MONTREAL --
Valerie Audet scored the game-winning goal and
Tricia Deguire posted a 24-save shutout as McGill blanked the Ottawa Gee-Gees 1-0 in RSEQ women's hockey at McConnell Arena, Saturday.
It was the Martlets centennial victory over Ottawa, as they improved to 100-21-7 in 128 lifetime meetings since 1997-98.
McGill, which outshot the Gee-Gees 43-24, tallied the game's lone goal at 8:54 of the middle period.
"On the play,
Lauren Bowman forced a turnover in the neutral zone and it she chased the puck down in the offensive zone and put a nice back-hand cross-ice pass to Audet coming down the middle of the ice," said head coach
Peter Smith, who invited Toronto Maple Leafs head coach
Mike Babcock -- in town a day early as his squad prepared to play the Montreal Canadiens -- to address the team during their evening practice on Friday. The former McGill bluleiner who graduated with a physical education degree in 1987, emphasized the importance of a structured style of play.
"We have good skills and when we play with structure, good things happen," said Smith. "Overall, I liked our game today. We did a lot of good things, defended well, played with structure and our transitions were good. The one downfall is that were not scoring more goals. We had 43 shots on goal and that's a good thing but we've got to get more pucks into the middle of the ice and generate more Grade A scoring chances."
McGill was 0-for-1 on the power-play and shut down both of Ottawa's PP chances.
Deguire, who improved to 12-2 on the season, collected her league-leading fifth shutout of the season and 18th career goose egg in 93 games overall. The third-year netminder from Sherbrooke, Que., still has a long way to catch the school record held since 2012 by Canadian Olympian
Charline Labonté who posted a 160-17-3 overall record with 81 shutouts in 180 career starts for McGill.
Maude Levesque-Ryan, Ottawa's fifth-year goalie, made 42 saves in a losing cause as her record dropped to 5-10.
With only two games remaining before playoffs, the third-place Martlets are 12-6 and three points behind second-place Concordia (12-4-3).
SCORING SUMMARY
(MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW)
2018-19 RSEQ Women's Hockey Standings
(20-game schedule; Top four qualify for playoffs)
| 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 |
18 |
12 |
6 |
0 |
24 |
0.667 |
46 |
28 |
1-0-0 |
6-4-0 |
104 |
| 4 |
Ottawa |
18 |
5 |
13 |
0 |
10 |
0.278 |
26 |
56 |
0-3-0 |
3-7-0 |
152 |
| 5 |
Carleton |
17 |
2 |
11 |
4 |
8 |
0.235 |
28 |
63 |
0-4-3 |
1-6-3 |
172 |
x-clinched a playoff berth
