MONTREAL - Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., registered her fifth shutout of the season and three different Martlets scored as the sixth-ranked McGill women's hockey team blanked the No. 8 Montreal Carabins 3-0 in a heart-warming, Valentine's Day performance to close out the regular season, Friday, at CEPSUM Arena.
 
The result clinched second place for the Martlets who posted an 11-5-4 record in the five-team Quebec league, nine points behind division-leading Concordia (16-4-0).

McGill will now host Game 1 of the RSEQ conference best-of-three semifinal series, on Thursday (Feb. 20) at McConnell Arena. They will confront the third-place finisher -- either Montreal (9-6-5) or Ottawa (10-7-2) -- depending on what the red-hot Gee-Gees do against last-place Carleton (4-13-2) on Saturday (Feb. 15). Ottawa, which is on a 6-0-1 streak, currently sits fourth but can finish third with a win over the Ravens.
 
"We had a little bit of a slow start, but after the first few shifts, we really picked it up, took care of all the details and when you do that, good things happen," said Martlets head coach Peter Smith, whose team posted their first shutout over the Carabins since a 4-0 result on Nov. 4, 2018.  "I think we sent a message that we are ready to go. "
 
McGill controlled the play for a large portion of the game but Montreal somehow managed to hold a 28-22 edge in shots, including a 15-5 margin in the final stanza. They had no solution for Deguire, however, who kicked aside all 28 shots and improved to 11-7 on the season.

She now has 13 career shutouts in 71 regular season games and 25 whitewashes in 125 contests overall. The 5-foot-7 kinesiology senior finished the season as the Quebec league leader in shutouts (5), goals-against average (1.67), save percentage (.939), saves (475), games (18) and minutes played (1,115). She ranked second in wins.

Marika Labrecque of Lac Etchemin, Que., jumped on a loose puck at the right corner of the crease to open the scoring with what proved to be the game-winner at 12:35 of the first period. The junior forward added an assist on the final goal to finish ninth in the league scoring race with 15 points, six of them goals, in 20 appearances.
 
Beaconsfield native Lea Dumais scored a power-play marker on a 5-on-3 advantage at 3:15 of the second period, to make it 2-0. The management senior concluded the regular season as the team's top goal scorer with nine and finished seventh in the RSEQ scoring race with 12 points in 19 contests.
 
Sophomore Laura Jardin of Calgary, Alta., added an empty netter with 82 seconds remaining in the final stanza. It was her second marker of the season and seventh career goal in 65 games overall.
 
"What is nice about this team is that we go in and focus on the process, nobody talked about if we win this game we finish second, that wasn't really the deal. It was to figure out what we needed to do in order to be successful," said Smith. "We played with a lot of discipline today, stuck with the plan, didn't get involved with any kind of after-the-whistle stuff'. We managed the puck well and Tricia was outstanding."
 
Carabins goaltender Aube Racine blocked 19 of 21 shots faced as her record tumbled to 7-6.
 
"Our special teams were really good, they've done well all year," Smith said of his squad, which went 1-for-4 on the power-play and successfully killed off all four penalties taken. "What often happens with our team is we get better as the season goes on and at this time of the year we are playing our best hockey."

After the first month of the season, the Martlets were last in the league in both departments. But they bounced back to lead the league in both categories, registering a 22.7 per cent success rate on the power-play and a 89.8 efficiency in penalty-killing.

McGill will enter the playoffs with a two-game win streak and a 7-2-1 mark in their last 10. The Carabins will enter post-season play with seven losses in their last 10 games, including four overtime setbacks.
 
McGill improved their lifetime record against UdeM to 52-30 in 82 games overall. Prior to this season, Montreal had never finished below second since joining the RSEQ conference in 2009.

Puck-drop for Thursday's post-season opener is set for 7 p.m. Game 2 will be played at McGill's opponent on Saturday (Feb. 22) afternoon at 3 p.m. and if a rubber match is needed, it is slated for McConnell Arena on Sunday (Feb. 23) at 3 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS