MONTREAL -- Five different players scored and goaltender
Alexa Gibson made 33 saves as unranked Ottawa stunned No. 6 ranked McGill 5-4 in RSEQ women's hockey at McConnell Arena, Sunday.
The fourth-place Gee-Gees improved their record to 5-7-1 and have now split their four encounters with McGill this season. The Martlets fell to 7-4-3 and sit tied with Montreal (7-3-3) for third place in the RSEQ conference. McGill's lifetime record against Ottawa now sits at 102-23-7 in 131-lifetime meetings since 1997-98.
Gibson, a freshman from Toronto who was making her U SPORTS debut, was credited with the win.
Ottawa, despite being outshot 37-28, led 3-2 after one period and held a 4-3 edge heading into the final stanza.
"The result is very disappointing, we didn't come prepared to play," said Martlet head coach
Peter Smith. "We played a real good hockey game (Saturday against Concordia) and came to the rink today thinking that it was going to be easy but we don't have any easy opponents. I thought Ottawa played well, but we were not sharp."
Katherine Birkby opened the scoring for Ottawa at 2:43 of the first period but McGill junior
Kellyane Lecours from Victoriaville, Que., evened the score with her sixth at 10:39.
The Gee-Gees regained their lead when
Marimee Godbout-Parent registered her third of the season at 13:12 but McGill rearguard
Cassidy Bell responded with an equalizer just 70 seconds later.
Melodie Bouchard replied at 19:21 to give Ottawa a one-goal lead heading into the intermission.
Martlets blue-liner
Emilia Cotter of Toronto, Ont., evened the count at 3-3, on the power-play just 90 seconds into the middle period.
But Ottawa's
Meagan McGaughey broke the deadlock at 7:57, followed by teammate
Alice Fillion with the eventual game-winner to put the visitors ahead 5-3 at 6:08 of the third. A shorthanded marker with 4:16 remaining in the contest by
Marika Labrecque of Lac Etchemin, Que., made it close but no cigar.
McGill netminder
Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., saved 23 of 28 shots through 58:14 as her record fell to 7-6.
The Martlets went 1-for-6 on the power-play and erased all three of their shorthanded situations.
"The beauty is that we get to play back-to-back games again next weekend, meeting Ottawa on Saturday, after facing Carleton on Friday night," noted Smith. "We will get another chance to learn a lesson"
McGill travels to the nation's capital next weekend for a rare overnight stay. The Martlets (7-4-3) have six games remaining and will play at Carleton (4-7-2) on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m., followed by a matinee against the Gee-Gees (5-7-1) on Jan. 25 at 2 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
RSEQ STANDINGS & STATS
