKenzie was scratched after suffering an undisclosed injury in Saturday's game against Ottawa. The fifth-year rearguard from Osgoode, Ont., had played in all 28 games overall this season. The last time she missed a regular season game was also against Carleton, in the final contest of the 2017-18 campaign, an injury that kept her out of the three playoff games.
SCORING SUMMARY
2018-19 RSEQ Women's Hockey Standings
| 1 |
x-Montreal |
18 |
14 |
4 |
0 |
28 |
0.778 |
53 |
31 |
0-1-0 |
8-2-0 |
140 |
| 2 |
x-Concordia |
19 |
12 |
4 |
3 |
27 |
0.711 |
58 |
33 |
7-0-1 |
7-2-1 |
106 |
| 3 |
x-McGill |
19 |
13 |
6 |
0 |
26 |
0.684 |
49 |
28 |
2-0-0 |
6-4-0 |
106 |
| 4 |
Ottawa |
18 |
5 |
13 |
0 |
10 |
0.278 |
26 |
56 |
0-3-0 |
3-7-0 |
152 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
18 |
2 |
12 |
4 |
8 |
0.222 |
28 |
66 |
0-5-3 |
1-6-3 |
184 |
